102 ORCHARDS. 



means by saying that ^'the conditions attending the growing 

 fruits, are now so changed from what they were but a few 

 years since that trees with low heads are no longer a suc- 

 cess." We known of no change attending the conditions 

 of our fruits. 



LOW HEADS RECOMMENDED. 



Maj. Brooks, at a discussion on apples at the Xew York 

 State Fair in 1866, recommends low heads for apple trees. 



"Trees have a tendency to produce a surplus of wood; if 

 it all remains the branches are feebly nourished, and some 

 die of starvation, after robbing the others. I think that 

 most trees need to be renewed, like grape-vines, by an an- 

 nual and moderate removal of small and superfluous branches, 

 never large ones. I will add that trees, when young, show 

 an inclination to branch low, which, I think, ought to be re- 

 spected. Low heads greatly favor picking. Mr. Francis, of 

 York, picked from low trees thirty-two barrels of apples in a 

 day. Low branches mulch the ground partially, and in a 

 degree obviate the necessity of ploughing. 



"Another great fault is the omission to *fork over the 

 ground, or plough it light, often succeeded by deep and reck- 

 less ploughing^ to the injury of the roots, and often the de- 

 struction of the tree. When the ground is regularly ploughed 

 every year or two, and at a uniform depth, the roots will es- 

 tabhsh themselves below the ploughing, and if the soil is 

 deep they will do very well. But if cultivation is omitted 

 for several years, the roots indulge their natural habit of 

 running near the surface^ and then deep ploughing destroys 

 many of the tree's best supports. This is especially so on 

 hard pan and cold tenacious sub-soils, which drive the roots 

 to the surface. Roots know better where to go than man can 

 tell them. Nature's method of cultivation is by covering 

 the ground with leaves, at once manuring the soil and mak- 



A good strong garden fork is a valuable tool to work the soil beneath 

 all fruit trees, and, when it is well used, there is no need of the plow 

 immediately under the tree. Its use is far less liable to injure the roots, 

 and the pulverizing of the ground is equally well or better done than 

 Could be accomplished by the plow, or even the mattock. 



