[From T.Quayle Agriculture of IoM, 1812]

CHAP. IX.
GARDENS AND ORCHARDS.

IMPORTANT as this object is to the health and comfort of the inhabitants of every country, and ample as are the returns for the share of capital employed in horticulture, in this island, it is too much neglected. To the houses of some few of the gentry, indeed, good gardens are attached. One in particular, with walls, lofty, extensive, and well clothed, is remarkably productive in all kinds of fruit adapted to such a climate. Some orchards there also are, which bear well ; but no cyder has yet been manufactured.

In 1810, when the orchards in the eastern part of England Buffered nearly a total failure, the fruit in the few Manks orchards was most abundant. The surface of the island is so uneven, as to furnish every where sheltered spots in favored exposures, where fruit-trees would undoubtedly prosper. In every instance where the trial has been made, success has attended it.

A nursery ground has, in the course of the present year, 1811, been established in the neighbourhood of Douglas, to which it is hoped due encouragement may be given at its commencement. The hazard, delays, and uncertainty of a sea-voyage have hitherto presented a serious obstacle to the formation of orchards, which the facility of obtaining fruit-trees at their own door will in future remove.