SITE FOB AN ORCHARD. 211 



by this apparent difficulty ; it may be overcome by the inge- 

 nuity of the skillful farmer. Thorough or under-drainage 

 will remedy all the evils of clay soils, and bring out their 

 superior advantages. This will be more fully explained in 

 another place. Much may be done toward removing the 

 redundant moisture, even in the flat clay lands of the 

 prairies and other extended plateaus, by the simple means 

 of ridging up the lands with the plow. What is familiar- 

 ly called "back-furrowing" enables the plowman to raise 

 a ridge upon which to plant his trees, and at the same 

 time he opens a furrow for the escape of surface water. 

 While a portion of the redundant moisture is thus remov- 

 ed, another great object of drainage is not attained; I al- 

 lude to the aeration of the soil. 



From what has been said upon a previous page, it might 

 be inferred, that as the apple may be cultivated upon soils 

 of such great diversity as those that occur over the range 

 of territory indicated, as well as upon the western coast 

 of this continent, and in the temperate regions of the Old 

 World, the peculiar soils that are characterized by their 

 underlying rocks, would be equally acceptable, whether 

 these were granites, shales, sandstones, or limestones. 

 Such is not the fact, however, and we have found, in this 

 utilitarian age, that geology has much to do with the 

 planting of an orchard. There are varieties that succeed 

 better upon one rock than upon another, and there are 

 those that fail to be remunerative when transplanted to a 

 rock, which to them is obnoxious, though it may be a very 

 paradise to other varieties. 



These observations are becoming a matter of great im- 



