CHAPTER VIE 
'/• ••, 
Of the Soil and Exposures most favourable to the Apple Tree — A Conjee* 
ture how to procure Fruit every Year—How to destroy the Moss and 
Insects. 
It is the opinion of many experienced growers, that the soil 
favourable to broom (genista) is in this climate that, which is 
best adapted to the apple tree- A poor, dry, and gravelly, 
soil, improves the nature of the fruit, and what is lost in 
quantity is more than amply made up by the quality. 
By distributing the trees in a variety of situations, it is pos¬ 
sible to secure crops at very different periods. Often will it 
be a plentiful year in one spot, when, in consequence of the 
ordinary variation of the seasons, there is a failure in all other 
situations. Though the apple tree agrees well enough with 
most situations, provided it is sheltered from the sudden gusts 
of high winds, yet a south and south-east aspect are the best 
exposures for an orchard; this is what is almost always to be 
seen on the slope of a sheltered hill, where one has taken care 
to plant such varieties as blossom late; there the spring sun 
dissipates, in a short time, the dews and fogs of the morning, 
and the atmosphere warmed by its refraction, sheds for the re¬ 
mainder of the day a gentle heat, and for a long while pre¬ 
serves the tender tissue of the blossom. The east wind, being 
dry, and seldom violent, co-operates till the season is further 
advanced, to retard, by its chillness, the formation, of fruit. 
It is not generally desirable, that the crops should be very 
plentiful, as, besides that they are inferior in price, and almost 
always in intrinsic value, it is then that the grower is drawn into 
most trouble and expense; it is then his interest to endeavour 
to procure moderate ones each year. Might he not be able to 
gain this point by putting off the produce of the apple trees? 
I think that this is not impossible. The flowers which adorn 
our garden shrubs in the spring may be delayed till the au¬ 
tumn. The rose bush which scatters around its fragrance in 
the former season, if it is deprived of its leaves, it will reserve 
it 
