192 



THE APPLE CULTURIST. 



were severed, and left in the ground when the tree was re- 

 moved ; or the tree was taken from a rich and deep soil, 

 and transplanted in very uncongenial and poor ground, where 

 there was perhaps no surface mould at all, and where the 

 entire ground is hard and almost impenetrable by roots of 

 any kind. Any one of these conditions or circumstances 

 will be sufficient to give a tree an almost fatal stunt. In 

 many instances, the sub-soil is so thoroughly saturated with 

 water, that the roots can not spread downward. 



Fig. 73*. 



A SLUICE IN THE OBCHABD. 



When stock of any kind are permitted to feed in an orchard where all the water 

 is collected in under-drains, a sluice, like Fig. 73*, will be found a source of great 

 convenience in providing clean water for them to drink. A plank box, six to ten 

 feet long, without bottom or top, is sunk, as represented, so that the water, flow- 

 ing through a drain, may enter the box at one end, and run out through a hole at 

 the other end into the ditch, and pass off. Sheep and swine can walk down on 

 either side of the sluice, thrust their heads into the large holes in the side planks, 

 and drink without fouling the water. Horned cattle and horses can also drink 

 at the same watering-place. The ground should be excavated on both sides, and 

 paved with small stones, so that the feet of animals will be as low as the water in 

 the sluice. 



Management of young bearing Trees. As soon as a well- 

 trained apple-tree begins to bear, the only pruning required 

 is the annual reduction of the leader, in order to thicken 



