230 TI1E ORCHARD. [March. 



by grazing stock. Where circumstances will allow it is best to 

 plant fruit trees on newly broken-up ground, and to cultivate the 

 soil (refreshing it with manure as often as necessary), until the 

 trees are well grown; then to lay it down to grass; for after that 

 period the shade of the trees would do less injury to it than to any 

 other crop; and besides, the pending boughs would render tillage 

 inconvenient. 



Choice of Trees, fyc. 



If not provided with trees in your own nursery, you must apply 

 to some public nursery-man of integrity, who will not deceive you 

 in the varieties of the kinds wanted: observe in the first place that 

 the trees are healthy and fresh looking, without any blemishes or 

 appearance of canker or worms in the bark; that they have been 

 raised at proper distances, and not drawn up spindling; that their 

 heads are well formed and well furnished; that their stems are 

 stout, proportionate to their heads, straight, clean, and from five to 

 six feet high from the surface to the spreading of the branches; that 

 they are not more than from two to four years old from the bud or 

 graft, and that all have been worked, that is, budded or grafted, 

 for otherwise, there would be no certainty of having good fruit, and 

 besides, they would be much longer coming into bearing. 



These are important objects, and such as you cannot be deceived 

 in. Never make choice of larger trees nor higher in the stems 

 than six feet, especially for general plantations, for they never 

 thrive as well as young trees, and are subject to bedashed about by 

 the wind after planting. 



The next object is to see them taken up with care, so as to pre- 

 serve all their roots as entire as possible; when taken up, prune oft* 

 any broken or bruised parts of the roots, shorten long stragglers, 

 and top the ends of the principal roots in general with the knife; 

 always observing to prune these roots on the under side, and slop- 

 ing outwards. 



Let several varieties of each particular kind be chosen, such as 

 ripen their fruit at different periods from the earliest to the latest, 

 especially when they are wanted for the table; but by much a 

 greater number of autumnal and late ripening kinds, than of the 

 early sorts, particularly of the apples; for the early ripening fruits 

 are of short duration, and only proper for temporary service. When 

 you want apples or peaches for distillation, or cider-making, choose 

 proper juicy kinds for that purpose, and quantities proportionate to 

 your intentions. 



Method of Planting. 



If the trees have been already trained so as to have full branch- 

 ing heads, they must be planted with those entire, only retrenching 

 or shortening anv irregular or ill-placed branches or shoots that 

 take an awkward direction, or that grow across others or such as 

 run considerably longer than the generality of the others, either 



