PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 59 



ten to twelve trees in a day. But the rapid growth of the 

 trees and fine crops of fruit assured us that such labor had 

 not been misdirected. The truth is, roots of fruit-trees 

 can not spread downward in such compact ground, except 

 at a very slow and unsatisfactory growth, from year to 

 year. 



How to Plough Deep. 



The plough with ill holding turns quickly aside. TOM TUSSEE. 



When preparing the ground for an apple-orchard, where 

 the substratum consisted of a compact calcareous, gravelly 

 clay, the ploughing was done with a heavy yoke of oxen, 

 and a span of horses forward of them, attached to a deep- 

 tiller-plough, with which, by going twice in the same place, 

 with a man on the beam, we could cut a narrow furrow 

 eighteen inches deep. A very short yoke was used on the 

 oxen, so that the plough could be adjusted to cut only five 

 or six inches in width. The ground was such that the 

 plough would frequently encounter boulders as large as a 

 man's head, and sometimes much larger. Many such stones 

 would throw the plough out. But if the team could not 

 draw them out with the plough, every one was dug out with 

 a pick and crowbar. This was a slow way of preparing 

 ground. But the process was thorough. As the work was 

 performed in late autumn, when there was little else to be 

 done with a team, we had ample time to put the plough 

 down to a uniform depth over the entire field. Such prep- 

 aration of the ground paid satisfactorily in the luxuriant 

 and healthful growth of the trees. 



The illustration given on page 60 (Fig. 36) represents a 

 common plough, with an adjustable subsoil attachment for 

 preparing ground for fruit-trees. One of the advantages of 

 such a plough is, the best soil can be kept on the surface 

 where it always should be and one man can hold an im- 



