FRUIT TREES. Chap. II. 39 



It's also known that ground where the good soil is only eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches deep, only can accommodate cherry & plum trees, or trees grafted on them as 

 stocks. This is because plum & cherry tree roots run close to the surface of the ground, & 

 don't penetrate at all. Other fruit trees require about three feet of good soil. So if the depth 

 is insufficient in the area where planting is intended, it must be remedied accordingly. 



If there's a lot of barren sand, pebbles, or other material that allow water to 

 penetrate underneath the layer of good topsoil, a sufficient amount of this material must 

 be removed and replaced with enough fresh soil as is necessary to achieve, together with 

 the layer of good soil, a depth of about three feet. Keep in mind that turned & dug up soil 

 loses about a fifth of its volume as it settles down & compacts. So the total new depth 

 should be three-&-a-half to four feet. 



But if the layer of good soil covers a bed of clay, loam, tuff, or other material that 

 retains water, this bed must not be breached nor dug into, because water that accumulates 

 in holes or recesses that have been dug into it will become tainted and will putrefy the 

 ground, the contamination will spread to the roots of the trees, and they'll soon be lost 

 irretrievably. The best course to follow is to raise the level of the ground with fresh earth 

 brought in from elsewhere and to mix it with the layer of good soil, digging it up only as 

 far down as the bed of tuff or loam which is left intact. This leaves a depth of at least 

 three feet of good soil, since the part close to the tuff or to the loam is always cold and 

 has an adverse effect on trees. 



Planting in these types of soils can be very costly. It would be no less so 



