92 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



of canvas should be drawn into the hole, to prevent injury 

 to the bark as the tree is blown to and fro by the wind. In 

 some instances young trees are not rooted with sufficient 

 firmness to prevent the stem from working a large hole in 

 the ground at the collar of the tree. When the ground is 

 frozen, if such trees are not held by a stake, the bark is often 

 worn entirely through to the wood by the incessant swaying 

 of the tree. 



Excavating with a Scraper. One of the most satisfactory 

 modes of excavating for fruit-trees that we have ever prac- 

 tised is to stake out the ground, and then plough a small plot, 

 say eight to ten feet wide by fifteen feet long, hitch the 

 team to a good dirt-scraper (Fig. 48), and scrape the loos- 



Fig. 48. 



A two-horse cast-iron scraper. 



ened earth each way from the point where the stake stood. 

 After all the loosened earth is scraped out, hitch again to 

 the plough. It may be necessary to employ a piece of log- 

 chain one or two feet long between the plough-clevis and 

 whiffle-trees, with a man on the beam if the ground is very 

 compact. Let the wheel beneath the beam of the plough be 

 adjusted so that the plough may enter only four or five inches. 

 Then let one person "ride the plough-beam" (see the illus- 

 tration of a man riding a plough-beam, p. 60), and the team 



