MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES, he, 155 



grown up; but if they are planted promiscuously, they will not 

 appear so agreeable to the eye ; and, besides, the smaller trees 

 will be shaded by the larger, which will injure them, and spoil 

 the flavour of the fruit. 



Orchards should be dunged once in two or three years. 

 The stems of trees in those where catde feed should be high 

 enough to prevent their eating the lower branches ; and fenced 

 in such a manner as to prevent their being barked, or injured, 

 by the cattle rubbing against them, particularly when young ; 

 which may be done by triangles of wood, or the trees may be 

 bushed with thorns, &c. The trees are to be pruned and man- 

 aged as already directed for apples, pears, plums, &c. 



If the soil be wet, it must be drained, as already directed 

 for a garden. When the surface of the ground is wet, and has 

 a little descent, it may be formed into a kind of ridges, by mak- 

 ing a furrow, from one foot to two feet deep, between every 

 two rows, sloping the ground regularly on each side, from a 

 reasonable distance to the bottom of the furrow. These hol- 

 lows will carry off the water, and render the surface dry and 

 healthy. If pasture, the turf may be first pared off, and after- 

 wards re-laid when the furrow is made. 



In orchards, where cattle are not permitted to go, I would 

 prefer dwarf-trees to standards, taking care to proportion the 

 distance of the rows to the size of the trees. But in orchards 

 kept for pasture it will be necessary to plant standards. 



Burning of rotten wood, weeds, potatoe haulm, wet straw, 

 &c. on the windward side of the trees when they are in blos- 

 som, will be found a good preservative from blights, caterpil- 

 lars, &c. 



I would recommend washing the trees annually, in the 

 month of February or March, with the following mixture, 

 which will destroy the eggs of insects, and prevent moss from 

 growing on the trunks and branches ; It will also help to nou- 

 rish the tree, keeping the bark fine and healthy ; and will have 

 the same effect on it as a top dressing has upon grass land*. 



Mix fresh cow-dung with urine and soap-suds, and with 

 this mixture wash over the stems and branches of the trees, as 

 a white-washer would wash the cieling or walls of a room ; 

 taking care to cut off all the cankery parts, and to scrape off all 

 the moss, before you lay the mixture on. In the course of the 

 spring or summer, you will see a fine new bark coming on. 

 When the old bark is cankery, you must pare it off with a draw- 



• This should never be neglected in America, where the insects are the 

 l>ane of cultivation. 



