FRUIT-GROWING OX A LARGE SCALE. 



165 



trees well away from the stakes, so that injury from rubbing is 

 impossible. 



In selecting trees, choose nice young stocks ; they will get 

 established and go on much more quickly than older ones. The 

 cost of planting varies considerably, owing to the different dis- 

 tances apart at which the trees are planted. Standard and 

 half-standard trees may be bought at from £5 to £6 per 100, 

 according to size. 



The baskets in which the fruit is sent to market are the pot 

 (72 lbs.), bushel (56 lbs.), half-bushel (28 lbs.), and peck (14 lbs.). 

 Choice fruit should always be sent in pecks, and the commoner 

 varieties and Damsons in larger kinds. We might take 'a lesson 

 from the French in packing and sorting our fruit ; a little extra 

 trouble in this way well repays us. I have observed over and 

 over again that the same quality of fruit will realise a better 

 price if sent in a small package than if sent in pots and bushels. 



Plantations of Bush and Tree Fruit. — It may be useful to 

 give a few examples of the way in which mixed plantations are 

 planted : — 



1. Half-standard Plum-trees 15 feet apart (planted in tri- 

 angles), with Strawberries 2^ feet row to row and 1^ feet in 

 the row ; or with two Currants or Gooseberries between each 

 tree, two rows of the same 5 feet apart between the tree rows, 

 and one row of Strawberry -plants 1\ feet apart between the 

 rows of bushes, and two plants between each bush in the tree 

 row. As soon as the bushes want the room the Strawberries 

 are hoed up, but two or three crops can generally be taken. 

 Raspberries may be planted instead of the bushes, two rows 

 5 feet apart and 2^ feet apart in the row, with five stools 

 feet apart in the tree rows ; if Raspberries are planted it 

 hardly pays to plant the Strawberries as well — the canes the 

 second year after planting make such strong growth that the 

 Strawberry-plants would be smothered. Instead of planting 

 bush-fruit in the tree row, pyramids of the same varieties as the 

 standards can be planted one between each standard. 



2. Half- standard Plums and half-standard or standard 

 Apple-trees planted alternately 15 feet apart ; the Plum-trees 

 are pruned back as the Apples begin to encroach upon them, and 

 are cut down when the Apples want all the space. Cherries may 



