372 Notes and Gleanings. 



How THE Editor of the Gardener's Monthly would plant a Fruit 

 Garden. — The editor of the Gardener's Monthly has often complained that his 

 peculiar views in regard to the cultivation of fruit trees have been misrepresented. 

 We therefore copy the following directions for planting a fruit garden from the 

 October number of that journal, that all our readers may know exactly Iwvv he 

 proceeds. He does not, however, mention any instance in which this plan has 

 beoo successfully tried, and we wish it distinctly understood that we do not rec- 

 ommend it. 



" We feel that the advice constantly given to subsoil and underdrain, and ma- 

 nure to the extent of hundreds of dollars per acre is too costly to follow, and of 

 little use after it is taken. If we were going io prepare a piece of ground for an 

 orchard, we should manure it heavil}', and put in -a crop of potatoes; then in 

 October manure again lightly, and put in rye. On this, in April, we should sow 

 red clover. The rye off, we should then consider it ready to plant trees. For 

 aj^ples, pears, plums, or cherries we should mark out the rows ten feet apart, and 

 for the trees ten feet from each other. This will be twice as thick as they will 

 be required when full grown, but they grow much better when thick together ; 

 and they will bear more than enough fruit to pay for the room they occupy before 

 the time comes to cut every other one away. We say the rows ten feet apart, but 

 every fourth row should be twelve feet, to afford room to get between the blocks 

 with a cart. 



" Plant as early in October as possible, but it can be continued until the ap- 

 proach of frost. To plant, a hole can be dug in the stubble just large enough to 

 hold the roots without cramping them. We should tread in the soil, and trim in 

 the head very severely. The next spring we should just break the crust formed 

 by the winter rains about the tree, and then leave everything to grow as it rr^ight. 

 The clover will be ready to cut in June or July. The twelve feet rows may be 

 done by machine, the rest by hand. Hay enough will be made to pay for all the 

 labor in one year and a little more. After the hay has been hauled off, bring 

 back some rich earth of any kind, and spread about a quarter or half an inch 

 thick over the surface of the ground disturbed in making the hole. This will 

 keep the grass from growing very strong just over the roots. Keej) on this way 

 annually, every two or three years giving the whole surface of the orchard a top 

 dressing for the sake of the grass, and it will be found to be the most profitable 

 way of making the orchard ground pay for itself until the fruit crops come in, 

 that one can adopt. The trees also will be models of health and vigor, and when 

 they commence to bear will do so regularly and abundantly. This is an epitome 

 of what the Gardener's Monthly has taught, opposed as it has been by the ex- 

 cellent men of the old school of culture. No one who follows it will ever aban-* 

 don it for any other. It is costless, comparatively, from the first to the last, and 

 pays its way at every step. 



" The dwarfer fruit trees we would plant on the same system, but six instead 

 of ten feet apart. Few soils are too wet for fruit trees. Only in wet soils plant 

 on the surface, and throw up the earth over them from between, so as to make a 

 ditch or furrow to carry away the surface water. On the plan of annual surface 

 dressings, which we have outlined, the feeding roots will thus always keep above 



