STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 239 



thick when settled. Keep the soil moderately rich, so that it would 

 at all times produce a good crop of corn, by the application of 

 manure spread between the rows of trees. 



Cultivate the ground three or four years after the trees have 

 been set out, to corn, potatoes, beans, or any sowed crop, and 

 keep the ground loose and clean by cultivation. At the expiration 

 of three or four years sow to buckwheat each year early, which 

 will keep down weeds and grass and the ground loose and moist. 

 When the buckwheat begins to blossom, mow around the trees 

 and mulch with it two or three inches deep, but not close to the 

 crown of the trees. Leave a space of about two inches. This 

 mulching will be sufficient until the following year, when the 

 same should be repeated, and so on each year, and as the roots 

 extend further out the mulching must be increased from year to 

 year until the whole of the ground should be covered with mulch- 

 ing, provided the trees are a rod apart. Cropping of all kind should 

 then cease, and the mulching continued each year by covering the 

 surface of the ground one or two inches deep with straw or marsh 

 hay, or litter from stable. The most critical time in the life of a 

 * fruit tree is when it is fruiting heavy. At this period it consumes 

 double the amount of food and moisture ; the condition of the 

 soil about the roots must be carefully looked after, and if there is 

 a lack of either they must be supplied, especially water. In some 

 instances, where the trees are small, it is better to remove the 

 fruit, as the growth of the trees will be worth more than the fruit. 

 Pruning fruit trees in some portions of our country where the 

 atmosphere is naturally damp, probably works no injury to the 

 trees ; but in a country like this, where the atmosphere is dry and 

 penetrating, it is injurious to cut anything from a fruit tree over a 

 year old. Black heart is often the result of trimming. It some- 

 times becomes necessary to remove broken limbs and branches 

 from trees. This should be done when the trees are making wood 

 the fastest and the sap is the thickest, which is about the middle 

 of June. The tenacity of life in trees about this date is so great 

 that the bark stripped from the trunks, in a few hours will be 

 coated over with a new bark. In all cases it is better where any- 

 thing over a year old is removed from a tree to coat the wound 

 over with grafting wax or gum shellac dissolved in alcohol. August 

 is a bad month to molest the roots, or any part of fruit trees. 

 There are times in this month when cuts or bruises are very 

 injurious, and often fatal to trees, which at other times would have 

 little or no bad effect. It is asserted on the very best of authority 



