Fruit-Growing Industries. 121 



of fruit-treCvS in Europe are generally of secondary importance to 

 the small-area or garden plantations. In the fruit-gardens, the 

 trees are excellently well trained, fertilized and tilled, and the 

 results are usually good. Yet again, there is less horse-labor and 

 fewer horse-tools in Europe than in this country. And finally, 

 man 3^ of the plantations are rented, and the lease-holder has little 

 interest in such long-time investments as fruit-trees. 



It is undeniable that excellent results are often secured in sod 

 orchards, but the reasons for these good results must be deter- 

 mined for each case. By examining such cases under a wide 

 range of conditions, however, one may be able to formulate a 

 a few general statements or principles. We may first throw 

 out of our inquiry those cases in w^hich the sod is present merely 

 because the owner has neglected to till. He has not had time to 

 care for the orchard as he cares for the other parts of the farm. 

 In most of these cases, the orchard is a mere incident to a gen- 

 eral scheme of grain-farming or dairying. The land is needed 

 for pasturage, and if fruit is obtained it is clear gain. This is a 

 perfectly legitimate practice. The owner has no taste for fruit- 

 growing and does not expect to compete with fruit-growers. He 

 is in other business ; and it is doubtful if it would pay him to 

 reduce his grazing area and neglect other affairs by keeping the 

 orchard in a high state of cultivation. 



There now remain those cases in which the farmer believes that 

 orchards do better in sod than in clean tillage. My own opinion is, 

 from an examination of hundreds of these instances, that the 

 greater part of such orchards thrive in spite of the sod, not 

 because of it. It is very rare that the farmer has made com- 

 parisons of the two methods side b}^ side. If he has made any 

 comparative observations,- thej^ have been drawn between his 

 plantation and his neighbor's ; but the two are often not com- 

 parable, being on different sites, soils, and of different varieties. 

 Because an orchard does well in sod, does not prove that it 

 might not do better in tillage. 



There are many instances in which the orchardist has tried till- 

 age and has found it to be unsatisfactory. In the greater 

 number of such cases, the tillage was begun too late in the life of the 

 plantation to yield good results : the habit of the trees had already 



