Care op Fruit Trees. 601 



of the trees is now probably too thoroughly established to be easily 

 overcome. 



This instance is a type of very many orchards in western l^ew 

 York. There are other apple and pear and plmn orchards which 

 stand upon dry and leachy hillsides. Good drainage, thorough 

 tillage and fertilizing are capable of correcting some of these fun- 

 damental difficulties of site and soil, but these treatments, to be 

 most effective, must be begun early in the life of the orchard. 



3. Neglect of tillage is the connnonest fault of the orchards of 

 western New York. — Apples and some other fruits, yield so well 

 under neglect that it has come to be a common notion that they 

 do not need tillage. There are many orchards in sod which are 

 profitable, and these have been held to be proof that orchards 

 thrive best in sod. But by far the greater number of orchards in 

 grass, the country over, are unprofitable, and it seems to' be a safer 

 generalization to say that these are proofs that fruit trees do not 

 give profitable return in sod. Every orchard is profoundly in 

 fluenced by the particular soil and other conditions in which it 

 grows, and it is generally impossible to ascribe its behavior directly 

 either to soddiness or sodlessness. But if one contrasts for a moment 

 the known effects of tillage and neglect upon the soil, he will see 

 at once that good judicious cultivation must give the better results 

 in orchards ; and there is ample proof of it in all annual crops, and 

 even in most fruits, particularly in grapes, berries, peaches and 

 plums. The latter plants are always thought of as cultivable crops, 

 yet they do not differ from apple trees in any fundamental method 

 of living. 



Let us recall some of the effects of tillage upon the soil : 



It sets free plant food ; 

 promotes nitrification ; 

 supplies air to the soil and roots ; 

 makes all the soil available, by fining it ; 

 breaks up the hard-pan ; 

 makes a reservoir for water ; 

 warms and dries the soil ; 

 saves the rain, by taking it into the soil ; 

 prevents evaporation, or conserves moisture ; 

 sends the roots of trees downwards, and makes the moisture 

 and fertility of the subsoil available. 



