AVOIDING INJURY TO TREES 135 



Makers of the special orchard and vineyard plows have recently 

 made them adjustable so that the plow will work either side of the 

 central line of draft, and these improved tools have rendered obsolete 

 the early contrivances for accomplishing the result with common field 

 plows. 



Extensions of disks and of spring-tooth harrows are often made by 

 attaching the parts to the ends of a central piece in such a way that 

 the horses walk in the centers and the cultivators work under the low 

 branches and very near to the stems of the trees. These are chiefly 

 used with citrus trees whose foliage and fruits are permitted to grow 

 very near to the soil surface. 



Flat Hames and a Spreader. Among the worst things for use 

 among trees are the pointed iron hames which are found on most har- 

 nesses. They often seriously bark the branches under which the horse 

 passes, and should be dispensed with. An arrangement widely used 

 consists in having broad leather tugs and hames with only one long iron 

 loop on the swell of the hame. The tug is passed around the hame and 

 the end is brought through the iron loop from the under side so that 

 the draft will hold the tug tight between the collar and the hame and 

 the end between the iron staple and the pulling part of the trace. A 

 spreader is put between the tugs ; it is made of a hard-wood stick six- 

 teen to eighteen inches long; a hole is bored in each end large enough 

 for a two-inch screw, a hole punched in each trace about twelve inches 

 from the rear end, and the tugs are screwed to the ends of the spreader, 

 and the ends of the tugs attached to the plow clevis. This gives no iron 

 or wooden surfaces at all, either on harness or whifHetree, to strike 

 the bark. 



Improved Singletrees. Later than these came the orchard and 

 vineyard singletrees, invented and patened by Californians, which are 

 widely used and sold in all stores of the fruit growing districts. 



Dispensing with Doubletrees. Still other inventions which 

 admit the use of two horses even close up to the trees, because they 

 dispense entirely with whifHetrees and tugs, are known as the steel 

 harness, Eastern inventions, which have secured the approval of some 

 of our leading growers, for use in orchard and vineyard. The plow is 

 attached to the steel yoke by a chain running between the horses. With 

 them it is possible to work quite close to the trees and vines, and is es- 

 pecially desirable in the vineyard in working close to the vines when 

 they have grown out about two feet, which is a difficult job with the 

 old-style harness. 



SUMMER TREATMENT OF PLOWED ORCHARDS AND 



VINEYARD 



Where the orchard or vineyard is plowed twice during the winter, 

 the land should remain after the first plowing as the plow leaves it. 

 The moistening and aeration during the winter have good effect upon 

 the soil both chemically and mechanically. 



If but one plowing is done, when the chief rains are supposed to be 

 over, there must be full effort put forth to reduce the soil to good tilth, 



