138 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



THE NURSERY ORCHARD, as practiced by A. R. Whit- 

 ney, of Lee Co., 111., now one of the largest orchard- 

 ists of the country, is well worthy of imitation by all 

 those nurserymen, who desire also to become fruit-grow- 

 ers. In laying off the blocks of nursery stock, the va- 

 rieties that are wanted for the orchard, should be planted 

 in such a manner, that they shall be in every fourth row, 

 so that the orchard trees will stand in rows sixteen to 

 twenty feet apart, according as the nursery-rows are four 

 or five feet wide. In cultivating and trimming these rows 

 in the nursery, a plant is selected, every twelve or sixteen 

 feet, which is to remain as the orchard tree when the block 

 shall be cleared. A good tree is selected, and special care 

 in the pruning is bestowed upon it to secure the desired 

 form, arid low branches ; if necessary, the tree on either 

 side of it is removed, to give it room. By the time the 

 block is cleared, these orchard trees are often in bearing, 

 and while his customers are struggling to save their trees, 

 and nursing them after their transplanting, the nurseryman 

 will have become an orchardist, and is enjoying his fruits. 

 The nursery will have become an orchard one rather 

 closely planted to be sure but the trees can be dwarfed 

 by root pruning with the plow, they shelter one another 

 from the prairie blasts, and when too thick, alternate trees 

 may be removed to the wood-pile, and thus cheer the 

 owner on a winter's day. 



WINTER-KILLING is a serious evil in the nursery, as by 

 it whole rows and blocks of certain varieties are some- 

 times destroyed, or very seriously injured. It has been 

 observed to be most marked in its effects upon those sorts 

 of trees that make the most vigorous and sappy growth, 



