SUMMER MEETING. 83 



ileader, so that the tree will not fork. The only reason for this prun- 

 ing is to keep the trees from splitting down in heavy winds. Trees 

 less than two years old are too low if the ground is put in corn, which 

 is recommended ; and if older than two years, the growth is slow and 

 feeble on account of the great shock which the tree sustains in trans- 

 planting. If planted on level land, the tree should not be set decider 

 than in the nursery row; if planted on sloping ground, the tree should 

 be set from two to four inches deeper, as the soil during the first six 

 or eight years of culture will otherwise gradually wear away and leave 

 bare roots. As soon as the trees are planted they should be wrapped 

 with either woven wire cloth, heavily painted with iron-clad paint, 

 which costs about four cents for each tree, and which will last from 

 three to five years, or should be covered with a wooden covering pre- 

 pared by the St. Louis Basket and Woodenware Company, which costs 

 about one cent for each tree, or with corn-stalks about two and one- 

 half feet in length. The object of covering: the tree is : 



First, to prevent sun-scald ; second, to keep the borer-fly from de- 

 positing its eggs in the tree; third, to keep off rabbits; and fourth, to 

 protect the trees from the whiifle-trees during cultivation. I am satis- 

 fied that the success of an orchard depends as much upon the protec- 

 tion of trees to the height of 30 inches by some such method as is here 

 recommended as upon all other attention. 



As to the cultivation, I am satisfied that for at least five years the 

 best crop to plant is corn. The cultivation of corn ends when the 

 cultivation of trees should end. The corn should be planted beyond 

 the extreme outer edges of the orchard, so that no trees are left be- 

 yond the corn limits. The preference for corn is : 



First — Because it is not an exhaustive crop, and if fed on the farm 

 and the manure is returned to the soil, the soil is in no degree impov- 

 ■erished. 



Second — It affords the necessary protection to the trees from in- 

 -sects, the insects resting upon and eating the corn instead of the trees. 

 This was especially noticeable last year, when young orchards were 

 -sorely attacked by grasshoppers. I planted 700 trees last spring and 

 lost scarcely a tree that was in the corn, but lost nearly all the trees 

 that were beyond the limits of the corn, or which were planted to low 

 crops, like potatoes. 



Third — Corn shades the body of the tree and prevents sun-scald. 



Fourth — It shades the land and protects it against August and 

 September drouths, which sometimes dry out the land to a depth 

 which endangers the vitality of the trees. 



