Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XIL PLANTING AN ORCHARD. After the selection, the preparation of the ground is naturally the next thing in order. This is quite simple, but often neglected. If there are any stumps, roots, or stones, they should be removed. If left they will interfere with the comfortable cultivation of the orchard, and may some day injure a tree. An orchard may be planted after any crop, but corn stubble is, perhaps, a preferable ground. If taste and neatness are to control, the ground will be carefully plowed, harrowed, and rolled. But when hundreds of trees are to be set in a short time, and speed and economy are important objects, all this is seldom done. It is quite common to do nothing more than plow the ground. Even this is sometimes omitted; and that, too, without materially impairing the success of the job. When the ground is not even plowed, it is prepared in one of these two ways. A beginning is made by running a furrow, at the distance of twenty feet, say, from the fence, in the direction the first row is to run; and another, and another, at the same distance apart, until the ground has been gone over. Cross furrows are then run at right angles with the former, and at the same distances. The trees are planted at the intersections. The other way is very similar; the only material difference being, that instead of forming single furrows the first time, a double one is run, and a ridge formed by throwing two together. In order to do this accurately, begin on the east side of the field to be planted, and run the first furrow from north to south, nineteen feet from thefence; when at the south end, turn to the right, and run back to the place of starting at the distance of twenty- one feet from the fence. By so doing, the two furrows will be thrown together, and the cente...