AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
387 
the outside rows. The orchard then stands 
thus: 
We have been thus particular in describing 
our inode of commencing a plantation, from 
finding, after an experience of many years, in 
which we have planted several thousands of 
trees, that although somewhat circumlocutory 
in the process as well as in description, it is the 
simplest, most convenient, and most accurate of 
any mode that can be adopted; and the more 
extensive the plantation, the less laborious and 
complicated in proportion to the number of trees 
is the process. 
If, as before mentioned, your proposed or¬ 
chard be in a field having irregular sides, after 
the square is planted, distapees can be measured 
off on either side, and the trees continued to 
the walls or fences inclosing it, the mode of 
ranging them being the same as with the 
others. 
We have adopted the square mode of plant¬ 
ing, having never practised the quincunx me¬ 
thod, which, although saving a little ground in 
a given number of trees at the same distance 
apart, is more complicated in manner, and by 
allowing a less free range of the air between the 
ro ws, not so good as the other. Further reasons 
will he given hereafter. 
If the ground be well plowed, and laid loose 
and free, there will be little necessity of digging 
the hole much deeper or wider than the roots 
extend when thoroughly straightened and part¬ 
ed. If the sub-soil be hard, it should be dug 
into a few inches only; and when so done, 
thi’ow turf, bottom side up, or soft top mold 
into the space so dug out of the sub-soil, enough 
to raise the hole to a level of the bottom of the 
good soil lying upon it. The roots should never 
be set into the level of th'e sub-soil, as the sur¬ 
face water will settle into the hole so made, 
although it be filled with the top soil, and re¬ 
main there, just as if it was collected in a basin, 
and keep the roots cold and canker them; 
therefore they should be above the reach of any 
such influence. If the sub-soil be porous, the 
water will leak down from the roots, and they 
will be free from the pernicious soakage of the 
stiff soils; but if the top soil be deep enough, 
they should still be above the sub-soil, and only 
come in contact with it when the upper soil is 
too thin to give their roots a sufficient covering. 
If the surface be very thin the field ought to be 
thoroughly plowed with the sub-soil plow before 
planting. The trees should be planted no deep¬ 
er than they stood in the nursery, or so that 
when the surrounding earth in their new posi¬ 
tion is fully sottled, they will appear so to stand. 
In planting the tree, it should be held in a per¬ 
pendicular direction, its roots resting on a raised 
bed of old inverted turf or well-pulverized mold, 
and as the fresh earth is thrown upon them, the 
tree should be slightly raised up and down to 
shake the earth finely in among the fibers, that 
all may be settled well and compactly together. 
This done, tread the earch firmly down, which 
by the way, should b'e raised two or three 
inches above the surrounding surface to allow for 
settling ; then level off the top, and the work 
is finished. This much for the 'process of plant¬ 
ing. - * 
Distance of Trees Apart in the Orchard . — 
As to the distance apart at which trees should 
stand, the tendency is usually to set them too 
close together. This arises from several causes, 
among which may be named ignorance of the 
size of trees at maturity; possessing only a 
small piece of ground on which a large number 
of trees is desirable; miscalculation of the room 
they really require to mature their fruit in the 
greatest perfection and quantity; caring little 
or nothing about the future so that thv qiresent 
objects be accomplished—the American way 
in too many things. All these are very poor 
reasons for making such radical mistakes as a 
great many people do in planting fruit trees. 
After a long course of observation and much 
experience on this subject, we have fully made 
up our minds to the conclusion, that in any 
part of the United States and the Canadas, the 
following distances are the least at which trees 
should be required to stand : 
Apples, 33 feet, or two rods—40 feet is none 
too far. 
Pears, on their own stocks, 24- to 30 feet. 
Pears, on quince stock, 10 to 12 feet. 
Quinces, peaches, nectarines, apricots and 
plums, 16 to 20 feet. 
English cherries, 20 to 24 feet. 
Kentish, or common red, or pic cherry, 16 to 
20 feet. 
These distances also are to be governed some¬ 
what by the strength of the soil on which the 
trees stand, as they grow to greater or less 
size as the food on which they exist is more or 
less abundant. We have seen great numbers of 
pear trees in heavy clay loams, which were two 
to three feet in diameter through the trunk near 
the ground, and towering up forty feet in height. 
