MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 715 



This, however, is an unsafe supposition, for if the tree be 

 thrifty, the roots will extend themselves to the limits of the 

 cleared space long before the farmer is aware of the fact. They 

 will then meet with a comparatively hard rim, and the tree will 

 be, so to speak, in the situation of a potted plant. Besides, if 

 merely a space of a few feet is left round the tree, then, to 

 keep these spaces well weeded and thoroughly stirred, requires 

 a degree of vigilance and industry which it is not easy to exer- 

 cise, and which it is believed is in fact seldom exercised. If 

 we regard the growth and fruitfulness of the tree as the great 

 object, there is no doubt that orchards should be kept in tillage, 

 as long and as thoroughly as it can be done, without injuring 

 the roots of the trees. This cannot well be for more than ten 

 or fifteen years, as, after such a period, those roots will have 

 spread themselves so widely, as to monopolize the whole 

 ground, although the occasional stirring of the surface by scuff- 

 ling may even then be highly beneficial. The crops raised 

 should unquestionably be of those kinds which admit of hoe- 

 ing, as they exhaust the soil less than what are called white 

 crops, and as the effects of the great disadvantage of our climate, 

 drovght, are obviated both by the shade afforded to the earth 

 by the plants, and by the moisture, which, whatever the cause, 

 unquestionably follows from the stirring of the soil. A further 

 important preventive of the dreaded effects of our dry summers, 

 may be found in mulching the ground, round the foot of the 

 tree, with moss, leaves, or some other litter, and it would be 

 easy to mention instances, in which hundreds of young trees 

 have been saved by this cheap and simple process. It is 

 scarcely necessary to say that when an orchard is tilled, it 

 should be generously manured, so that no more of the richness 

 of the soil may be taken from it, than is restored, and it is 

 probably equally understood, that unmixed barnyard or other 

 animal manure should not be allowed to come in actual con- 

 tact with the bark of the tree. It is time to speak in particular 

 of the operation of setting out the tree. Preliminary to this 

 as every one agrees, should be the digging of roomy holes to 

 receive the plants. Three feet in diameter, and a foot or more 

 in depth, are the least dimensions which I find recommended* 



* It will be observed that I mention this depth as the least which I have seen 

 recommended. From four to six inches deeper, I should certainly think prefer- 

 able. 



