CULTIVATION OF THE ORCHARD AND GARDEN. 65? 



How to Prepare the Soil for a Successful Orchard- 

 It is manifest that the first thing which the farmer who intends fruit 

 culture should undertake, is the preparation of the land which he 

 proposes to set apart for that purpose. Drainage is the first point 

 which will demand attention, because trees will not do well upon 

 ' land which is wet. Fruit trees will thrive best upon a soil which is 

 soft and pulverized, and where the frost will not reach down to such 

 a depth as to injure the roots of the trees. The more thoroughly 

 cultivated the earth may have been, the closer it will cling about 

 the roots, and the more nourishment it will be enabled to give. 

 The simplest knowledge of the cultivation of fruit trees, will teach 

 that until trees shall have become well-rooted, and have started out 

 well on the way to maturity, they require all the nourishment which 

 the ground can afford. Beside this, the inexperienced fruit-grower 

 must bear in mind the fact that the trees which he is transplanting 

 have been removed from the nursery, where they have received the 

 best of care, and where the soil has been brought to the greatest 

 perfection possible, because the nurseryman spares no effort in pro- 

 ducing the very best of shrubs and trees for sale. The purchaser, 

 intending to transplant, must prepare his soil with reference to this 

 anterior state of existence, if this is not borne in mind the trees 

 transplanted to the farmer's orchard will not thrive; they may grow 

 for a time, but they will not exist for any number of years; and the 

 fruit grower should bear in mind that he is not building for a day, 

 but for generations. An orchard which will not be at its best estate 

 at the end of a generation of men, or at least at the end of twenty 

 years, will not have had the measure of success which may be at- 

 tained, for at that period the fruit grower should have the right to 

 look for the most abundant production. If he has started out aright 

 in this respect, he may look then for thrifty hearty trees, yielding 

 fruit in their season trees of a vigorous growth, with the appearance 

 of many years of life before them, but lie cannot reasonably do so 

 unless he shall have given attention to having the soil in which they 

 are set, dry, mellowed and fine. It is not desired to have any per- 

 son who may become interested in fruit imagine that the setting-out 

 is all that is necessary, or that his orchard will not need the utmost 

 care after he shall have planted it; but we wish to impress upon him 

 that whatever labor he may expend, or whatever judgment or skill 

 he may bring to bear, upon his fruit trees, for the production of 

 fruit, after the first setting out, will not make up for negligence 

 attending the inception or his undertaking. In fruit culture the 

 manner and the time of creating the orchard are critical in the life 

 and vital to the success of the fruit trees, and they have the closest 

 connection with the profit which the owner will derive from his 

 enterprise. 



When to Use Fertilizers in Connection with the 

 Orchard Fertilizers of an exceedingly stimulating character 

 should not be employed in excess near fruit trees at any time. It is 



