EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 225 



If for any reason it is not possible to give the care outlined above, a 

 mulch should be put on covering a space at least three feet more in diame- 

 ter than the hole dug for the tree. This should be left on until the middle 

 of August when it should be removed to allow the trees to ripen off for 

 winter. In localities where tield mice are not troublesome the mulch may- 

 be replaced around the trees as soon as the ground freezes, but otherwise 

 it is not safe. While some hoed crop can be grown in a young orchard for 

 two or three years, with little injury to the trees, it is not advisable to use 

 those that will require much stirring of the soil to harvest them, during 

 August or September. For this reason the potato is not a good crop, 

 except in case of late varieties that are not harvested until after the middle 

 of October. Corn, late cabbages, squashes, tomatoes, melons, and similar 

 crops that need cultivation up to the first of August, or that will allow the 

 trees to be worked up to that time, should always be chosen, and in no 

 case should anything be grown within three feet six inches of the trees, and 

 if given four or five feet it would be better for them. For the reason that 

 the trees can not be cultivated, a grain crop is not advisable. It is a mis- 

 taken idea that cultivation will cause a late growth and consequent winter- 

 killing. Improper cultivation may do it, but, as recommended above, 

 there need be no fear. If a strip four feet wide on each side of the rows is 

 kept cultivated, the remaining ground may be seeded down, the first year 

 or BO. Fruit trees, like most other plants, make their growth during the 

 early part of the season, the period during which the branches of any one 

 kind of tree elongate, varying with the character of the season, as influ- 

 encing the food supply. When very dry, during the month of July, the 

 trees stop growing prematurely and at once begin to ripen their wood for 

 the winter, storing up in the meantime materials for the next year's 

 growth. 



If, after this period of partial rest, the climatic and soil conditions are 

 favorable to a renewal of growth, i. e., warmth and moisture present — the 

 buds, that should remain dormant until the following spring, will expand 

 and a second growth will ensue. In this way we can account for the blos- 

 soming of peach, plum, and other trees in September and October. The 

 wood thus formed will not ripen properly and the buds will be so imper- 

 fectly developed that the growth the next spring will be very weak. The 

 regular and uninterrupted stirring of the soil during the months of May, 

 June, and July will conserve the moisture and tend to prevent a premature 

 cessation of growth. 



If not continued later than the tenth to the fifteenth of August, the 

 wood will have an abundant time to ripen and there will be no danger 

 either of unripened wood or of a second growth. As oftener practiced, 

 however, cultivation may do harm. The orchards are worked during May 

 and June, but, as the other work is pressing, no cultivation is given during 

 July and August, until, as the ground is getting weedy, it is dragged in 

 September; a drouth in July will stop the growth before it is completed, 

 and the late cultivation joined with warm rains will almost surely promote 

 a second growth, to be injured by the winter. In a general way, the culti- 

 vation should be about the same, during the next one or two years, as for 

 the first year after planting, but after the fourth year, at latest, it is hardly 

 advisable to crop the land unless the trees are at least twenty feet apart. 

 In some localities it is a favorite practice to sow rye broadcast, the last 

 time the ground is worked in August and turn it under the following spring. 

 It is claimed that the growth of the rye aids the trees in ripening off by 

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