250 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



sheltered if possible from tlie east and north, and 

 with a good depth of (say) two or more feet of 

 calcareous slightly-holding loam, as free from iron 

 as possible, the next point is to proceed to trench it 

 over. The soil should, however, first of all be 

 tested by chemical means if needful, but practically 

 by the last crop grown upon it. If that is poor, the . 

 chances are that the loam is rather too lean for 

 Apples. In that case a liberal di-essing of well- 

 rotted farmyard manure may be trenched into the 

 soil. When this is necessary it wiU, however, be 

 better to crop the ground very widely with Potatoes, 

 say a row four feet apart. Early varieties should 

 be chosen, so as to get them up and well work 

 the ground before the planting season commences. 

 Mangolds or Swedes may be substituted for Pota- 

 toes, only the}' cannot be cleared off the ground so 

 early, and hence are not nearly so efiicient as cleans- 

 ing, sweetening, and manure-mixing crops. 



As a rule, however, no maniu-e is needful. But if 

 the ground is fresh brought under cultivation, it is 

 good practice to take a green crop off it the first 

 year, as this, by its sweetening and ameliorating 

 influence, hastens the growth and is more favour- 

 able to the health and longe%'ity of the Apple-trees. 

 These first crops are not only useful mechanically, 

 but for removing the grosser feeding substances out 

 of the soil. Rank gro^\i:hs are not to be fostered 

 in Apple-trees either by the richness of maiden soil, 

 or by adding strong manure. For such growths 

 mostly run into sterility, or degenerate into canker, 

 serious di-awbacks to the pleasant or profitable cul- 

 ture of the Apple or other fruit-trees. 



In the trenching of the ground over either with or 

 without manure, the first point to be determined is 

 the depth to trench it. This must be largely deter- 

 mined by the soil itself. Supposing the suitable soil 

 is only a foot deep, it would be folly and wholly 

 injurious to force its depth, as is sometimes done, by 

 incorporating another foot of barren or worthless sub- 

 soil with the surface tilth. On the contrary, where 

 sand, clay, or gravel is found so near to the surface 

 this should be removed, and an additional foot of 

 good loam added to that on the spot. This will give 

 an a\ erage depth of two feet, which may be safely 

 accepted as the mean depth for Apple-trees, though 

 on dry sites from six inches to a foot in addition, or 

 a total depth of a yard, will not prove excessive. 



It is important, however, that on level ground, or 

 sites with a regular fall, the depth should be urdform 

 throughout. Hence, in trenching, if the surface 

 tilth proves of an irregular depth, as it often does, 

 the subsoil should be removed, and the good earth 

 supplemented by fresh loam to make up the Apple 

 tilth to a depth of two feet or thirty inches. Before 

 dismissing the question of depth it may be added 



that the drier the site and the climate the deeper tho 

 soil should be, the more moist the shallower. In 

 Cumberland or Westmoreland a foot or fifteen inches 

 may suffice to grow good Apples ; in Devonshire and 

 Cornwall a yard, in East Anglia a yard or more, may 

 not prove excessive. 



In trenching to secure uniformity of depth it is 

 also important that the top of the subsoil should 

 be made as even as the surface. Any hills foimd on 

 the subsoil should be levelled down, also the valleys 

 filled up, and the whole be left as hard and smooth 

 as its quality will allow. Where the quality is 

 very bad, such as sand or sheer clay, barriers may 

 need to be placed between it and the surface soil. 

 Simple concrete is most frequently used for tbis 

 purpose, and it answers well. But other methods 

 are sometimes employed, such as moimding and 

 ridge -planting. By adopting this form the evil 

 day when the roots will plunge into injurious sub- 

 soils is deferred, and in not a few cases prevented 

 altogether. 



Uniformity of quality of soil should be aimed at as 

 well as regularity of depth. This comes of thorough 

 mixing and blending in the process of trenching. 

 Some, however, recommend placing the richer por- 

 tion of the soil a foot or eighteen inches below the 

 surface. The roots as they penetrate will thus find 

 fresh supplies, as those on the top get more or less 

 exhausted. But on the whole it is better to have 

 the soil, as nearly as may be, of one imiform quality 

 throughout. 



Time to Plant. — Nature and experience, theory 

 and practice agree that the time to plant Apple, 

 and most fruit and other trees, is the month of 

 November. The leaves are just about to fall, or 

 have fallen, the former being the best state for 

 insuring success. Vital force, never at rest, is 

 in November comparatively active, especially root- 

 wards (see the Life-History of Plants, which 

 renders it needless to dwell at any length on the 

 physiology of the subject here). Neither is the 

 solar heat of the summer and autumn yet exhausted. 

 Even November fogs, by leducing evaporation to 

 a minimum, assist the plant to suddenly re-establish 

 itself, and recommence growth in its root-quarters. 

 The drizzling rains, as well as the fogs, are useful 

 to the semi-detached roots, as they are conservative 

 of the vital forces of the tops of the Apple-trees. 



Even the iinfallen leaves, imder such genial con- 

 ditions, exert a certain semi -resuscitating force, and 

 tend to quicken the production of fresh roots. The 

 latter are in an unusually active state in November. 

 Various reasons have been assigned for this, but the 

 planter is most concerned with the fact rather than 

 the causes of it. And of the fact there is no doubt 



