490 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it to the surface. With an efficient steam -plant, this preparation may 

 be effected by first ploughing with the gang plough and afterwards 

 working it in two directions, at right-angles to each other, with the 

 " subsoiler " (a huge scarifier), which will break average soil to a 

 depth of two feet — and this at a cost of from £2 to £3 an acre for the 

 whole process, including the cost of coal and carting of water, doing the 

 work at an average pace of about five completed acres a day. It is 

 obvious that this affords a very efficient " preparation " indeed, the 

 effect oi w^iich will repay over and over again its cost. Failing steam, 

 horse-power must be resorted to, and though more tedious and more 

 expensive, may, when proper digging and subsoiling ploughs are em- 

 ployed, and sufficient horse-power applied, be equally effective. This 

 preliminary deep cultivation is not to be avoided — it is essential ; 

 aeration, retention of moisture, penetration of warmth, the conversion 

 of inactive stores of plant-food into available nourishment, are results 

 of it. At this period in the preparation of the ground the matter of 

 drainage must be taken in hand, and what artificial drainage is called 

 for should be now executed. If the site has been selected with the 

 judgment demanded, there should be little, if any, artificial drainage 

 to do; but there may be corners and hollows about a very good " site " 

 that are too wet, which at a trifling cost may be converted into sweet, 

 warm ground equal in quality to the rest of the land. 



No fruit-bearing plant will thrive under conditions of poor drainage, 

 and if a plantation of no matter what species of fruit trees or bushes 

 is to be evenly prosperous and productive the drainage of all parts of 

 it must be evenly effective. Look to the ditches, see that existing ones 

 are performing their function, and where necessary open up new ditches 

 made carefully as to level and shaping. The fruit-farm should be well 

 fenced in — wandering stock and wandering humanity do damage. 

 Rabbits especially are very destructive, and if the district is rabbit- 

 infested it is essential that all fences and gates be made rabbit- 

 proof. A good rabbrt-proof fence of the colonial pattern makes a very 

 effective fruit- farm boundary ; such a fence will keep out not only rabbits 

 but all kinds of farm stock, and it can be erected at a cost well wort.h 

 incurring in view of the security it affords. 



We left the land in the condition of having been well surface- and 

 sub-ploughed. A few good harrowings, if time permits, before it is 

 necessary to plant it, will be useful as a cleaning " process and in 

 obtaining a good surface to plant on. Land cannot be too clean — too 

 clear, that is, of weed-growths — and the cleaner it be before planting 

 the less expenditure in subsequent years. A vigorous attack on couch, ^ 

 thistles, docks, bindweed, dandelion, buttercup, and such-like weed pests, 

 executed before planting, will save much expense in the sulDsequent 

 struggle against them. To plant any fruit upon dirty land is a mistake; 

 to plant many kinds — strawberries and raspberries, for instance — before 

 tl^ land is clear of perennial weeds is a fatal mistake. Land can with 

 comparative ease be cleaned before planting, and if the work be 

 thoroughly done, then the subsequent " keeping clean " is easy, but to 



