19 



ON THE PLANTING AND CULTIVATION 



OF 



ORCHARDS. 



The first thing to be determined upon in the planting of an orchard, 

 is the proper distance of the trees. If a mere fruit plantation be the 

 object, the distance may be small ; if the cultivation of grain and 

 grass be in view, the space between the trees must be wider. At 

 thirty feet apart, an acre will contain forty-eight trees : at thirty-five 

 feet, thirty-five trees ; at forty feet, twenty-seven trees ; and at fifty 

 feet, about eighteen to the acre : these are the usual distances. 

 Taking every circumstance into consideration, it will probably be 

 found that forty feet is the most eligible distance for a farm orchard : 

 it will admit sufficient snn and air, in our dry and warm climate: 

 and until the trees shall be fully grown, will allow of a profitable ap- 

 plication of the ground to the cultivation of grain and grass. 



Much trouble will be saved, and much accuracy in planting will be 

 ensured, by marking the sites of trees by stakes, previous to digging 

 the holes. In shallow soils, I would recommend making the hole- of 

 the depth of two spits of earth, scattering the lower spit at some dis- 

 tance, and supplying its place by an equal quantity of the neighbor- 

 ing surface earth : the depth of the hole mast depend on that of the 

 sub-soil. 



An eligible mode on the lighter soils, is to supply the place of the 

 stratum of poor earth by one or two loads of meadow mud, ditch 

 banks, or good surface soil, laid round each tree after planting: plough- 

 ing the ground for a fallow crop the next spring, when the mud has 

 become completely pulverized by the frost; the size of the hole should 

 be sufficiently large to admit a spade handle when laid horizontally 

 in the bottom, affording ample space for the expansion of the roots in 

 loose rich earth. 



