CHAPTER VI, 
Jil what Distance Apple Trees ought to he planted—The Author's Rule-* 
That of Miller—Inferences drawn from the Perspiration of Trees. 
It is an error to plant too closely, as the same effects resnlt 
from it for the whole, as for the individual. High grounds 
■which want shelter, and declivities which are unfit for the 
plough, are nearly the only places calculated for such a prac¬ 
tice. The best rule, in my opinion, for grounds advantage¬ 
ously situated, is to place the apple trees in the form of a ring, 
allowing but one row round a middle-sized field, and to have 
them at the distance of two perches and a half from each 
other. 
Miller thinks that a distance of a hundred feet is not too 
much ; the following are the reasons with which he supports 
his opinion:—“ It may, perhaps, seem strange to some per¬ 
sons, that I should recommend the allowing so much distance 
$o the trees in an orchard, because a small piece of ground 
will admit of very few trees when planted in this method; 
but they will please to observe, that when the trees are grown 
up, they will produce a great deal more fruit than twice the 
number of trees, when planted close, and will be vastly better 
tasted ; the. trees, when placed at a large distance, never 
being in so much danger of blighting as in close plantations, 
as has been observed in Herefordshire, the great county for 
orchards, where they find that orchards so planted, as that 
the air is pent up among the trees, the vapours which arise 
from the damp of the ground, collect the heat of the sun, and 
reflect it in steams so as to cause what they call a fire blast, 
which is the most hurtful to their fruit ; and this is most fre¬ 
quent when the orchards are planted to the south sun.” 
The perspiration of trees, especially when they put out their 
leaves, is a fact which has been known for a long time.* The 
effluvia, or attenuated substances, which they ^xact, and 
* Ingenhousg, Duharael, Rozier, Massim, 
which 
