74 Cultivation of the Soil. 



tree is worth more than fifty hills of corn or potatoes, and no danger 

 need be feared. In the absence of this arrangement, oxen will be 

 safer than horses. A strong single horse will be sufficient for work- 

 ing near the rows, where the plough should run shallow, provided 

 the soil is not hard. 



The annexed cut (Fig. 91) shows a 

 mode of constructing whipple-trees for 

 this purpose, so as to pass the trees free- 

 ly. It is made as short as the free action 

 of the animals' legs will allow (about- six- 

 teen inches for a single whipple-tree). 

 An iron strap is riveted so as to bend 



Fi x round the end of the wood, turning in and 



forming a hook inside. 



In very small trees, most of the roots are within a few feet 

 of the stem, but their circumference forms an annually increasing 

 circle. Hence the frequent practice of applying manure, or digging 

 the ground closely about the base, as exhibited in the annexed 

 figure (92), is comparatively useless. Hence, too, the practice of 



Fig. 92. 



ploughing a few furrows only on each side of a row of large trees in 

 an orchard, is greatly inferior to the cultivation of the whole sur- 

 face. 



Among the crops which are best suited to young trees, are pota- 



