HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 365 



to wait from twelve to fifteen years for results that might be 

 obtained by good culture in seven or eight years; nor would he 

 be likely to be pleased with the moderate returns from common 

 or inferior fruit, while his neighbor was receiving high prices 

 for a superior article grown on ground where fruit was the only 

 crop. 



It is true that there are soils so rich, that culture would give 

 trees an excessive growth, and not only postpone fruitful ness, 

 but make them liable to be injured by severe winters. 



One great advantage of having the ground under culture is, 

 that it enables the orchardist to give his trees a more uniform 

 growth without regard to condition or unfavorable seasons. 



If his trees are loaded with fruit or the season unusually dry, 

 a more frequent stirring of the surface will generally keep up 

 the desired vigor, biat if the trees are in grass and the season 

 very dry, he is powerless to help the case, and can only watch 

 and worry to see his trees fail to grow, the leaves turn brown or 

 yellow, and the fruit drop for want of sustenance. No, we will 

 start in as if we meant business and cultivate as if it were any 

 other field crop. Plow as deep as possible, harrow well and then 

 plant the trees. 



For the sake of protection it is well to plant the trees in rows 

 TUBuing northeast and southwest. This will allow of the shade 

 of one tree protecting the body of the next during the warmest 

 part of the day. Begin to cultivate as soon as the weeds start 

 but do not come closer than three feet from the trees so as not to 

 allow of the whiffletrees scraping the bark from the bodies; keep 

 the cultivator goiug until the first of July among young trees but 

 not after the middle of June in any orchard where the trees are 

 old. Be careful not to plow deep among old trees so as not to 

 disturb the surface roots. After you have stopped the cultivator 

 go in and mulch heavily among the trees, which will keep in the 

 moisture and not permit the weeds to grow. 



MULCHING, MANURES, ETC. 



It is well for us in Minnesota to mulch our trees well, as a 

 heavy mulch will keep the frost in the ground until late, thereby 

 retarding the opening of the fruit bud so early that it is apt to 

 be nipj)ed by late frosts, and also the early flow of the sap, and 

 in this way protects the trees from sunscald. As early as it is 

 safe and the ground becomes dry enough to admit of cultivation, 

 remove the mulch and cultivate for an early growth. But in 



