ORCHARD. Apples, pears, plums, and cherries are the fruits principally cultivated In orchards. The term orchard is likewise used to signify enclosures in which filberts or walnuts are grown : the word yard is commonly used for similar spaces appropriated to the produc tion of figs and grapes.
Orchards of apples and pears are more numerous, because more pro ductive, on the old and new red-sandatone formations than on any other strata ; a very large proportion of all the cider and perry that is manufactured is grown upon these soils. The principal orchards of England are in Devonshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Hereford shire, and Worcestershire; on the continent, in Normandy and in the vale of Stuttgard ; and in America, in the New England states.
For an orchard of apple-trees, a deep unctuous soil should be selected, in a'situation sheltered from the north and north-west winds, and open to the south and south-east ; and a bank is preferable to a low spot, for not only is the blossom more liable to be injured by spring frosts where fogs and damp prevail, but the trees themselves become mossy, and perish from excess of moisture. Dr. Lindley Guide to Orchard and Kitchen Garden;) recommends an early and effectual preparation of the soil, and the early transplanting of the trees. Young trees will require to be watered if a dry spring should succeed the autumn of their planting, and their roots should be occa sionally dug round and manured. Pruning is advantageous to young trees when skilfully performed, for it is desirable that branches should not be crowded together, especially in the centre of the tree : we are of opinion that it is seldom beneficial to old trees, excepting for the removal of mialetoe ; and recommend that under no circumstances should a pruner be employed who amputates large limbs and leaves wounds which injure the alburnum or rap-wood b' exposing it to the atmosphere, and produce canker in the stem or principal branches. It
may frequently be useful in an exposed situation to plant two or three rows of pear-trees to shelter the apple-trees from the prevailing storms, as pear trees are on the whole less liable to suffer from wind than their more brittle kindred. The trampling of heavy cattle is at all times injurious to orchards.
For pear-orchards a lighter soil is desirable than for apples ;.the same rules may be observed for their planting and preservation.
Washes for the destruction of the eggs of insects, and directions for the preservation of orchard-trees from barking by hares, rabbits, and sheep, are given in Lindley ; Forsyth ' On Fruit Trees;' and Loudon's Arboretum.' For further information see articles APPLE, CIDER, and PEAR.
The principal cherry-orchards in England are in Buckinghamshire and Kent ; from the latter county a large supply is sent to the London markets. In Alsace, Wfirtemberg, Berne, and Basle, " kirschwasser," an ordinary spirit, is distilled from cherries. There are likewise orchards of a small acid cherry called " mara.sca" in the neighbourhood of Trieste, and also near Zara in Dalmatia, from which Maraschino is derived : in the Bergstrasse, near Heidelberg, there are cherry-orchards which furnish an early supply to the London market. The cherry and plum require but little pruning.
In all cases, as is judiciously pointed out by Mr. Macintosh (' Book of the Garden,' vol. ii.) it is of great importance that good sorts should be introduced into, and the worthless extirpated from, our orchards as soon as possible. The importation of good foreign fruit has rendered the continued growth of inferior sorts a practice that must certainly result in loss. Much has been done in this direction by market gardeners.
For filbert and walnut orchards see FILnERT and WAL.NuT.