PLANTING 41 



We believe most strongly and stubbornly in the careful prepara- 

 tion of any land about to be permanently planted with fruit. 

 Almost anything can be done with it before the trees are planted, 

 but for ever afterwards there are limitations. 



Some years ago, to be precise it was in 1894, we planted a large 

 acreage of fruit trees not many miles from London. We most 

 carefully prepared, as we shall show. We selected every tree and 

 planted with the utmost care, with the result that though a sharp 

 winter immediately followed, not a single tree succumbed. Success 

 appeared to be so well assured during the first season that we 

 found an imitator in a neighbour farmer, but he supposed he could 

 achieve similar results without incurring the same expenses we 

 had been put to. If our land showed promise as a fruit farm, why 

 should not his, seeing his field was contiguous and of similar soil ? 

 He dug his holes even without ploughing his land ; he went to an 

 auction sale and bought trees of sundry kinds at less than half 

 the price we paid ; he planted them in a rough-and-ready way, 

 and five years after his best trees were no larger than when planted, 

 many were stunted and cankered, but the majority had died and 

 were never replaced. It is not to be wondered at that this farmer 

 ever afterward condemned fruit growing in no measured terms. 

 How very different was our experience ! 



The land we planted had for years borne the regular crops of 

 cereals and roots. The soil was good and deep, but practically 

 farmed out. It was foul, as much of the land was in those worst 

 years of agricultural depression. The summer happened to be hot 

 and dry and was ideal for the cleaning. We hired steam tackle and 

 cultivated athwart and across, not more than I foot deep, thus 

 keeping the rubbish on top. Over this the harrows were passed, 

 and when the sun had dried the spear grass and thistles these 

 weeds were raked into rows and burnt. Then the cultivators were 

 put in again, penetrating another foot and the process of cleaning 

 was repeated. Throughout September the land lay resting ; in 

 October manure was carted on, the plough followed, and all was 

 ready by the end of the month. Meanwhile the best nurseries in 

 the country had been visited and the requisite number of trees, 

 many hundreds, were selected. They were carefully lifted, packed 

 into railway trucks, and brought home. Holes were dug in readiness, 



