THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 13. 
27 
plant will also lie more likely to suffer from the slug 
after late ploughing. It should, therefore, be taken as 
a rule, that the earlier this land is ploughed out of the 
lea, the more certain the crop. If the land is in a kind, 
workable state, the sooner it is harrowed after ploughing 
the better, for it effectually keeps down any turf or 
weeds between the furrows, and gives time for the sur¬ 
face to become stale and mellow for the reception of 
the seed. The only thing to be feared in this case, is 
the settling of the laud too hard after a heavy rain ; it 
may, however, be scarified or dragged, which will give 
sufficient mould, and enable the drill to bury the seed. 
This land is often sown broadcast after the presser ; 
but I prefer drilling, because I think the Wheat upon 
this soil should always be hoed if the weeds get up, for 
although the crop is not usually infested with weeds, in 
the same degree, when sown out of lea, as it is when 
sown after a fallow, yet, in most seasons, the weeds 
peculiar to the soil are sure to make their appearance to 
some extent. The best time for sowing lea ground is 
the same as before-named, from the 20th to the 25th of 
Gctober. Rather more seed should be sown upon lea 
ground than upon fallow; eight or nine pecks will, 
however, prove an ample quantity. 
After drilling, whether upon lea or fallow ground, lot 
the ground receive harrowing sufficient to bury the seed ; 
a single turn with the harrows will often prove enough 
upon fallowed land. 
It should also be remembered, as a matter of the 
greatest importance, that a sufficiency of water furrows 
must be drawn across the ridges, taking care to run 
them with the fall of the land. It is, however, some¬ 
times very difficult upon heavy, flat, table-lands, to 
obtain a good outfall; it is, therefore, in such case, de¬ 
sirable that the spade should deepen the furrows at the 
outlet. 
It also a good plan, and often necessary after heavy 
rains, to examine the water-furrows, and deepen and 
regulate the course where water has collected. 
Joseph Blundell. 
(To be continued.) 
ORCHARDS IN KENT.—No 2. 
FILBERTS. 
In following up the remarks I promised you on 
Kentish Orchards, I now come to the duty of describing j 
particular kinds, as the treatment that is given to each 
differs widely from each other; but before doing so, a 
few more words, in a general way, will help to make my 
meaning more clear. 
In the first place, I may mention, that it is invariably ' 
found that the best fruit-growing districts are those i 
naturally dry hill-sides with which the county of Kent 
abounds; for though Black Currants and Raspberries 
like a moister soil, and, when planted alone, which the 
last-named usually is, a cool moist bottomed soil is 
generally preferred, still, the majority of fruits prefer a 
light dry soil. Now, as this is always better where 
nature performs her own drainage than where art has 
to accomplish that object, it is needless to say, that the 
best specimens of Orchards are those where draining has 
never been required. It would be difficult for a non¬ 
professional writer to describe the chemical properties of 
such a soil; suffice it, however, to say, that it is neither a 
sandy, nor a gravelly one, in the sense these terms are 
used elsewhere, for tho soil contains less sand than some 
which are regarded “stiff,” while the term “gravelly” is 
usually understood to mean such soils as abound in 
small rounded stones of more or less hardness, from the 
size of peas and beans upwards; now, the greatest pro¬ 
portion of Kentish Orchards are on soils differing from 
this last; for though they abound in stones, these are 
more generally in fragments, as if recently broken, an¬ 
gular, and pointed, and generally of a long shape, but 
of all sizes. These are found in such abundance, in 
some places, as materially to impede tho working of the 
soil; while in the latter part of summer, when the 
j ground has lain some time unmoved, the stones may 
i often be shovelled off the top, as from a newly-made 
j road. However, all orchard ground is not like this; but, 
! usually, stone is found either in the soil, or imme¬ 
diately underneath it; and when the latter, it is not 
' always of one kind, for lime-stone, or Kentish Rag, and 
i “ Hassock,” or that description of soft stone which 
receives other names in other places, is also found in 
addition to Kentish Rag, while very good orchard ground 
exists over the sandstone strata, and some equal to any 
is found at the base of hills formed of the above mate- 
| rials; and as these often contain the deepest staple of 
soil, they are the most productive of any of the smaller 
fruits and other crops, while the larger trees grow there 
very luxuriantly also, but are, perhaps, not so long-lived. 
Although from the above it will appear that a stony 
soil is preferable for fruit-growing, yet it is not absolutely 
necessary; as I have seen some Orchards in which the 
narrow-toothed rake of the flower-gardener might go 
over a considerable breadth of ground without raking- 
up a shovelful of stones; in fact, some of it seems all 
, that your correspondents on floral matters could desire 
for dressed grounds; but the generality is stony, and, as 
j I have said, much of it being on sides of hills, and other 
uneven places, it follows that water cannot long remain 
j on ground so porous; and though springs are not un 
common, they do not exist in such numbers as to 
dampen the soil to an undue extent, and are, on the 
whole, useful, rather than otherwise. 
With regard to the aspect which the different inclina¬ 
tions present, there is much less difference than might 
be expected; and what diiference there is, in the opinion 
of the country people, is diametrically opposed to that 
of the generality of cultivators elsewhere ; for, while we 
find a fruit grower of our northern counties insisting 
that his grounds should slope to the south, or south-east, 
with adequate shelter at the opposite sides, the Kentish 
Orchard is often facing the north and west, without any 
protection whatever from these quarters, and the result 
is often better from thence than from more sunny 
aspects; but, as I will make this the subject of an 
especial notice, I will pass it over now, and simply 
observe, that the extents of Orchards are such, that the 
choice of ground is less important in districts, where, 
perhaps, one-tenth, or more, of the whole space consists 
of fruit, or hop-gardens, or both united—for their cul¬ 
ture, or rather the soil, &c., adapted to each is somewhat 
similar—that I need say no more than that Orchards, in 
more or less vigour, are to be found in all positions; 
that mere aspect is really of less consequence than any 
other circumstance. 
Having said enough on that subject, I will turn to 
other matters; and, beginning with the management of 
fruits individually, will commence with one, which, 
being of much importance in Kent, has generally 
bestowed upon it an amount of care and attention to 
which it is a stranger elsewhere— I mean the Filbert, 
which is extensively cultivated here ; and, in a profit¬ 
able point of view, is looked upon with much concern 
