28Qj<? [ THE APPLE TREE 



melons or vegetable marrow may be raised, to be 

 followed by a crop of peas or French beans or of 

 winter vegetables. Beans may be sown afterwards, and 

 in the fourth year a crop of green forages may be 

 obtained, after which the land should be trenched again. 

 Trenching is best done late in autumn, when the trees 

 are shedding their leaves, but in the third and fourth 

 year after trenching, it will not be possible to allow 

 any crop to vegetate in apple orchards in spring or 

 summer without causing serious injury to the trees and 

 to the crop of fruit. An abundance of potash in the soil 

 is necessary to improve the colour and the flavour of the 

 fruit and therefore frequent dressings with wood ashes 

 or with potash manures will be found beneficial for 

 light soils, 



On moist clayey soils, or in shaded valleys the 

 apple tree grows well and yields abundant crops 

 without any irrigation, provided that the natural moisture 

 of the soil has been preserved by fairly deep tillage 

 in April, the surface soil being reduced to a fine tilth, 

 and properly levelled. Apple trees growing on light 

 soils or in open situations require to be watered in 

 the dry season from June to September otherwise there 

 will be a check in the progress of vegetation, and 

 the fruit will remain undersized or will drop off the 

 tree too early to be put to any use. The circular 

 trough made around the tree to receive the water need 

 not be deep, but should be broad enough to extend 

 approximately to the outer boundary of the crown of 

 foliage. Irrigation should be regulated every fortnight, 

 and should be continued until the first rains. However, 

 even on the best lands the apple tree is always greatly 

 benefited by irrigation, unless the land is watered in 

 connection with the cultivation of summer vegetables, 

 when of course the trees are indirectly watered along 

 with the vegetables. Brackish water is more frequently 

 injurious to the apple tree than to Citrus trees, and 



