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JOUENAL OF THE EOYAL HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



opinions differ widely on the point. A soil that may he ideal for one 

 species of fruit may he only fairly good for another — in fact, the 

 selection of the species of fruit to be planted must in no small degree 

 depend upon the soil conditions available. 



But, as already said, soils are amenable to treatment and alteration 

 to suit the purposes of the cultivator — a very fortunate circumstance, 

 and one to be intelligently taken advantage of. The point, then, is to 

 find conditions of soil which require only such alterations both in 

 their chemical and mechanical qualities as come well within economic 

 bounds. The nearest thing to perfection in soils for the grower of 

 hardy fruits is a medium loam of good depth — say three feet — on 

 a subsoil sufficiently porous to absorb the superfluous moisture of 

 the surface, and yet retentive enough tO' hold moisture in reserve as 

 a reservoir, to be drawn by capillary attraction to the surface soil as 

 it requires it. 



" Loam," as Cousins puts it, is a blend of sand, clay, and humus; 

 a medium loam is one in which neither one nor other of the con- 

 stituents too markedly predominates. 



With such a soil we get the maximum of good chemical and 

 mechanical possibilities. Now the mechanical condition of his soil 

 is a very important factor in the fruit-farmer's business — a soil that 

 is easily worked, tractable, a soil that will be workable with little 

 delay after rain, is of much greater importance to the horticulturist 

 than to the agriculturist. 



The cultural processes in fruit-farming are very numerous and 

 continuous, and none of them admit of long postponement; they are 

 so interdependent that delay in the performance of one means delay, 

 and perhaps omission, of others, and that " regularity " which is 

 essential to the best results is upset. 



The fruit- farmer, with horse implement or hand implement, has 

 always something to do "on the ground"; ploughing, scarifying, 

 hoeing, spraying, pruning, manuring, fruit-gathering, follow each other 

 in quick succession if the ground is to be kept in a high state of 

 cultivation, the trees and bushes in health and productiveness, and 

 the crops gathered at their best ; so that the ground should be of such 

 a nature that all these cultural processes may be carried through at 

 their due season and not compromised, nor perhaps neglected alto- 

 gether, because the character of the soil impels delay. The stiffer 

 and more retentive soils, although they may be richer in plant-food 

 than lighter but more tractable ones, are not the best for the fruit- 

 farmer's purpose. To find the ideal surface-soil upon an ideal subsoil 

 is not by any means easy, but it is well to have an ideal in mind and 

 get ground as nearly approaching to it as possible. The planter will 

 be fortunate indeed who finds a soil that needs no amelioration of 

 its mechanical condition, and to improve his soil in that respect should 

 be the aim of every fruit-farmer. There are recognized means whereby 

 soils may be lightened or stiffened — the use of lime, ploughing-in of 

 cover crops, judicious drainage, and so forth — and it is work that will 



