122 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



sentiments of affiliation with men of congenial tastes and 

 pursuits. 



SITE AND SOIL FOR THE NURSERY. A somewhat ele- 

 vated position should be selected for the ground that is to 

 be appropriated for the production of trees ; the surface 

 water should be able to escape rapidly, instead of standing 

 in the paths, and furrows, and trenches. The fresh air 

 should be able to blow freely over the young trees, sway- 

 ing them about, trying their fibres, and at the same 

 time giving them new strength and vigor : not that 

 they should be too much exposed to the rude blasts, 

 as they might be upon the vast savannas of the West, 

 where a protecting belt of deciduous and evergreen 

 trees, to a moderate extent, will be found of, service, and 

 conducive to the healthy development of young trees in 

 the nursery. But even the naked prairie, exposed for 

 miles in every direction, would offer a better location for 

 the nursery, than a few acres cleared out among the heavy 

 timber. Here the little trees, if crowded together, must 

 be drawn up to meet the light, and will be poorly furnished 

 with lateral branches, and unprepared to meet the rude 

 battle with the elements that awaits them in their future 

 orchard homes, which, indeed, too often become rather 

 their graves, into which they are thrust, buried, not plant- 

 ed, and whence they rise no more, but after a fruitless 

 struggle, dwindle and die. 



A somewhat elevated situation is also valuable, on ac- 

 count of its greater probable immunity from frost, than a 

 lower level ; and this is often a matter of great importance 

 in the successful cultivation of fruit trees. 



The soil should be a good strong sandy loam, one that 



