CULTURE OP FRUIT. 251 



910. Hot-beds heated by hot water or steam can be more 

 easily regulated, but the plan described above is the 

 simplest, cheapest, and often the only practicable method 

 on the farm. Even with this simple arrangement, how 

 ever, care and experience are necessary to secure success. 



911. The culture of fruit is of itself sufficiently attrac 

 tive to secure some attention. But too many manage 

 their orchards as if they thought it enough to set out the 

 trees, without bestowing any care upon them afterwards. 

 There is no economy in buying poor or even second-rate 

 trees. Get the best and set them out in the best manner. 

 But one or two standard varieties known and esteemed in 

 the market, are far more profitable than a great many. 



912. Young fruit trees pay well for great care and 

 attention. Enrich the land, therefore, and keep it under 

 high cultivation for the first few years. After the trees 

 have come into bearing, no exhausting crops should be 

 allowed under them, unless manure enough is used for 

 both. It is not well to starve fruit trees for the sake of a 

 less valuable crop. But some of the smaller fruits like 

 currants, raspberries or blackberries, all of which admit 

 of partial shading, may be tolerated in apple and pear 

 orchards. 



913. If trees are found to be making wood too fast to 

 bear fruit well in rich and .highly tilled soil, laying down 

 the land to grass is generally enough to check their too 

 rapid growth, and bring them into a bearing condition. 

 If the land be already in grass and a greater growth is 

 desired, the grass may be spaded up in a circle of ten or 

 twelve feet from the tree. The rootlets extend out in 

 every direction as far as the ends of the branches, and 

 often farther. A foot or two spaded up round the tree 

 is, therefore, of very little service. But the surface soil 



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