On Orcharding. 
lo7 
The Norfolk Bean fin., as one of the best kitchen and preserve apph‘s; 
and tlie French Crab, for its extraordinary durability, and therefore 
one of the most useful of apples, for culinary j)urposes. 
In planting an orchard, 1 agree with the writer, that the soil must 
be duly ])repared, but to effect this due preparation, I go much further 
than he does, at least if one may judge from the extract given in the 
Horticultural Registerj 
Those of your readers who may possess ‘‘The Domestic Gardener’s 
Manual,will not be at a loss to ascertain what I deem to be the es¬ 
sential requisites for insuring permanent fruitfulness, since in addition to 
many incidental remarks interspersed through the work, I have entered 
somewhat at large upon the subject of orchard planting, in the fourth 
})art of the first section of October. To the directions there given, for 
the arrangement of orchards for espalier and dwarf-standard trees, I 
have added others, for the cultivation of the soil between the rows of 
trees, corresponding with a plan of general productive economy. 
I do not make any quotation from the work itself, but may be par¬ 
doned, if I trespass so far upon your limits, as to furnish the details of 
the a<*tual preparation and planting of a small piece of land, about a 
(juarter of an acre in extent; in order to prove how much may be done 
by the members of a family, when a parent, and his sons,-—though these 
be but little boys,—devote mind and sti'ength to the effecting of great, 
and even heavy, operations. 
The piece of land was a grass paddock, of an irregular, and some¬ 
what triangular figure, and required to be deeply trenched all over. In 
order to effect this, the surface was set out in strips or lifts, of the 
average breadth of four yards and a half. Each trench was marked 
two feet wide, and the work of trenching was performed as described 
in the Gardener’s Manual, so as io retain the upper stratum of earth 
at the top. This method of trenching, Mr. Cobbett claims as his own, 
exclusively; and as far as my reading and observations extend, I must 
avow, that I have never met with anything that has tended to impugn 
the justice of his claim. To avoid prolixity, I shall simply describe 
the mode by which the first trench was excavated and filled up. 
The u'hole piece was covered with inferior grass and clover, but the 
up})er soil was an excellent, mellow, sandy loam, a quality calculated 
to promote the developement of the young fibrous roots; the secopd 
spit was good, but more adhesive in its texture; the third, approached 
to the nature of red brick-earth; under that, there was either chalky 
marl, or a strong adhesive soil, abounding with flints. 
The turf of the trenches was paired off, to the thickness of two 
or three inches; the upper stratum of soil was dug out to the depth 
of nine or ten inches, and removed to the end of the lift; the second 
* All excellent VVork, contaiainy a fund of valuable information-CONDUCTORS. 
