Rkcent Apple Failures of Western IS'ew York. 55 



ber. And it is only the well pruned trees which are capable of 

 successful treatment with the sprays. 



Good tillage should be the first intention of the apple grower. 

 But this can be satisfactorily given only in orchards which have been 

 properly planted. The roots should be deep enough to allow of 

 easy plowing, not only because the tillage may thereby be improved, 

 but also because the roots are then in moister earth and they snffer 

 less from dry weather. Planters frequently make , the mistake of 

 setting their trees too shallow. It is probably better to have them 

 stand rather deeper in the orchard than they did in the nursery ; 

 but whatever depth the person may design to plant them, he should 

 make allowance for the settling of the soil. Land which has been 

 for some years in pasture, meadow, or grain, is elevated or loosened 

 by plowing, and it frequently requires an entire season of good 

 tilhige to compact it to its normal level. But the trees are set in the 

 subsoil, and therefore do not settle ; and the owner may find at the 

 end of a year or two that his trees seem to stand too high out of the 

 ground. When setting trees on newly turned land, the planter 

 should allow one or two inches for the settling of the soil, and 

 thereby increase the depth of the planting. 



Now, if the soil is deep and well drained, and the trees are 

 properly planted, rather deep spring plowing is recommended for 

 the first few years. The exact depth to which the furrow may be 

 run will depend much upon the soil, but it should rarely exceed 

 seven or eight inches. It is probably best to plow apple orchards 

 early in the spring, but not in the fall unless it may be found, by 

 experiment, that plowing under the leaves in the fall lessens the 

 attacks of apple scab. Fall plowing leaves the surface in bad shape 

 for the winter, and it serves no purpose. Yet it should be said that 

 apple orchards are less likely to sufi;er from fall plowing than many 

 other kinds of fruits, for the trees are hardy, and not likely to be 

 forced into fall growth and are not induced to start so early in the 

 spring as to be caught by frosts. But there is no occasion for 

 plowing apple orchards in the fall, as a rule, so far as we know. 



Till the soil frequently and lightly during the late spring and 

 early summer. The general methods of cultivating orchards, and 

 the reasons for them, are discussed in Bulletin 72, to which the 

 reader is referred ; but the leading points may be reviewed here. 



