Apple Culture. 3l9 



occasionally while tilling, and, after the roots are well cov- 

 ered, press the earth firndj down with the feet. The 

 ground should be left a little crowning, so that after set- 

 tling the tree will stand at the same depth as in the nur- 

 sery. 



After the tree is well set it should be mulched, which is a 

 process of covering the ground for some distance around 

 the tree with straw, leaves, saw-dust, coarse manure, or any 

 material which will keep the ground moist and prevent its 

 drying and baking, and obviate the necessity of watering the 

 newly set trees, which process is of doubtful utility at any 

 time. 



It is a principle in natural philosophy that two bodies 

 cannot occupy the same space at the same time ; it is also 

 an agricultural fact, susceptible of demonstration, that two 

 crops cannot be grown upon the same soil at the same time 

 without detriment to one or the other, unless plant food suf- 

 ficient to supply the needs of both is furnished. 



In orchard culture the plant food will after a time become 

 reduced by the growth and product of the trees, and must . 

 be re-supplied in order to produce full crops. This exhaus- 

 tion of plant food will be accomplished much sooner if, in 

 addition to the trees, the soil is occupied by graiu or grass, 

 two of the worst crops which can be grown among fruit 

 trees. Hence the folly of sowing to grain and seeding 

 down to grass the soil of a newly set orchard. The correct 

 method, it seems to me, is this — to continue the cultivation 

 of the soil with hoed crops and heavy manuring, or to keep 

 the ground entirely clean by the use of the cultivator, dis- 

 pensing with all crops except the product of the trees, and 



