29 



OX THIS 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATION 



OF ORCHARDS. 



The first thing to be determined upon in the planting of au 

 orchard, is the proper distance of the trees : if a mere fruit 

 plantation be the object, the distance may be small — if the cul- 

 tivation 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. In my own plantations 

 I have adopted the various distances, according to the depth 

 and character of the soil ; about two-thirds of the ground, com- 

 prising about one hundred acres, are planted at fifty feet ; on 

 the remaining fifty acres, I have tried thirty, thirty-five, and 

 forty feet ; and, as far as could be conveniently done, I have 

 planted the trees of smallest growth on the lightest soil. 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 sun and air, in our dry and warm climate ; 

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

 able application 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, previ- 

 ous to digging the holes. In shallow soils, I would recommend 

 making the holes of the depth of two spits of earth, scattering 

 the lower spit at some distance ; and supplying its place by an 

 equal quantity of the neighboring surface earth ; the depth of 

 the hole must depend on that of the sub-soil. 



An eligible mode, which I have practised with success in a 

 large portion of my orchards, 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 ; ploughing the ground for a fallow crop the 

 next spring, when the mud has hecome 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 ; af- 

 fording antple space for the expansion of the roots in loose rich 



