290 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Nuts have been profitable in some districts, and even now 
substantial returns are obtained from established thriving plan- 
tations. But those who plant Nuts have a long time to wait for 
paying crops, and their chief advantage is that they can be grown 
in stony soils and shady situations where few other things will 
succeed, but dressings of manure are required to ensure the best 
progress. The bushes make good sheltering screens for low- 
growing fruits. 
Profitable Fruit Plantations. 
Various methods of arranging fruit plantations are followed 
by growers for sale. Typical examples will be given of some 
which have afforded satisfaction, and they can be modified 
according to circumstances. 
The square system is generally preferred, and is convenient 
for cultivation by horse labour ; the alternate or triangular 
system is also often adopted, and admits of more trees at the 
same distances each way ; but in either case close planting 
is necessary to bring the largest possible return from the 
ground, the bush fruits and Strawberries ensuring early sale- 
able produce.* Standard Apples are frequently planted more 
closely than in Example 1, but their places are more profitably 
occupied by either Plums or dwarf Apples, which come into 
bearing earlier. Excellent results are obtained from separate 
plantations of each fruit, but it docs not pay to leave highly 
rented ground unoccupied while the permanent crops are coming 
into bearing. Strawberries and Easpberries, when grown ex- 
tensively, are best allotted separate space, and the former are 
usually planted more closely in the rows — say, 1 foot apart for 
the first year or two, and then each alternate plant is removed. 
When fully developed. Nuts require more space than that stated 
for planting, and the method might be modified by having the 
rows 10 or 12 feet apart, filling up with extra bush fruits. 
Dwarf Pears can bo substituted for some of the Apples if 
desired, or Damsons for Plums. The details refer only to 
existing plantations tliat arc giving good results. 
* In all cases of very close i)lanlinK, thinning becomes essential in a 
few years, and allowance should he made for the extension of i)lantations 
by this means. IJorsc; labour, obviously, can only be employed in culti- 
vation where greater distanceb are allowed between the treea and rows. 
