262 



A JOG IN THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



vegetables of any kind, that stand within 

 15 feet of the trunk of this tree. Next, 

 bring a good two horse wagon load of fresh 

 stable manure, and trench it under as 

 deeply as the roots will let you, and parti- 

 cularly beyond where the roots extend. It 

 is as foolish to put manure within five or 

 six feet of the trunk of a tree, as it would 

 be to pour drink over the back of a thirsty 

 man. At the very outside of the roots trench 

 the soil two feet deep, and mix the manure 

 with it, — leaving it rough and loose for the 

 winter; for it is there — at jiitside 



limit — that the roots' will get a rood living 

 again. 



But this is not the whole which is to be 

 done. Remember that lime and the phos- 

 phates must be supplied ; for it is above all, 

 these that old soils grow poor in. It would 

 not do to put them in with the fresh ma- 

 nure, since they would not agree well to- 

 gether, but would go to decomposing one 

 another, instead of making a succession of 

 good dinners for the " feeders" — that is to 

 say, the little fibres of the roots. 



But next spring, as early as the soil is 

 dry, you must apply to each large tree, ma- 

 nured in the fall, two bushels of ashes and 

 a peck of plaster, or gypsum ; and if it be 

 a pear tree, a half bushel of bone dust. If 

 it is an apple tree, you may substitute a 

 peck of air slaked lime for the plaster. 

 Spread this evenly over the soil that was 

 dug and manured last autumn, and mix it 

 through the whole with a stout three pronged 

 fork. This will bring the soil to a good 

 condition again; and the old tree will 

 speedily commence making new roots, — 

 setting new fruit buds, and, the next sea- 

 son, begin to bear fine fruit again. And 

 this I do not give you from theory, but from 

 actual trial, under the most unfavorable 

 circumstances. 



I do not tell you to prune your tree, be- 



cause I very much doubt the wisdom of it 

 the first year. I would only see that the 

 bark is clean and smooth, and give it a 

 little more soft soap, if necessary, in that 

 qi nter. After the tree has begun to ex- 

 hibit signs of feeling the full pay you have 

 given it, — say twenty months hence, — then 

 you may, if needful, prune it moderately. 

 When, indeed, the tree is partly decayed, 

 or broken, or full of tangled and cross 

 limbs, I would be a little severe with it at 

 first ; but not otherwise. 



This is the season when a shrewd old 

 digger should go over his peach and plum 

 frees, scrape away the earth about the bot- 

 tom of the trunks, and look for that little 

 ra cal — the peach worm. If he is there, 

 expecting that " there is a good time com- 

 ing," now that he is in such comfortable 

 winter quarters, you will know it by the 

 gum, by which the tree always shows to 

 its natural protector the presence of its 

 enemy. Wherever you see this gum, take 

 your knife, open the bark, and take out 

 the vile grub. If he stays there a few 

 months longer, he will completely circum- 

 navigate the trunk ; and after he has been 

 round the world in this manner, there are 

 no more peaches for you. It is a matter of 

 five minutes to a tree ; and if you grudge 

 that pains, for rareripes, the grub will take 

 five months at it, and get the better of you. 



If you are planting fruit trees, don't be 

 so foolish as to set " tender trees," such as 

 apricots, nectarines, and so forth, in warm 

 sunny places, on the south side of walls, 

 fences and gardens. Such are, depend on 

 it, the very spots to kill them, — between 

 the extra heat of mid-summer, and the 

 constant freezing and thawings of the trunks 

 in winter. You had better choose a west, 

 or, if not too far northward, even a due 

 northern exposure. The latter is much the 

 best in the middle states. 



