Protecting the Stems of Fruit Trees. 275 



broadcast, and every plant six inches from every other, I 

 could not stir between them, with a common hoe, deeper 

 than one or two inches. 



Stirring deep and frequently renders watering unnecessary, 

 because a porous surface is less impervious to the heat of the 

 sun than a solid one, and therefore keeps the ground beneath 

 both cooler and moister. Any gardener who doubts this 

 being the case, may convince himself of the fact by covering- 

 part of a bed of onions with three inches of rotten tan, and 

 comparing the soil beneath the tan with that left bare, as to 

 heat and dryness. (See p. 76.) 



Such a summer as the last proves the value of my plan ; 

 while the seedling crops of many of my neighbours were 

 burnt up, mine were in luxuriance ; my onions stood regu- 

 larly at six inches apart, and were from eight inches to twelve 

 inches in circumference; my carrots and parsnips stood at 

 eight and ten inches, and measured from ten to fourteen inches 

 in circumference, and all my other crops were in proportion. 

 Some young trees, such as acacias (Cobbett's locusts), which 

 I drilled in May last, and thinned out and stirred between 

 the rows, are now three feet high. I have these and other 

 articles ready to show in proof of what I assert. 



My soil is a deep sour clay, which I dig and dung before 

 winter ; going as deep as the soil will admit, as I find it a 

 great advantage to bring up fresh earth. 



I am, Sir, &c. 



W. B. Rose. 

 Foxcote, near Shipston-on-Stow\ Worcestershire, 

 Nov. 2. 1826. 



The superiority of our correspondent's plan is unquestion- 

 able ; we would recommend to him, and particularly to such 

 as have the misfortune to prefer the broadcast mode, Mentor's 

 Spanish hoe (p. 233.), which will go much deeper, either 

 between rows, or in roundish spaces, than the common draw 

 or thrust hoe. — Cond.. 



Art. VIII. On the good Effects of protecting the Stems of 

 Fruit Trees. By William Stowe, Esq. Surgeon, Buck- 



ingham. 



Sir, 

 The indefatigable and scientific president of the Horticul- 

 tural Society, in the sixth volume of its Transactions, (G. Mag. 



t 2 



