des Arbres Fruitiers. 621 



rally. As a general rule, kernel fruit trees require a deep and substantial soil, 

 while stone fruit succeeds well with a lighter soil, either calcareous or sili- 

 ceous. However good the surface of the soil we are going to plant may 

 appear, we must always sound it to find out its depth, and the subsoil on 

 which it rests. To grow fruit trees witli success, it is essential that the good 

 soil should not be less than 3 ft. thick for kernel fruit, and from 15 in. to 

 20 in. for stone fruit, whether the soil is naturally of that depth or rendered 

 so by art. The best subsoil is a gravelly one, or sandy, to allow the water to 

 sink into it easily ; the worst is a spongy or clayey soil, which prevents the 

 water from penetrating it. In this last case, if the surface of the soil has not 

 a sufficient slope, the lower roots of the trees, soon finding a stagnation of 

 moisture, suffer, become sickly, and finally die. 



" When we set about planting, we have in view to place the trees either 

 where there are none, or to put good ones in the place of those that are bad, 

 worn out, or dead. In the first instance, if the soil is naturally good and 

 sufficiently deep, the expense will be trifling ; but, in the second case, it is 

 indispensable to remove the old soil in which the trees grew, and to replace it 

 with fresh mould for the new trees. 



" There are two ways of opening the soil for the reception of trees : the 

 first, more common than the other, on account of its economy, consists in 

 making a hole for each tree to receive its roots ; the second, more expensive, 

 but better, consists in opening a trench the whole length of the row of trees 

 to be planted. I add a few words on these two methods. 



" Holes, — When the soil is of a good quality, and rests on a good subsoil, 

 it is customary [to make square holes, 4 ft. on each of the sides, and 3 ft. deep, 

 to lay the upper strata, which are usually the best soil, on one of the sides of 

 the hole, and the lower strata, which are usually not so good, on the other 

 side. If the holes could be made some months, or long before planting, the 

 soil would be improved by the influence of the atmosphere. On planting, the 

 hole is filled half full of the earth from the upper layers ; if some pieces of 

 turf could be procured, and put at the bottom of the hole upside down, the 

 operation would be more perfect. When the good soil is less than 3 ft. thick, 

 and when the subsoil is spongy or clayey, the holes ought not to be made so 

 deep, but wider by a third, and even double the width, that the roots may 

 have greater facility in spreading horizontally, than in descending perpen- 

 dicularly. 



" Trenches. — When expense is not regarded in making a plantation, trenches 

 are dug, 6 ft. broad and 3 ft. deep, in the direction of the rows of trees to be 

 planted, throwing the upper earth on one side of the trench, and the lower 

 earth on the other side ; and, when planting commences, the upper or best 

 earth is thrown into the bottom of the trench. On digging these holes or 

 trenches, if the soil is found not to be sufficiently good, some of the soil 

 known to be very good must be mixed with it, in sufficient quantity, whether 

 a half, a third, or a fourth part ; but, if the soil in the hole or trench is abso- 

 lutely bad, it must be removed, and replaced by good soil. Two thirds of 

 good arable soil and a third of meadow soil, well mixed, usually form an excel- 

 lent soil for fruit trees. The cleanings out of ponds and the sweepings of the 

 streets, thoroughly rotted and mixed with a middling soil, renders it fit for 

 fruit trees. Turf, heaped up in large piles, becomes, in time, a very good soil 

 for them also ; or the ground may be improved or enriched by manure tho- 

 roughly decayed. 



" Good authors advise never to open a tufous or clayey subsoil, even wher 

 it is 1 ft. or 6 in. below the surface, and yet the worse it is the more it is 

 dug up in the usual routine ; but a great evil ensues, which 1 must warn pro- 

 prietors of. After a hole has been made, 4 ft. square and 3 ft. deep, in the 

 tufa or clay, filled with good soil, and a tree planted in it, this tree may grow 

 tolerably, or even very well for some years ; but it will soon find itself 

 cramped, as if in a box : its roots, not being able to spread in search of new 

 nourishment, suffer, and the tree becomes sickly. 



