Hints 011 Vegetable and Fruit Farming. 
93 
tations upon cultivated ground, with fruit-trees or bushes under 
them. In Kent filbert- and cob-nut-trees are frequently put under 
apple-trees, and sometimes gooseberry- and currant-bushes are 
set between the filberts. There is not much difference between 
the yield of apples upon grass-land and plantation, or culti- 
vated land. Some hold that the fruit grown upon grass-land is 
more plentiful and of better colour and quality ; while others 
say the same with regard to the fruit produced in plantations. 
Apple-trees require a fairly good soil and a deep subsoil. They 
will not do well, for instance, upon land with a depth of a few 
inches upon chalk, nor with a gravelly subsoil, nor upon clay 
with an undrained, impermeable substratum. 
The aspect of the orchard or plantation should depend upon 
local circumstances. It should not be too much exposed to the 
prevalent wind, and a sheltered situation is desirable if it can 
be obtained. Protection from the east wind is thought advisable, 
as it generally happens that a cold wind prevails from this 
quarter in the early spring, and checks the development of leaves 
and blossoms and encourages the increase of aphides and other 
injurious insects. 
Standard apple-trees are raised from crab-stocks, grafted with 
scions of the required sorts ; or from stocks raised from the pips of 
apple-trees, having hard clear wood, and grafted with the sort 
required. Crab-stocks are the best. Grafted stocks are fit for 
planting out when they are from four to six years old. In select- 
ing standard trees for orchards or for plantations, preference 
should be given to those which have long stems. These ought 
to be at least 6i feet from the fork to the ground, so that the 
branches are out of the way of cattle in the former case, and 
well above the under fruit in plantations. Apple-trees are 
planted about 30 feet apart each way, which gives forty-eight 
trees per acre, when bush fruits are to be put with them ; and 
24 feet apart, or 75 trees per acre, upon grass-lands ; but the 
distance must be varied in a degree according to the soil and 
especially to the sorts planted, as some sorts have a more luxuriant 
and widely-extending habit of growth than others. 
Planting should be done early in November. It is most 
important that the trees should be well established before the 
frosts set in, and the practice of planting in the winter or in 
the spring cannot be too much deprecated. Holes should be 
dug at least 3 feet 6 inches in diameter, and the subsoil should 
be loosened by the spade or spud to a depth of 2 feet. Care 
must be taken that the tree is not put too deeply in the ground. 
Three or four strong branches are enough to form the heads of 
standard trees. All other shoots must be removed. After this 
they will require very little pruning, but should just be looked 
