'GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARDS. 



147 



A Thill Horse-hoe. The best horse implement that I 

 have ever met with for scarifying the soil in an orchard is 

 represented by Fig. 64. With such a hoe the surface of 



Fig. 64. 



the ground can 

 be scarified two 

 or three inches 

 in depth, much 

 faster than a 

 score of men 

 can accomplish 

 the same labor 

 with hand-hoes, 

 or with spading- 

 forks and rakes. 

 As this implement is guided by thills and handles, the teeth 

 can be run very close to the young trees, and be held to 

 just skin the surface as it passes the trees. By this means 

 the surface-roots of young trees will not be mutilated. 



How to Plough around Trees. If there is a grassy sod 

 near the trees, it will be almost impossible to cut it all up 

 with the plough. Before the ground is ploughed, a spade, 

 or a bog-hoe, should be employed to cut up and turn over 

 an area of at least four feet in diameter. Then there will 

 be no necessity for running the plough too close to the 

 trees. If the plough is drawn by oxen, great care must 

 be exercised by the driver to keep the team from rushing 

 astride of a tree that the oxen can bend to the ground. 

 Well-trained oxen will often hook their under-jaw around 

 the body of a small tree as they are passing it, and bend 

 the top to the ground in an instant. They like to demolish 



A thill horse-hoe with cast-steel teeth. 



