CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS 97 



ground, in bundles of thirty to forty, properly labelled. 

 February is a good month to dress fruit-trees with the 

 Caustic Wash. 



MARCH 



Newly planted trees require a mulch of half-long 

 litter to prevent the sun drying the surface and injuring 

 the upper roots ; it is best to hoe over the surface 

 round the tree before applying the mulch. By this month 

 all digging and planting should be completed. Any fresh 

 trees of Plums and Damsons, planted carefully before 

 Christmas, may now be headed back, but all other trees 

 should be allowed to make a year's growth before they 

 are pruned. Insect life will now be awakening, and all 

 prunings, bark-scrapings, rubbish, and hedge-cuttings 

 should be collected for burning. Orchard trees must now 

 be again greased to catch the spring species of moths that 

 will be hatching and ascending the trees. The spraying 

 apparatus should be put in order, and materials for use 

 should be procured, as when the first buds begin to swell 

 spraying must be started without delay. Where ground is 

 rough after the winter digging, a dry period should be 

 chosen for the men to break the clods in the plantations 

 with Canterbury three-prong hoes. Grafting is best per- 

 formed in March ; the younger trees should be treated 

 first, the old trees headed back in February, in which the 

 flow of sap is less active, being left until last. 



APRIL 



If heavy rains have hardened the surface soil of planta- 

 tions, it will pay to loosen it by means of the pony hoe or 



G 



