No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 301 



more capable to stand two crops from one acre, than formerly the one 

 crop; my currants, gooseberries, strawberries, potatoes, cabbage, 

 turnips, and even the red and black raspberries are all in young 

 orchards, with a few varieties of blackberries. I would not advise 

 the thorny varieties of blackberries in a young orchard, for as the 

 wind sways the canes they are very apt to scratch the bark of the 

 young trees. 



Experience is a good teacher, though frequently expensive. I 

 paid for it and may pay again; but, in order to learn our soil, ex- 

 periments are necessary to be made; without it we may never learn 

 what that soil of ours is capable of doing, when and how to assist 

 it, returning more plant food than the previous crop took, never 

 allowing a deficit, but always an abundance of food stored in the 

 soil whereon the plant may feed, by feeding it with good, wholesome 

 rations, changing here a little and there a little. As a spot here or 

 there may be deficient in vegetable matter, or there a hollow where 

 too much nitrogen has been w-ashed and not enough potash or phos- 

 phoric acid; or, in other words, familiarize yourself with the soil. 

 We are then apt to make less failures than when we treat promis- 

 cuously poor knolls and rich hollow^s alike; yet the best of us are 

 liable to make mistakes, and generally through a little neglect. For 

 instance, several years ago, I thought my currant patch would not 

 be any the worse to have some crimson clover turned under; so I 

 sowed some. The ground being rich, the clover made a good stand 

 and a good growth; work was pressing me in the fall, and the clover 

 stood all winter. In the spring, w^ork pressed still harder, help 

 scarce, and the clover got in bloom; as it had made a rank growth, 

 it shaded my currants, they making scarcely any new growth. It 

 ruined my crop, and a poor crop the next year; since, it has made up 

 for lost time. Ever since, I am more careful how long crimson clover 

 is left standing in currant and gooseberries. I have seen others as 

 bad off with weeds, and they looked just as mine did — a sickly un- 

 profitable investment. I would as soon expect a good yield of po- 

 tatoes, cabbage or corn where weeds get the master hand, as to 

 grow a thrifty young orchard in grass, corn or any other crop shad- 

 ing the tops of the trees, or roots covered with a continuous sod. 



In passing and repassing to my orchard and nursery grounds 

 daily, I pass a young orchard of about seventy trees, planted about 

 a dozen years ago, in a continuous sod. The soil naturally as good 

 as mine, but my five-year-old orchard trees are as large as those with 

 a much better color. Mine receive good culture and attention, while 

 those do not, and never did since they were planted. This is not the 

 only one I see; but could name a number of such instances. Such 

 men are invariably the ones who say fruit culture does not pay. 

 What a young orchard wants is a frequent stirring of the soil to re- 

 tain the moisture by breaking the capillary attraction, to let sun- 



