174 PERMANENT PLANTATIONS. 



it would not be advisable to plant any fruit trees in the 

 spaces, unless currants or gooseberries ; a row or two of 

 which might be put between two rows of the peaches for 

 the first four or five years after planting. Standard cher- 

 ries on mazzard stocks should not be over two years old 

 from the bud, with stems five feet high. In the west and 

 south, where the trees are subject to the bursting of the 

 bark on the trunk, it is advisable to have the trees 

 branched as near the ground as possible ; and in such 

 cases the MahaUb stock is better than the mazzard, as 

 it makes lower, more compact, and fertile trees. Or- 

 chards of pyramidal, or low dwarfs, on the Mahalcb may 

 be planted at twelve feet apart, or the ground may be 

 more compactly filled by planting standards and dwarfs 

 alternately, as in the case of the pears. 



Apricots on peach stocks may be planted in the same 

 soil, and should be of the same age and character as the 

 peaches. On plum stocks they are better adapted to 

 heavy soils. Plum trees for orchard standards should be 

 about two years old from the bud or graft, with stems 

 about three feet high. The stone fruits in particular 

 should have low stems, as they are more subject to the 

 gum on the trunk if pruned up high. They may be planted 

 at fifteen feet apart, the same as peaches and apricots. 

 Quinces should be two years old at least, and may be 

 three from the layer, cutting, or bud, with a stem two feet 

 high, clear of branches : they may be planted twelve feet 

 apart, which gives about 300 to the acre. 



9th. Pruning and Preparing the Trees for Planting. 

 When a tree is taken up from the nursery, it unavoidably 

 loses some of its roots, and others are more or less muti- 

 lated ; the roots frequently suffer, too, by long carriage or 

 exposure, and in this state it is unable to support the 

 entire head as it came from the nursery. This has been 

 previously explained. In order that a tree may grow, it 



