S58 



0 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



{Feb. 



borders, care must be taken not to dig too deep, for fear of 

 injuring the roots of the trees ; and in doing this, prefer to 

 use a three or four-prong'd fork to tm*n the ground with in- 

 stead of a spade. If the borders have been ridged up in 

 autumn, level down the ridges, and dig the whole over again 

 in a neat manner. The borders will then be in readiness to 

 crop, as circumstances may require, and the whole will have a 

 neat and orderly appearance. It is a mistaken notion to sup- 

 pose that fruit-tree borders should be left uncropped ; the crops 

 generally taken off those borders are of the earliest sorts, and 

 are all annuals, and mostly taken off for use before they have 

 come to their full perfection ; indeed many of them, such as 

 salads, which generally occupy a large share of those borders, 

 are used in their first stage of growth. The only crops likely 

 to exhaust such borders are some of the brassica tribe, such 

 as early crops of cauliflowers and cabbages ; but for those 

 crops, a sufficient quantity of nutriment is laid in for them at 

 planting, and without the advantages of such borders, from 

 what quarter is the gardener to expect his early culinary pro- 

 ductions, which in themselves are, in most cases, of equal im- 

 portance to fruits ? We have never seen any ill effects fi'om 

 borders being cropped with vegetables, provided that it was 

 not carried to the extreme : and if the trees be manasred on 

 good and proper principles, we are confident that no ill effect 

 can be produced. However, for those borders on which peach 

 and nectarine-trees are planted, we have already said, that dung 

 in its simple state, should be avoided as much as possible ; 

 still, a dressing of a rich conxpost-mould, composed of fresh 

 maiden loam, vegetable mould, and dung rotted to a sufficient 

 degree, and blended together, should be annually given them, 

 and this will be sufficient both to nourish the trees, and to 

 produce all the culinary vegetables that are generally gi*own on 

 such borders. During the summer months, these borders may 

 rest, particularly the southern ones, as at that season few 

 vegetables can be brought to perfection on them ; but for au- 

 tumn, winter, and early spring crops, they cannot be produc- 

 tive of any injurious effects. The necessary stirring, digging, 

 and hoeing of the ground must be of much benefit to the trees. 



