HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 



vetch will not thrive. Other bacteria are just as important. 

 All are living organisms, the same as animals or plants, but in 

 a lower form, and they must have food. They live on vege- 

 table matter and some plant-food elements which will not 

 dissolve in water. In digesting these foods the bacteria do not 

 destroy them; they merely change them into forms in which 

 the trees can use them, as hogs or steers transform their foods 

 into forms that can be used by the trees. Since nearly all 

 plant-food elements must go through this process before they 

 are available to plants, the bacteria are vitally necessary. 

 When these bacteria die, their bodies are consumed by the 

 plants, thus leaving no plant food to go to waste. 



Under proper conditions the soil is full of bacteria, each 

 handful containing millions. The most successful fruit-grower 

 is the man who puts the soil into a condition favorable to these 

 friendly bacteria, and has the greatest number feeding his 

 trees and plants. Too much water will destroy the friendly 

 bacteria and prevent their coming and multiplying. More- 

 over, it will hasten the growth of myriads of bacteria that are 

 injurious to plants. 



A wet soil packs. It contains little air. It partakes of the 

 nature of a stone or piece of wood, and no one expects trees 

 to derive nourishment from these. Favorable conditions help 

 fruit trees to thrive; unfavorable conditions not only cut off 

 this help, but aid the enemies of the trees. 



The subsoil in an orchard should be loosened at the start, 

 and every few years afterward. This is discussed in detail 

 later in this book. Drainage helps to keep the soil loose as low 

 as the bottom of the ditch, and in dry seasons this loose soil 

 retains more moisture than packed soil, because there are more 

 open spaces to hold water. 



Drainage improves the texture of the soil, and has the effect 

 of making it more fertile. The food elements in mellow soil 

 can be used by the trees, while, if the soil is caked, the roots can- 

 not get the food that is there. With a good drainage system, 

 surplus water will run away quickly after the frost is out of 

 the ground in the spring, and the soil will be dry enough to 

 work much earlier than land not underdrained. Make up 

 your mind to drain at the start; the young trees need it, and 

 the work can be done more easily then. 



The material to use for drains depends upon circumstances. 

 Study the lay and character of the land, secure prices on dif- 

 ferent materials from home and other sources, learn about 

 freight rates and labor, and then select that which will be 

 cheapest for the service which it gives. 



In very loose soil, cement drains throughout the orchard 

 have been known to pay. Where the fall is more than one foot 

 in one hundred, stone, lumber or tile will be satisfactory. 

 A buried stone wall will carry off the water where there is a 

 decided fall; but, if the slope is less than one foot in one hun- 

 dred, use nothing except tile. 



The bottoms of drains should be at least two feet deep 

 in heavy clay and three feet deep in sand. They should be as 



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