32 



THE CAN-ADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



the drain has been brought to the proper 

 grade and shape the tile should be laid very 

 carefully to secure perfectly close joints. 

 With the aid of a tile hook they may be 

 placed 'rapidly and accurately without get- 

 ting into the ditch. Some prefer to place 

 the tile with the hand, standing in the ditch 

 and stepping carefully on each tile as laid. 

 In covering it is preferable to put the sur- 

 face soil next the tiles, for if properly 

 packed it will prevent the subsoil from get- 

 ting in at the joints. The laying should 

 begin at the outlet of the main drain, and 

 where connection is made with branch lines 

 enough of the branch should be laid to per- 

 mit the main to be partly filled in. 



Junction and Outlets. — All junctions 

 of branches with the main line should be 

 made at an acute angle, or where the fall is 

 sufficient, from above the axis of the main. 

 This is necessary in order to prevent the de- 



posit of silt and the consequent blocking of 

 the tile at the junction. Specially made 

 joint tile may be used, or the connection may 

 be made by cutting a hole in the main tile 

 with a tile pick. The outlet of the drain 

 should be so placed that there will be a free 

 flow of water. If protected with masonry 

 and a grating to keep out animals, so much 

 the better. In this country glazed sewer 

 pipe or glazed drain tile may be used to ad- 

 vantage for the last ten or fifteen feet to 

 prevent injury by frost. In closing it may 

 be well to recall the fact that trees should 

 not be allowed to grow near a line of tile, 

 through which water flows during the 

 greater part of the year, as the roots are apt 

 to enter at the joints in search of water, and 

 in course of time close the drain. Willows, 

 poplars and elms are particularly objection- 

 able in this respect. 



THE NEGLECTED ORCHARD 



KEFFER, in Univ. of Penn. Record, 

 says : " The neglected orchard is 

 usually neglected because the farmer does 

 not depend on it for his living or his profits 

 — his other acres provide these, and the or- 

 chard does all that is expected of it, pro- 

 duces enough apples for family use. Al- 

 most any old orchard will do that. It is 

 only when it dawns on the farmer that his 

 more progressive neighbor is making more 

 money out of his orchard than out of any 

 other equal acreage on his farm that he 

 starts in to study the problem of fruit pro- 

 duction. He knows he can not grow corn 

 continuously without enriching the soil, and 

 a yearly dressing of manure is given the 

 corn fields. He knows that meadows be- 

 come unproductive when left too long in 



sod, and every few years the meadow land 

 is given thorough tillage, and for the time 

 being grass and corn change fields. Let 

 him apply exactly the same cultural princi- 

 ples in his orchard that he does in his re- 

 maining fields. Manure the orchard. Plow 

 it. Add to the soil every year or two some- 

 thing in the nature of vegetable matter — 

 barnyard manure, or a good crop of cow- 

 peas plowed under — something that, with 

 the frequent use of the cultivator during the 

 growing season, will make the soil in the 

 orchard as light and friable as the soil in the 

 corn fields. It means work, and lots of it. 

 But nobody expects a corn plant to produce 

 its fruit without manure and tillage ; why 

 should the apple tree be less lightly regard- 

 ed than the corn plant?" 