Such should stand at least forty feet apart; for 
although the diameter of their branches might 
not be over twenty feet, their high tops shade 
far and wide, and the branches of separate trees 
should never interlock. A fruit tree should be so 
planted that it can have sufficient room to grow 
in its own natural shape, and the more spread¬ 
ing the shape the more surface will its top ex¬ 
pose to the sun, air and rain, and of course the 
richer, sweeter and more abundant will be its 
fruit. A tree should so stand that the sun at 
some portion of the day, from the setting to the 
ripening of the fruit, may shine upon all its 
outer branches. The benefit of this will be ap¬ 
parent to any one who will examine the fruit 
which grows outside, and compare it with that 
produced on the inner branches which the sun 
scarce ever strikes; or on trees which stand 
so close together that their branches interlock 
and exclude the sun altogether from the lower 
branches and the ground beneath them. The 
outside fruits, luxuriating in the sun and air 
are healthy, large, ruddy and fair, while those 
pent up in the damp, shady atmosphere of the 
inner branches, are pale, small and compara¬ 
tively tasteless. Take a forest tree for example, 
which in the woods struggles and pants to get 
above its fellows, and shoots up a thin top above 
a tall, slender trunk, its fruit, if it have any, is 
small and poor; while planted in open grounds, 
it spreads out a magnificent head, and bears a 
profusion of large and rich nuts. So it is with 
the fruit trees. 
All trees feed on the atmosphere through 
their leaves. From it they draw carbonic acid 
and ammonia, which is so essential to their 
growth, and without a sufficient supply of which 
they cannot grow in their wonted luxuriance. 
Only a given amount of these elements exist in 
the air, and move in a given space, and if that 
space be crow’ded with leaves and branches, 
the less of the nutritious element can each pore 
or lung of the plant (leaves are lungs) inhale 
or absorb. As a matter of course, therefore, 
crowded trees must suffer for want of this food, 
while those standing apart, with room enough, 
can take in their full supply as it passes. A 
free circulation of air, in common language 
then, is all important to give the tree, or plaut 
of any kind, its most healthful, vigorous growth. 
We never have seen a more satisfactory solu¬ 
tion of this fact than in several large and long- 
beds of mangold wurtzel which we examined a 
few years since. The beds stood with paths 
between them two feet and a half wide, while 
the roots stood a foot apart in the beds. The 
side roots next the paths were double the size, 
and had tops a third larger than those in the 
inner rows, while the ground was just alike in 
quality; and there could be no other reason for 
the difference than that the outer rows got air 
enough, and the others did not. It is so with 
trees of any kind. Another item may be named: 
when the ground is shaded, the soil is cold. 
The rains cannot readily evaporate from its 
surface nor the sun warm it. Fruits of all kinds 
require the sun to warm and stimulate the soil 
on which they grow, as much as a crop of In¬ 
dian Corn or a field of wheat—a garden or any 
thing else. 
Another reason for giving a good breadth of 
ground between fruit trees is the convenience 
and necessity for getting among them with 
vehicles for gathering their fruits, supplying 
them with manure, and occasional plowing, as 
Without the two latter no orchard can flourish 
long and well. Close planting entails another 
evil, tending to shorten the life of the trees, in 
the practice which usually follows of severe and 
improper pruning of the lower branches which 
are excluded from the sun, and become barren, 
and finally die from the destructive influences 
of the dense shade above them. This pruning 
is donej because the branches become barren, 
and canker and die; and for the further object 
of throwing the upper branches into the light 
and sun. The tree thus becomes unsound at 
heart, ceases to grow, and soon arrives at an in¬ 
firm and decrepid old age, before it would, un¬ 
der fair treatment, have arrived at its full vigor 
and maturity. Such are a part, and a suffi¬ 
ciently conclusive part of our reasons against 
the close planting of orchards. 
Standing thus, separate and apart, it will be 
seen that the air has a free sweep between the 
rows of trees, promoting as much as it can do 
their fullest growth. To effect this object we 
discard the quincunx mode of planting, as 
placing one line of trees opposite the spaces in 
an adjoining line, cuts off the circulation of air, 
so essential in our view to their welfare. 
The orchard now being planted, wc shall at 
a future time give our views in regard to the 
best varieties of the different kinds of fruit to 
plant, and some directions for their proper cul¬ 
tivation and management. 
FEEDING TURNIPS TO COWS. 
The following article from the Farmer's Her add 
is well worth reading, and we call special at¬ 
tention to that part of it which alludes to re¬ 
moving the disagreeable taste given to milk by 
turnips. To the 2d and 4th methods there can 
be no objection if they are effectual. The 3d 
strikes us as absurd. 
The 1st, 5th, and 6th methods are not object- 
ional for milk used in butter-making, as the 
nitre, &c., would remain in the butter-milk, but 
we should be rather sparing of saltpetre, (an¬ 
other name only for nitre,) and chloride of lime, 
in milk used as food. The quantity recom¬ 
mended, however, is less dangerous than the 
soda or saleratus used in our common bread, 
biscuits, and cakes. But we have strong doubts 
of the efficacy of these articles in so small quan¬ 
tities. In the month of December last, we com¬ 
menced feeding our milk-cows very moderately 
with swede turnips ; but they soon so affected 
the milk, cream, and butter made from it, that 
our family could not endure the taste. We 
tried the various remedies usually recommended 
to remove the turnip flavor from the milk, but 
could not succeed in doing so; and we really 
doubt whether it can be done. We found cab¬ 
bages also imparted a disagreeable flavor to the 
milk. In the moister climate of Great Britain, 
and among a turnip-eating population, this taste 
