ADAPTED FOR AN ORCHARD. 



431 



other respects. Sometimes the trees are distributed in groups over a lawn 

 or paddock, so as to constitute the main part of the woody scenery of a 

 small villa. They are also occasionally mixed in with ornamental trees and 

 shrubs ; a most incongruous assemblage in our opinion, and one which can 

 never form an efficient substitute for an orchard. In whatever situation 

 standard fruit-trees are planted, the subsoil should be rendered dry, and the 

 surface soil put into good heart by manure. A loamy soil on a dry firm 

 clayey or loamy, or rocky, subsoil, is preferable to a sandy soil on gravel, 

 more especially for apples ; but pears and cherries will grow on a drier and 

 lighter soil, provided it be of some depth. Wherever the common hawthorn 

 grows luxuriantly with a clear healthy bark, there orchard fruit- trees will 

 thrive. 



908. The plants may be dwarfs, if the plantation is to be exclusively 

 devoted to fruit-trees, and the ground neither cropped nor laid down in grass ; 

 but standards are preferable, as admitting more light and air. A very 

 convenient and economical mode is to plant rows of standards and dwarfs 

 alternately : the dwarfs, being on dwarfing-stocks, come first into bearing, 

 and may be removed as the branches of the standards extend themselves. 

 Gooseberries, currants, and raspberries may be planted in the intervals, 

 and retained there for two or three years ; but they ought to be removed as 

 soon as they are in the slightest degree shaded by the trees. As this is very 

 generally neglected, we should prefer having no fruit-shrubs at all, but 

 leaving the surface naked to be occupied entirely by the roots of the dwarfs 

 and standards. All the plants ought to be set on little hills, more especially 

 if the subsoil is such as to be readily penetrated by the roots, or if the ground 

 has been previously trenched ; the great object being to preserve the roots 

 near the surface. The distances at which the trees may be planted are : — 

 For standards, apples, and pears, from thirty feet to forty feet in a medium 

 soil ; or in a thin soil and exposed situation, from twenty-five feet to 

 thirty feet ; and in a rich soil, from forty feet to fifty feet. Cherries and 

 plums, from twenty-five feet to thirty-five feet, according to soil and situ- 

 ation. For dwarfs on free stocks, one -half the above distances will suffice ; 

 and where dwarfs on dwarfing-stocks are to be planted among standards, 

 three dwarfs may be planted for every standard : that is, there may be a row of 

 dwarfs between every tw^o rows of standards, and a dwarf alternating with 

 every standard in the row. The standards, if they have been two or three 

 years grafted, will probably require to be supported by stakes, to which the 

 stems a short distance below the head ought to be carefully tied with hay- 

 bands. Sheathing the stems of standard trees, especially when they have 

 been late planted or have not abundance of roots, should not be neglected, 

 for reasons already given. The sheathing, which may be of moss, fern, 

 or straw, tied on with matting, or simply of straw or hay ropes wound 

 round, may be left on till it drops oflf of itself. Mulching (831) is also 

 of great use in late planting. 



909. Select list of standard fruit-trees, adapted for an orchard or plantation 

 , subsidiary to a kitchen-garden ; those marked with t being preferable : — 



Apples, tOslin. 

 +Early red Margaret. Duchess of Oldenburgh. 



tirish Peach. White Astrachan. 



tSummer Golden Pippin. | tKerry Pippin. 



F F 2 



