88 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



with a correct eye, can set and cap the posts or 

 stakes as fast as two rnen can build the fence. 

 I put a rock 4 or 5 inches thick between the 

 posts, which saves a rail, and keeps the fence 

 off the ground for a few years. Seven or eight 

 rails, with the rock, will make a good fence, 

 which should have a worm of 2-| or 3 feet. 

 The top rail should be put on the cap. The 

 pin of the stake above the cap should be 8 to 

 10 inches. The stakes should be put in the 

 ground IS inches. Rails should be made of 

 good size, particularly, if made of chestnut, as 

 the j are not so liable to spring or warp. 



Your orchard being properly enclosed, lay 

 ©it the rows at right angles for peach trees, 

 one rood apart, is "a good distance; for apple 

 trees 30, 35 or 40 feet from each other, owing 

 to the quality of the land. On thin lands 30 

 feet does very well, but on good lands, with the 

 orchard well cultivated and manured, 40 feet 

 is bettor. Some of my trees, planted 20 years 

 ago, at 33 feet, are now lapping together where 

 the ground is good. Corn grew here last sum- 

 mer i and 12 feet high. On the hillside there 

 is yet ample room. 



My land is generally poor, with occasional 

 good spots. It starved out the original pro- 

 prietors, who moved to Missouri, and are all 

 dead. By a better rotation of crops, two of 

 grain and three of grass, and again three of 

 grain and two of grass, with a regular appli- 

 cation of barn-yard manures, plaster and lime, 

 not forgetting the hen-house, my land, after 

 twenty years' close application, is paying in 

 fair crop3, with a fine supply of choice fruits, i 

 i have labored much of this time with my own 

 hands, and have given personal superintendence 

 to every part of my business. We are some- 

 what sys&ematic in our habits, eating and sleep- 

 ing regularly, working constantly, but mode- 

 rately, and never after night, if to be avoided. 

 My family making free use of fruits and vege- 

 tables the year round, we have enjoyed almost 

 uninterrupted good health. Leaving out mid- 

 wifery fees, in twenty years I have not paid 

 twenty dollars for medical service, in a family 

 ranging from fifteen to twenty persons. 



But I. have digressed from the subject in 

 hand, and will say to the fruit grower, make 

 your holes in which you set your trees large, 

 4 feet square and 18 inches deep, throwing 

 away the subsoil. Fill the holes half full of 

 virgin soil or compost manure; set your tree 

 in well, about as deep as it formerly stood in 

 the nursery; bind it with a wisp of straw to a 

 staks, to keep it straight. Keep your trees 

 clear of grass, and occasionally work around 

 them, crapping and manuring them carefully, 

 and in a Tew years you may expect to enjoy 



the fruits of your labor. By the way, the first 

 fruits are not always a fair sample of what you 

 may expect in after years, being often knotty 

 and ill formed when the trees first come into 



bearing. 



I will now present to your readers some se- 

 lect varieties of fruit, as raised by myself, or 

 highly recommended by others, ripening in 



succession : 



Selection of Choice Pears, to ripen from 

 July to April. — Madeline, Bloodgood, Dear- 

 bon's Seedling, Bartlette, White Doyenne, Sec- 

 kle, Surpasse Virgalieu, Dunmore, Beurre 

 Bose, Dix. Columbian, Winter Nelis, St. Ger- 

 main. 



Of Peach. — Early Tillotson, White Impe- 

 rial, Early Newington, Royal George, Grosse 

 Miznonne, George IV., Crawford's Early, Ber- 

 gen's Yellow, Brevort, Malta, Heath, Large 

 White Clingstone, Druid Hill, Lemon Cling- 

 stone, Washington, Crawford's Early Malaeo- 

 tan, Crawford's Late Malacotan, Columbia, 

 Prince's Red Rareripe, La Grange, Morris' 

 White Rareripe. 



Of Nectarines. — Early Violet, Hardwick's 

 Seedling, Elrudge, Boston, Hunt's Tawny, Bo- 

 man, New White, Newington, Pitmaston's Or- 

 ange, Violette Hative. 



Of Plums. — Royal Hative, Hudson Gage, 

 Green Gage, Jefferson, Hilling's Superb, Pur- 

 ple Gage, Coe's G-olden Drop, Lawrence's Fa- 

 vorite, Washington, Coe's Late Red. 



Of Cherries. — Early Purple Guigne, Ban- 

 rnann's Early, Knight's Early Black, May Duke, 

 Bigarreau, Tartarian, Downer's Late, Belle de 

 Choisy, Kentish, Morello, Montmorency. 



Of Currants. — Red and White Dutch, Mayo 

 Victoria, Knight's Large Red, Knight's Sweet 

 Red. 



Of Gooseberries. — Red Washington, Crown 

 Bob, Keen's Seedling, Yellow, Woodward's 

 Whitesmith, White Honey, Yellow Ball, Tay- 

 lor's Bright Venus, Pitmaston's Green Gage, 

 Green Walnut, Parkinson's Laurel. 



Of Strawberries. — Large Early Scarlet, 

 Hovey's Seedling, Ross's Phoenix, Hudson's 

 Bay, British Queen, Red and White Alpine, 

 Prolific Hautbois, Elton, Old Pine. 



Of Grapes, {Natives.) — Catawba, Bland, 

 Ohio, Lenoir and Isabella. 



Of Raspberry. — Red and Yellow Antwerp, 

 Cretan Red, Franconia, Ohio Everbearing, 

 Victoria. 



Of Apricots. — The Large Early, Breda, 

 Peach and Moorpark, are the best. 



I will close this communication by adding a 

 list of apples as recommended by Downing for 

 summer, autumn and winter, and would remark 

 that trees to pay well must, like corn, be kept 



