190 THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



gulleys, we car. not continue the ploughing with impunity, 

 but must use such an alternation of crops as will obviate 

 the necessity for constant open culture. This may be ar- 

 ranged by a rotation of clover with corn or potatoes, which 

 will be a valuable alternation, since this legume is itself 

 almost a cultivator of the soil, rendering it loose and mel- 

 low, while, at the same time, the surface is clothed, and the 

 soil is bound together by its roots. Moreover, the red clo- 

 ver plant attracts much of its sustenance from the atmos- 

 phere through its abundant foliage, and the radicals sink 

 deep into the subsoil in search of nutriment. It will al- 

 ways be found a safe rule to cultivate young orchards until 

 the trees are ten to fourteen feet high, and of a correspond- 

 ing proportion as to breadth of top ; after which, stock the 

 land down, and mulch the surface around the trees, if they 

 require it, instead of scarifying it. 



Neglected Apple-trees. The country is replete with such 

 disfiguring blotches of the homestead or orchard. A neg- 

 lected apple-tree appeals more strongly to the eye of the 

 pomologist after it has shed its leaves ; and in too many in- 

 stances the tree is hastily cut away, leaving but its stump 

 as an unpleasant reminder of the loss of a valuable^ old 

 friend, which might have been saved by a little timely care. 

 Where the early training of a tree has been neglected, there 

 are often several leaders forming the top. In this case, an 

 acute bifurcation is to be carefully prevented by checking 

 and shortening the weaker side. If we neglect this, there 

 is danger of the tree splitting from top to bottom when 

 loaded with its first heavy crop. 



Every fruit-tree should grow a little every season, as the 

 growth of new wood every year is Nature's provision for 

 the healing and repair of wounds, for the increase of size in 

 trees, and for productiveness. If a fruit-tree do not grow 

 at all, it can not be expected to produce a crop of fruit. 



