298 
APPLE-ORCHARDS.—NO. 2 . 
thrown upon the adaptation of soils to particular 
plants, and it is now regarded as an established fact, 
that the apple-tree requires alkaline and probably 
earthy bases, as an indispensable condition to the 
perfection of its fruit. It has been shown by seve¬ 
ral enlightened chemists that the acids generated in 
plants are always in union with alkaline or 
earthy bases, and cannot be produced without their 
presence, that all deciduous trees require a con¬ 
siderable portion of potash for the elaboration of 
the juices in their leaves, and that they are prosper¬ 
ous or otherwise, in proportion to the scarcity or 
abundance of that substance in the soil. It is well 
known that all clays contain potash, and that marls 
are principally composed of clay and carbonate of 
lime, and also contain potash, besides sulphate and 
phosphate of lime. Hence the presence of alkaline 
and earthy bases, particularly potash and lime, af¬ 
fords a satisfactory solution of the adaptation of 
marly soils to the production of apples, even with¬ 
out taking into account the part which phosphate 
and sulphate of lime play in their formation.* 
With regard to the aspect best adapted to or¬ 
chards, the surface, in general, skould be more or 
less undulating, and at the same time sheltered from 
the extremes of heat and cold; and it has often been 
remarked, that abrupt acclivities, which are too 
steep for tillage by the plow, or for the pasturage 
of heavy cattle, have been more certain in the pro¬ 
duction of fruit. Very open, or very elevated, ex¬ 
posed situations, as well as the bottoms of deep- 
sunk valleys, are alike unfavorable to the perfection 
of orchards. The former, from the low temperature 
and the violence of the winds, and the latter, from 
the liability to cold fogs and late vernal frosts at 
the time the trees are in blossom, often, in one fatal 
night, utterly destroy the husbandman’s hopes. A 
severe frost in-early autumn, in a single night, may 
prove equally fatal to the tender flower-buds, in the 
latter situation, or, if not fatal, sufficiently injurious 
to impair their vitality, and render them unfit to 
withstand the cold of the ensuing winter ; and, 
should they escape and put forth the following 
spring, the fruit will be knotty, blotched, and un¬ 
fair. In planting an orchard, therefore, in Britain, 
or in the northern parts of Anglo-America, the site 
should not be chosen 
*' In lowly vale, fast by a river side,” 
nor, on the contrary, at an elevation too much ex¬ 
posed, but on moderately sheltered southern slopes, 
and where choice will further permit, inclining 
rather to the east than to the west. Planting the 
rows in a northerly and southerly direction, is 
thought to be advantageous, in order that the trees 
may derive the greatest benefit from the sun. But 
in the Middle and Western sections of the United 
States, more especially if the locality be in the re¬ 
ion of large bodies of water, a northern exposure 
as proved to be decidedly more certain in produ¬ 
cing fruit, than slopes inclining towards the south. 
Propagation from Seeds .—The apple-tree, and all 
its varieties, may be propagated from seeds, by 
grafting, or inoculation, and by cuttings and layers. 
It is a prevailing opinion in England, that the har¬ 
diest and best stocks are those which are raised 
from the seeds of the wild crab, and Mr. Knwht 
* £ee Journ. Roy. Ag. Soc. of England, vol. iv., p. 380. 
recommends that the pips should be taken from the 
fruit before it is pressed. The mode practised in 
the Goldworth nursery, where fruit-tree stocks per¬ 
haps are raised on a more extensive scale than any¬ 
where else in the world, is to gather the crabs when 
they are fully ripe, and to lay them either in a heap 
to rot. or to pass them between two fluted rollers, 
and then to press out the juice, which is thus con¬ 
verted into an inferior kind of cider, and afterwards 
to separate the seeds from the pomace by macera¬ 
tion *in water, and sifting. It is the opinion of 
many persons, both in Europe and in America, that 
it is of little consequence whether they are particu¬ 
lar in the selection of seeds for sowing, from the 
fact that the fruit of trees raised from pips of the 
same apple differ both from the parent tree and from 
each other. But let it be considered that, when 
these variations take place, they may not always 
tend to deteriorate the fruit, but may often result in 
an exchange of one good quality for another, or 
may perhaps even exhibit improvements in the 
qualities. For instance, we may, at least, expect 
to obtain early fruit from the seeds of that which 
is early, and from those of late fruit the reverse; 
and by parity of reason, from sweet or sour, from 
juicy or dry fruit, we may also expect to obtain 
seedlings that will, in a considerable degree, corres¬ 
pond to their origin—a result, which it may often 
be an object for the cultivator to secure. Indeed, 
if it be true that it is of “ little consequence” what 
kind of pips we employ, there certainly can be no 
detriment in sowing seeds of good fruit; and this, 
we conceive will be a sufficient hint lor the pru¬ 
dent nurseryman to observe. The pomace, there¬ 
fore, should be obtained from the apples of healthy 
and vigorous trees, and should be thickly strewed, 
and covered with earth, in shallow trenches about 
eighteen inches apart, so as to admit of the young 
plants being well hoed and weeded, by hand, in the 
following summer. Immediately after the fall of 
the leaf, in the ensuing autumn, the strongest and 
the most vigorous plants may be drawn, and planted 
in rows eighteen inches apart, and the same dis¬ 
tance from each other, in a soil previously trenched, 
manured, and cultivated for garden produce. The 
remaining plants should be similarly managed in the 
following year. During their second and third 
year’s growth, the ground should be kept perfectly 
free from weeds by repeated hoeings, and the plants 
would be greatly benefited by a light forking be¬ 
tween the rows. No knife should be allovred to 
touch them in this stage, unless it be to shorten an 
over-rampant shoot, which may be making too 
strong a diversion from the stem, and not even then, 
if it be more than a foot from the ground, parti ell*’ 
larly when it is intended to graft the stem; for 
every twig and every leaf contributes to the growth 
of the root and stem. In the second or third year, 
when the stems of the plants have acquired half an 
inch or more in diameter, at a foot from the ground, 
the heads may be cut off, and the operation of graft¬ 
ing or inoculation performed ; but where the object 
is to produce new varieties for standard trees, the 
plants should be trained in the nursery, with tole¬ 
rable good heads, clearing the stem generally from 
lateral shoots, according as circumstances may re¬ 
quire. The plants should frequently be hoed, and 
at least once a year, the ground between the rows 
