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This course we have often recommended within the 

 last twenty years ; for one portion of the soil in our 

 immediate neighbourhood is of this kind ; indeed, be- 

 ing on the margins of a large moor, the soil is of a 

 very poor and loose character. The small holders 

 around this moor were in the habit of digging the 

 ground close to the stems of their apple trees, in 

 order to grow potatoes ; what they considered making 

 the most of their land. We have persuaded many 

 to renounce this pernicious practice, and to keep their 

 trees in rows, with three feet at least on each side 

 totally uncropped, and of course undug. The bene- 

 fits under such a change soon become manifest. The 

 neighbourhood abounding in marl too, we have per- 

 suaded many, in making new plantations, to place 

 lumps of marl beneath the trees, and also to blend 

 the same material in a loose state all through the 

 mass of soil. In addition to this, they collect all the 

 lumps of turfy matter they can, weeds, &c., and mix 

 them through the mass ; and this course has always 

 proved successful even in such a poor locality. 



With regard to manures, we are rather averse to 

 their introduction into the body of the soil, unless 

 where the object is to obtain large trees in a short 

 period, irrespective of their produce for the first few 

 years. When such is the object, manuring becomes 

 a justifiable course, and it may be introduced liberally. 

 For ordinary gardens, however, or small orchard en- 



