OPINIONS OF LEADING WRITERS TOUCHING THE 

 CULTIVATION OF ORCHARDS. 



The looser the ground is kept for the first, and indeed for several 

 succeeding years, the more certain and more vigorous will be the 

 growth of the orchard — in the luxuriance and colour of the foliage 

 of contiguous plantations, I have found every stage of cultivation 

 strongly marked : those orchards which have been two years under 

 cultivation, exhibit a sti-iking superiority over those which have been 

 but one year under the plough ; while these, in turn, surpass the 

 fields in clover or in grain, both in the quantity and size of the 

 fruit. — William Coxe, A View of the Cultivation of Fruit treeSy 

 1817, {The first American fruit-hooh.) 



We next proceed to cultivate the soil beneath, and between the 

 trees, until they arrive at their complete size, as the quality, excel- 

 lence and maturity of the fruit will, in a great measure, depend 

 upon its proper culture. * * * In fact, it has been ascertained 

 by experience and observation, that apples, pears, peaches, etc., 

 attain to their highest perfection only when the soil about the roots 

 is kept open, and frequently manured. — James Thacher, The Amer- 

 ican Orchardist, 1st Edition, 1822. 



Fallow crops are the best for orchards, — potatoes, vines, buck- 

 wheat, roots, Indian corn, and the like. * * * If we desire our 

 trees to continue in a healthy bearing state, we should, therefore, 

 manure them as regularly as any other crop, and they will amply 

 repay the expense. — A. J. Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees 

 of America, 1st Edition, 1845. 



Among the hoed crops which are best suited to young trees, are 

 potatoes, ruta bagas, beets, carrots, beans, and all low hoed crops. — 

 * * * All sown crops are to be avoided; and grass is still worse. 

 Meadows are ruinous. — John J. Thomas, The Fruit Culturisty 

 Fourth Edition, 1847. 



Grain crops should never be planted among trees, as they deprive 

 them of air to a very injurious extent. If no root crops are culti- 

 vated, the ground should be kept clean and mellow with the one 

 horse plough and cultivator. * * Every third or fourth year 



the trees should receive a dressing of well-decomposed manure or 



