474 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



CULTIVATION. 



During the first vear of its life, the young apple orchard should 

 receive thorough tillage. The object of cultivation is threefold: 

 ''First, to increase the active food in the soil by making available 

 to the tree what is otherwise inert; second, to prevent loss of 

 moisture by producing a loose mulch upon the surface, and third, 

 the destruction of weeds." Cultivation will also "prevent the es- 

 tablishment of a system of surface roots, and to form a deep-rooted 

 habit in the tree." With this method only the main roots, which 

 have a downward tendency, will survive, as the horizontal roots 

 of the surface will be broken. The young orchard should be plowed 

 every spring as soon as a team can get on it and the ground is in 

 proper condition for plowing. It should be well stirred with a 

 two-horse plow five or six inches deep, except near the trees, using 

 a short singletree next to the row to avoid the danger of injuring 

 the trunks of the trees. Ciritivation with a harrow or cultivator 

 once in about every two weeks should be continued until the middle 

 of June or the first of July. At the last cultivation of the season, 

 seed the orchard mth clover, rye, buckwheat, or the trailing varie- 

 ties of cow peas, which serve as a cover crop which puts the trees in 

 excellent condition to go into Avinterquarters. The surface should 

 be kept as nearly level as possible and the furrows should be alter- 

 nately turned toward and from the trees, and the cultivation should 

 be continued from year to year, at least until the trees come into 

 full bearing. If the orchard is not cultivated early in its life, as. 

 already mentioned, the roots establish themselves near the surface, 

 in which case it would be better not to cultivate the soil and permit 

 the orchard to remain in sod. Orchards of this nature when show- 

 ing a lack of thrift, should be fed heavily on the surface with soluble 

 food. 



TREES NEED TO BE FED. 



The modern apple is the product of a fertile soil, and regular crops 

 of large and fair fruit should only be expected from trees that are 

 regularly fed. Because apple trees will exist and occasionally bear 

 a partial crop of fruit if they are utterly neglected, it is too often as 

 sumed that they require no care after they are planted; but poorly 

 fed apple trees can only be regarded from the fruit-grower's stand- 

 point as unprofitable possessions. 



Plant food may be supplied from the following sources: 

 1. By top-dressing the soil beneath and about the trees with barn- 

 yard manure, at the rate of one cord to from five to ten trees, de- 

 pending somewhat upon their size. This may sometimes be sub- 



