vating the orchard, it might be necessary to repeat the work within 

 the next forty-eight hours. The surface mulcli must be maintained. 

 There is a distinct difference hetioeen the status of an orchard when 

 viewed as a farm crop^ and a field of wheat or corn. — The apple 

 tree is planted in a certain place ; it is fixed and innnovable and is 

 dependent for sustenance on the food within reach of its roots. Tlie 

 situation may remain unchanged year after year. The tree may con- 

 tinue to starve or to revel in high living. The drain on the soil's store- 

 house of food increases year after year and is emphatically aug- 

 mented when bearing age is reached. These conditions make the tree 

 at once a hard boarder and a helpless boarder. The wheat plant has 

 only a year of existence. ' If the 







conditions are favorable it pro- 

 duces flowers and seed, and the 

 stem with the grain is gathered ; 

 but the root is left in the ground 

 to compensate in a measure for 

 the plant-food used in perfecting 

 the kernel. Farmers manure 

 wheat ground every yeai*. 

 Should not fruit trees receive 

 treatment equally generous ? Do 

 not the^ trees make an annual 

 draft on. the plant-food of the 

 soil ? 



Fruit trees are in theraselves 

 a sufficient crojyfor the ground 

 on which they stand. — This is es- 

 pecially true after the tree comes 

 into bearing. We may deviate 

 somewhat from the rule in the case of apple trees which are 

 planted thirty-five or forty feet apart. In cases of this kind 

 other crops may be grown in tlie interspaces. What type of 

 crop to grow is an important question. Shall we grow some- 

 thing cultivable, or a cereal, such as wheat or oats, that occupies 

 the entire surface of the ground \ It may be said that the 

 soil moisture is saved somewhat in proportion to the area of surface 



391 



17. — An orchard tree six years planted. 

 ^ Tilled, 2)rimed and sprayed. 



