APPENDIX. 



95 



rooted pear trees, thus: ^^ Holes were dug tioo anJ-a- 

 half feet deep by three or four wide, d^udi filled icltli a 

 carefulli/ prepared compost, not too rich, but having all 

 the ingredients prescribed by the experts.'^ The man- 

 ner in which the trees were set out, in my opinion, pre- 

 sents the one great fatal error in the planting of fruit 

 trees, which runs through all the works upon this sub- 

 ject; and prevails in practice to an extent sufficient to 

 account for at least half the misfortunes of fruit-growers. 

 The great cardinal principle in all fruit culture, and 

 in the case of the dwarf pear in particular, should be to 

 keep the roots as near the surface of the earth as possi- 

 ble, and not to invite them down to a depth of three feet, 

 by the use of rich composts. They will go down rapidly 

 enough, and far enough, be sure of that, if the ground 

 is well ploughed ] but we ought not to encourage them 

 to go down ; and to this end, we should place the ma- 

 nure upon the surface of the ground, rather than under 

 them. The recent experiments in surface manuring, 

 in England and America, prove conclusively that, for 

 most purposes, this is really the best plan, and that there 

 is very little loss of valuable material occasioned by the 

 exposure of the manure to the atmosphere, whether de- 

 composed or not. But there is even a stronger reason 

 for the method of manuring which I recommend. If 

 the roots of pear trees are induced to go a long way 

 down into the subsoil, the buds and leaves will start in 

 the spring before the earth is so far warmed by solar 

 heat as to excite the roots into full action, and thus a 



