472 
Farming of Devonshire. 
table and the neighbouring markets, but more especially for 
making cider" (Westcole). 
The varieties of the apple preferred for cider cannot be 
enumerated. Unlike those raised for table-fruit (which may be 
distinguished by their particular names throughout the country) 
the nurserymen give names to these varieties which have merely 
a local value, being probably unknown at the distance of a few 
miles. 
Great care is shown in the early culture of the apple. The 
pips are sown in February, in a rich loamy soil, which has been 
well prepared for their reception. In the following November 
the plants are taken up, sorted, all side-shoots trimmed off close 
to the stock, and roots shortened. They are now bedded in 
ground which has been double trenched, and well manured, in 
rows 2 feet apart, and 6 inches between the plants. The next 
November they are treated as on the previous year, and planted 
in ground similarly prepared, in rows, 4 feet by 2 feet. In the 
succeeding March or April they are grafted, and the next spring 
the nursery cultivation is completed by " heading them back," 
to make a 5 feet stem. It is very important to keep the land 
clean of weeds during all the stages of the plants' growth. Some 
persons prefer grafting on the crab-stock, as more hardy, rooting 
more freely, and making the largest trees. At 6 years old the 
young trees are planted on the orchard land at 25 or 30 feet 
apart. In the third season after planting they will commence 
bearing fruit ; and when they arrive at 16 or 20 years of age are 
generally in full bearing. After they are 40 or 50 years of age 
few apple-trees are worth standing, although instances are on 
record of orchards producing abundantly when 200 years old. 
The orchard of Buckland Priory, which was one of the first 
planted in Devonshire, was in full bearing, and well stocked at 
this age (Marshall). 
The variety of the apple and soil affect the time at which the 
tree arrives at maturity, as well as the period when its produce 
diminishes. The subsoil appears to exert a more powerful influ- 
ence on the tree than the surface-soil, because its roots spread in 
the former, and thence derive their nourishment. It is an inter- 
esting fact that those districts which are celebrated for their cider 
are situated on the cornstone and marls of the old red sandstone 
formation: nor must this statement be limited to this county, 
for it is still more evident in certain parts of Worcester, Here- 
ford, and Somersetshires. The presence of lime appears to be 
essentially necessary for the successful culture of the apple, and 
a dry sub-soil is of equal importance ; both of which qualifications 
are possessed by the soils I have mentioned. A sheltered posi- 
tion and a south-east aspect is very advantageous for an orchard. 
