SUBSOILING AS A PREPARATION FOR FRUIT CULTURE. 187 



formed by long continued plowing at a uniform depth or existing as 

 a natural formation below the surface. 



Subsoiling is beneficial for fruit culture in any soil of medium 

 or of heavy texture, especially where the rainfall occurs in heavy 

 and infrequent showers and when it is necessary to increase the ca- 

 pacity of the soil to absorb water readily and rapidly. 



The best time to subsoil for fruit culture is in the late autumn, 

 and the soil should be left in rough furrows over winter, as it will 

 decay in the winter through the action of the frost. However, if 

 subsoiling is left till the spring, it should be done early enough to 

 insure to the soil a thorough soaking with rain before planting, oth- 

 erwise it may injure rather than improve the soil condition for the 

 first year. Subsoiling by stirring the land to an unusual depth fav- 

 ors the drying out of the soil, so that if it is not supplemented by a 

 soaking rain before the fruit is planted the ground is drier than if 

 the work had not been done. 



Where subsoiling is intelligently carried on it will increase the 

 water-holding capacity of the soil and serve as a protection against 



A Subsoil Plow. 



drought, which has doubtless a very important effect upon the fruit 

 crops, and often means the difference between profit and loss to the 

 fruit grower. 



A piece of land that has to be prepared for fruit culture which 

 has previously only been shallow plowed, cannot be at once plowed 

 to the desired depth without turning too much of the subsoil onto 

 the surface, and subsoiling can be done to obtain the desired depth 

 without turning the subsoil to the surface, but the land has to be en- 

 riched by manure a season before. For nursery stock, subsoiling is 

 very beneficial, as the subsoiled land will keep from five to ten per 

 cent more moisture during June, July and August, when the young 

 trees need moisture the most. 



