DWARF STANDARD TEAR-TREES. 
105 
require to be carefully performed. With 
regard to drainage, the general system of 
drains, with which a garden ought ever to be 
furnished, will be sufficient. No garden ought 
to be formed, or, if formed, it should not be 
suffered to remain without a thorough system 
of drains, sufficiently numerous to carry off all 
superabundant moisture from the soil. If this 
is not done as a part of a general system, it 
ought, at least, to be done before fruit-trees 
are planted : the nature of the soil must regu- 
late the kind of drain ; in a clay soil, a depth 
of three or four feet will be most effective ; in 
lighter soils it is not necessary to go so deep. 
Subsoiling,that is to say, trenching up the layer 
beneath the surface soil, must be done cau- 
tiously ; if it be of a gravelly n ature, it is less im- 
portant that it should be disturbed at all ; but if 
of clay, it should be broken up and loosened ; 
by no means, however, should it be brought to the 
surface; and the object in breaking through 
it is principally to facilitate drainage. Almost 
all soils are deep enough beneath the surface 
for the growth of fruit-trees, so that whatever 
fresh soil is added should be made to raise the 
border above the general level, keeping all the 
good soil near the top, and allowing the crude 
subsoil still to remain beneath. In order to 
prevent the roots penetrating so readily into 
the lightened substratum, the bottom of the 
good soil should rest on a layer of coarse 
material, placed in pretty firmly, but yet so as 
to allow the downward passage of the water. 
Immediately beneath the plants, in the centre, 
paving tiles are sometimes used, to prevent the 
roots striking downwards ; and some hard 
material in this situation is, no doubt, bene- 
ficial for the purpose. 
The application or use of ordinary manures, 
to any extent at least, is hardly justifiable 
under- the circumstances of the case. The soil 
would either naturally or artificially be ren- 
dered of such a texture and composition as 
to be made suitable for the growth of the 
Pear ; and, in most cases, this would involve 
the application of a certain amount of fresh or 
maiden soil. Even if the texture of the soil 
required no application of this kind, the use of 
such materials as charred earth, refuse, or wood, 
or wood-ashes, would impart fertility enough to 
secure a very healthy and satisfactory growth. 
Under these circumstances the trees would 
grow with vigour, but not luxuriantly ; and 
whilst they possessed strength of constitution, 
they would avoid the grossness or apparent 
strength, which is, in effect, real weakness. 
The benefit and uses of manures are to supply 
certain properties and matters which have 
been extracted from the soil by the plants 
during their growth ; and also by the chemical 
• action of their component parts, to decompose 
and render soluble certain ingredients in the 
soil, which would otherwise be unavailable to 
the roots of the plants. If such be the action 
and use of manures, and the design in applying 
them, it is evident that fresh soils, or those 
which have not previously been planted with 
Pear-trees, such as the prepared soil already 
referred to would be circumstanced, ought not 
to have any addition of manure, while the 
elements of the growth of the trees remained 
unexhausted in it. The application of manure 
at that period would only tend to induce a 
vigorous and luxuriant growth ; a quality 
which, so long as healthiness of constitution is 
secured, is of all others the most to be avoided 
in plants which are required to produce fruit 
with regularity. It is the rash and improper 
use of powerful manures, at the formation 
of fruit-tree borders, when the trees are, of 
course, young, and naturally vigorous, which 
is productive of a great portion of the diseases 
to which fruit-trees are subject ; at least, this 
may be regarded as the predisposing cause. 
The proper time to apply manures at all, is 
when the inherent fertilizing properties of the 
soil become exhausted, and then no more than 
is sufficient to make good the deficiency ought 
to be applied at any one time, or an effect the 
same as that of an undue application, in the 
first instance, will ensue. The gradual, yet 
gentle action, which, according to this view, 
would be required from the manure when 
applied, seems to suggest the special applica- 
bility of liquid manure for a purpose of this 
kind, as it can be applied just when necessary, 
without involving the necessity of being 
present in the soil at any period when not 
required. The objection to solid manure of 
the ordinary kind is, that it either requires 
frequent application in small quantities, and 
then the roots often get much disturbed j or, if 
a larger quantity is given at one time to avoid 
this evil, the greater evil of encouraging lux- 
uriance will be likely to follow. The best 
mode of applying solid manure, for benefiting 
the trees, is to lay it as a mulching on the sur- 
face of the ground, just, perhaps, scratching 
up an inch or two of the soil, to lay over it, to 
hide its littery appearance, and to prevent, in 
some degree, the loss of any of its fertilizing 
properties by evaporation. Such manures as 
soot and broken bones would be of benefit to 
the plants ; the latter might be mixed with 
the soil at planting-time, as its effect is slowly 
given off, and not so likely to induce luxu- 
riance at the first as some others. Soot must 
be used but sparingly, sprinkling a little on the 
surface, and just mixing it among the surface- 
soil with the points of a dung-fork : it is very 
powerful in its action. Soot is also an excel- 
lent ingredient in forming liquid manure. 
Wood-ashes or charcoal may be employed, and 
mixed pretty freely with the soil ; they form 
