THIRTEENTH ANXUAL MEETING. 45 



spring- was vcrv hard on young trees, yet handled in this way 

 both peach and pear sent out several shoots from two to three 

 feet long. I have nothing that could be called rich land on the 

 hills where we are planting trees. I intend to use fertilizer in 

 fair quantities until I can get a fair catch of grass. On some 

 fields I do not expect to obtain a sod, but shall fertilize the 

 trees and cut weeds and brush to throw around them. I shall 

 tell of our experience in apple planting later. 



I have planted a fair-sized orchard of apple trees on a some- 

 what different plan. The roots are cut back to from four to five 

 inches, and the tops cut back to correspond. Holes are dug 

 large enough to contain the roots without crowding. The dirt 

 is packed down hard around the roots, a mound raised around 

 the base and about fifty pounds of manure, or corresponding 

 amount of straw or leaves, put around outside this little mound. 

 This planting is done in the fall ; the mound is raised to keep 

 mice from the trees and to hold the tree firmly in the ground. 

 I have tried three different methods of caring for such trees. 

 In one the ground is left in sod from the beginning. We cut 

 a swath with the scythe along the row of trees early in June, 

 and pack this grass around the trees. The rest of the field 

 is cut with a machine. About two-thirds of the grass is hauled 

 out for hay, the rest put around the trees for a mulch. In 

 such meadows we use five hundred pounds or more per acre of a 

 high grade fertilizer, and the manure from feeding the hay 

 is mostly brought back and throw'n around the trees. In 

 another situation where there are fewer stones, we work the 

 space between the trees with a spring tooth harrow, sow cow 

 peas late in May broadcast among the trees, leaving a space 

 about four feet square around each tree, heavily mulched. 

 Late in August we broadcast Crimson clover and cow horn 

 turnips right among the cow peas. The turnips will grow, and 

 there is usually a fair stand of Crimson clover, most of which 

 dies out during the winter on our exposed hillsides. In other 

 cases in rough land, which could not be easily cultivated or 

 worked, we plant the trees right in the brush, pruning the roots 

 and putting them in small holes, cutting the brush and piling 

 it around the tree with weeds, coarse grass or anything else 

 that will grow. We also use in connection with this mulch 

 a fair amount of fertilizer around the trees. My object in try- 



