374 How THE FARM PAYS. 



ORCHARD FRUITS. 



Unlike the "small fruits," such as strawberries and raspberries, 

 when once planted in suitable soil, the large fruits will last a life-time, 

 and as many of them are several years before they come into 

 bearing, any error made in the selection of kinds is a serious one. 

 Whenever practicable, therefore, the purchase of trees for the orchard 

 should be made direct from nurserymen whose reputation is beyond 

 question. Many thousands of farmers in nearly every section of the 

 country have been victims of the irresponsible tree peddlers, who, 

 whether from ignorance or design, have palmed upon the unfortunate 

 patrons apples, pears, peaches and plums which after years of 

 anxious waiting for have proved entirely worthless. No doubt there 

 are honest and trustworthy tree agents; but these bear such a small 

 proportion to those who are otherwise, that the safest plan, for the 

 uninitiated farmer, as I have before said, is to make his purchases 

 direct from his nearest reliable nurseryman, keeping always the point 

 in view, that it is best to buy north of his latitude. 



It is not safe to leave the selection of kinds exclusively in the hands 

 of the nurseryman, for no matter how respectable he may be, there is 

 always a temptation to send out such kinds as he may happen to have 

 a surplus stock of. For that reason I will in all cases, as has been 

 done with ah 1 crops throughout this work, give a list of what in my 

 experience are the safest kinds to use for general planting. 



The soil and its preparation for the orchard are also vital matters. 

 For most fruits a deep and rather sandy loam is best, but, as in all 

 other crops, it is useless to plant trees unless the soil is free from 

 water, and if draining is necessary it must be thoroughly done. (See 

 article on draining.) A limestone gravelly soil is best for apples, 

 pears succeed best upon good clay loams, plums require a rather 

 moist soil for the best results, and peaches must have a warm light 

 sandy loam with a somewhat heavier subsoil, but well drained, either 

 naturally or artificially. The location of an orchard is quite important. 

 Apples and peaches do best upon hilly or rolling ground, while pears 

 and plums do well in low lands. A western exposure, and in some 

 cases a northern slope, is preferable to any other, for all fruits. A 

 southern slope is the worst of all, as the trees in such a case are forced 

 by the sun's warmth into a too early growth, and often suffer from 

 late spring frosts, which destroy the blossom, while the more back- 

 ward trees upon western or northern slopes are uninjured. The 

 advantage of a western slope is that it escapes the morning sun, which 

 is sometimes injurious after a cold frosty night, while it enjoys the 



