PYRAMID OECHAEDS 129 



year's preparation by lifting, preceding the transplanta- 

 tion, will ensure their safe removal to a new orchard. 

 A mixed plantation will, I think, be found to answer 

 very well. As large pears fetch the highest price, they 

 will be the most profitable to plant, and the plum trees 

 will shelter the fruit from the effects of the autumnal 

 winds. 



There remains the question of the best method of 

 cropping the surface of the soil not occupied, and this 

 I am unable to answer. In the neighbourhood of a 

 town or of easy carriage, I think strawberries would 

 pay best. Black and red currants, or gooseberries, bring 

 the most profit, but with these crops the land must be 

 highly manured, or the trees will suffer. In the non- 

 bearing years of the pyramid trees some return of course 

 ought to be .made. 



It is evident that great allowance for spring frosts 

 must be made in planting orchards. Care should be 

 taken to select a locality not liable to excessive frosts. 

 The soil must i\ot be heavy or wet, and should be well 

 drained. Above all, a valley should be avoided, espe- 

 cially if a river runs through. Frosts are invariably 

 more severe near the water than on a hill. If a crop 

 can be reasonably expected five years out of seven, a 

 fruit orchard of trees six and twelve feet apart will 

 yield a good return for the outlay. An orchard from 

 which crops of fruit were taken every year would 

 probably soon be exhausted, as the trees, unless very 

 highly farmed, would probably overbear themselves. It 



