HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 



winter damage to trees, to keep plant-food from leaching away, 

 to prevent gullying and surface washing, to produce con- 

 ditions under which the soil will dry off and either warm up 

 sooner, or stay cold longer, as desired, in the spring, to supply 

 plant-food, to help friendly bacteria grow and increase, and to 

 destroy unfriendly bacteria, insects, fungi, weeds and animals. 



Anything that will help accomplish these things is good, 

 but the best methods are those which do it with the least 

 trouble and expense in proportion to each dollar's worth of 

 fruit grown. No one procedure is best all the time. Each 

 different process will secure partly some of the objects; usually 

 it will be found that the program can be varied to advantage. 

 What to do depends upon the trees, weather, soil, location, 

 pocket-book, facilities, the time at command, and the purpose 

 for which the fruit is wanted. 



All methods are related but do not overlap. With a certain 

 purpose in view, you often can start with one method, and carry 

 on or finish the work better and at less expense by a different 

 process. The most successful fruit-growers do not have any 

 one set system for their work. They recognize that all orchard 

 processes have their uses, and that there is little choice of what 

 to do in any situation, when things are understood and the 

 best way is wanted. 



Mulching with grass grown in the orchard, mulching with 

 straw and other materials brought into the orchard, growing 

 and turning down cover crops, cultivating with plows, har- 

 rows, dynamite and underdrains, are the means we have of 

 giving culture to orchard land. 



Before trees are planted, the ground should be subdued 

 thoroughly. "Subdued" is exactly the word to use. The treat- 

 ment should be whatever is needed to accomplish that result. 

 Usually it is best to first grow one or two cultivated crops on 

 the land. This will show the wet spots, the hard ones, the 

 places where subsoil comes close to the surface, and acquaint 

 you with every corner. You then can drain or do anything 

 else needed without interfering with the trees and without 

 having the trees interfere with the work. 



In the discussion of drainage, moisture, and feeding trees, 

 we explain the essence of orchard culture. As we have said, 

 it is necessary to break up the subsoil, whether there is hard- 

 pan or not. Subsoil plowing will do this in preparing the land 

 at first while the trees are young. Underdrainage will help 

 constantly to loosen the soil, and to keep it loose. The dyna- 

 mite method usually is the cheapest at any time, and it is 

 the only way by which the work can be done thoroughly after 

 the trees have been in three or four years. 



How much dynamite to use, what kind, how deep and 

 how far apart the holes should be, are details which are decided 

 by simple experiments in the kind of soil to be loosened. Dy- 

 namite manufacturers will supply all the information needed. 

 They have issued several practical handbooks for distribution. 

 Test out your soil by trying three or four pairs of holes 30, 

 36 and 42 inches deep, charged with third, half and whole 



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