APPENDIX. 99 



up, only taking care not to allow the manure to come in 

 contact with the roots ! 



Now, to say nothing of the fact that stable-manure 

 alone is not the best manure for fruit trees, the cost of 

 trenching an acre of land upon this plan, he admits, will 

 be $100. Fifty two-horse loads of stable-manure will 

 cost, six miles from Philadelphia, from 1250 to $300. 

 Four hundred good dwarf pear trees for an acre, with 

 labor of planting, &c., will cost at least $200; thus 

 making the first outlay for an acre of trees, from $550 to 

 $600. This, with the value of the land, after-culture, 

 and risk, is rather too high a figure to render the culture 

 of dwarf pears, " for market purposes,'' an inviting specu- 

 lation. 



Now, the truth is, a soil suitable for a pear orchard 

 may be thoroughly prepared with the sub-soil plough, 

 by CT'OSS-ploughing, at about the cost of four ordinary 

 ploughings and two harrowings. This will give a soil 

 eighteen inches in depth, well pulverized, which is 

 ample. No general manuring is required; and, if done, 

 will be a great waste of means. In all other respects, 

 except that noticed, Mr. Field's book is a good one, and 

 exhibits, on the part of its author, not only much literary 

 skill, but a highly refined and susceptible nature. 



For myself, I believe that the pear on the quince 

 stock, if planted, as I have suggested, in the simple loam 

 of a proper soil, well ploughed and sub-soiled, in a 

 sheltered situation and proper exposure, and afterwards 

 mulched, and top-dressed with proper manures, and 



