394 
Oil tlie Cultivation of Orchards, and 
serted In the third volume of this Journal. The effect of moving 
the soil to a great depth, by taking up the beds of stone in the 
lias stratum, was also mentioned. In such cases, the trees in a 
very few ye.ars produce great crops of very fine fruit. These in- 
stances of the accidental deepening of the soil, and the effect pro- 
duced by it upon the growth of apple-trees, I witnessed on the 
estates of Lord Portman, in Somersetshire, to which property, as 
an agent, I once rendered some slight services. 
It has been observed before that the extensive culture of apple- 
trees is chiefly confined to certain districts, which abound with 
marly and heavy calcareous soils ; and the probable and principal 
cause of this partial distribution has also been noticed ; — namely, 
that such soils contam in greater abundance those mineral sub- 
stances which are essential to the growth of the tree, and more 
especially to the formation of the juices of the fruit. It has like- 
wise been observed that the natural impediments in other soils to 
the successful cultivation of the apple are removed by a liberal 
supply of ordinary manure, but particularly the fallen leaves of 
trees, in all of which potash is very abundant. The soil of the 
London clay, though not naturally favourable to the growth of 
apples, is, by trenching and manuring, made to produce not only 
plentiful crops of apples, but also all other juicy fruits in great 
abundance and perfection : and this triumph of cultivation over 
the impediments of nature is manifested in the highest degree 
in the extensive gardens that surround and supply the metro- 
polis. 
The extensive system of leaves of all fruit-bearing trees is pro- 
bably quite adequate to the supply of all the organic or gaseous 
substances which both the tree and the fruit require, and therefore 
it is in the mechanical state and to the inorganic constitution of the 
soil that we must look for those conditions which are either fa- 
vourable or unfavourable to the growth and productiveness of such 
trees. It is not enough that the soil be neither too open nor too 
retentive for the supply of the due degree of moisture ; it must also 
contain those inorganic or mineral substances which the tree and 
the fruit require. When the defects are known, the remedies are 
obvious. By draining and trenching only, a stiff soil may probably 
be rendered favourable to the ])roduclion of fruit ; and, if this 
mechanical operation (at all times beneficial in such soils) fails 
to produce the desired effect, it is evident that mineral manures 
are wanting, which may be supplied by heavy dressings of lime 
or peat ashes, or both. If the soil be too porous, a heavy dress- 
ing of marl is the best remedy ; and when this cannot be procured, 
clay, with lime and peat or other ashes, will supply its place. 
There are but few situations, however, where it would answei', 
except on a very small scale, to render light those lands capable 
