AN ENGLISH FEUIT-FARM IN THE MAKING. 



491 



clean after planting is a weary and costly task. Again, if time permits, 

 and the land is thin and short of humus, as nearly all ordinary farm 

 lands are, the waiting time may be very well occuj^ied in sowing, and 

 ploughing-in a green " manuring " crop, such as mustard or vetch; 

 this will not merely improve the soil itself, but aid materially in clean- 

 ing it of weeds. Before a soil can be said to be suitable for fruit- 

 farming purposes at all it must be shown that it contains a proper 

 proportion of lime — and very few soils do. Test your soil for lime 

 with the common muriatic acid test, and unless you obtain an 

 active effervescence you may be sure that the soil is deficient in lime. 

 The test will reveal in 90 per cent, of cases that there is in- 

 sufficiency of lime and very frequently no lime. To be on lime, even, 

 does not ensure that the surface-soil contains lime; and soils afore- 

 tinie rich in lime may have become exhausted of it, so far as the plant- 

 feeding surface soil is concerned. Time will not permit of a detailed 

 account of the virtues of lime in fruit-farming : its effects are multi- 

 farious; lime is at once a plant- food, a chemical and mechanical agent, 

 and a cleanser — in short, it is indispensable. Before planting, then, 

 see to it that the land has a good preliminary dressing of lime; dis- 

 tribution by a horse-drawn lime-spreader, in the form of what is known 

 as ground agricultural lime is the most effective and economical method 

 of applying lime. Throughout the life of the fruit-farm periodical tests 

 for lime should be made and when necessary dressings administered (in 

 the winter, when the plants are dormant). And now w^e come to the 

 all-important matter of planting — what to plant; how to plant; and 

 when to plant. 



What to Plant, — From the moment the decision to engage in fruit- 

 farming is made this question looms large in the mind. Plans are 

 made and unmade with frequency, and rightly so, for too deep con- 

 sideration of the matter is impossible. In all probability the planning 

 will not take a final and concrete form until the actual site of opera- 

 tions has been selected ; again rightly so, for the site should be a 

 strong factor in making a final decision. The " lines " of cultures to 

 be undertaken must be largely influenced by the marketing 

 facilities a given site affords, the length of time, and the means of 

 transit required to get fruit to- its market destination in sound con- 

 dition. Soil conditions should be reckoned with in deciding what to 

 plant, together with — and this is most helpful and important — a know- 

 ledge of the fruits that do well in the locality. Careful observation 

 through the surrounding district will reveal valuable facts in this con- 

 nexion; investigation of neighbouring gardens and farms, will show that 

 certain kinds of fruit trees and bushes are on the average vigorous 

 and productive, others less so, and again others averagely poor. In 

 deciding what kinds of fruits to grow, the grower should be mainly 

 influenced by his personal experience, and he is wise to confine him- 

 self at first to the cultivation of those he is most intimately acquainted 

 with. His training has probably followed certain well-defined lines, 

 or at least his knowledge, theoretical and practical, is sounder in certain 



