ED. Western Horticulturist:I wish to plant an orchard of one thousand apple trees, besides other fruits, such as the pear, cherry, etc. As my situation and soil are peculiar, I should like your opinion upon its fitness for fruit. I am located at Silver Glen, Merrick county, Nebraska, in the Platte Valley, about a mile from the river. The surface of my place (160 acres) nowhere varies but a few feet from a general level. Soil sandy, and from two to four feet deep, with subsoil porous. From two to six feet below the surface is a strata of coarse gravel, in which water is always everywhere found; ordinarily, not nearer to the surface than three feet, though in a very wet spring it will stand within a foot or so of the surface for some weeks. There is sufficient fall, however, to allow of surface draining. The country has nothing of the appearance of a marsh, and without knowing, one would never mistrust, from growing crops, that water was near. There is often a little appearance of alkali in the soil, not sufficient, however, to interfere with the growing of grain or grass. I inclose a sample of my soil.

Charles Wooster.

Silver Glen, Neb.