Special Things Needed by Each Fruit 



foregoing part of this book explains those fundamental 

 J^ things which all trees require. Here following are details 

 of the few special needs in which fruits differ. Do not 

 attempt to be guided only by what is said here, in caring for 

 your orchard, but go back through the soil-handling, planting, 

 pruning and spraying chapters, and apply the suggestions given 

 there in connection with what you get here. 



APPLE 



Almost any soil will do for apples, but they succeed best on 

 clay loam. The subsoil should be no closer than four feet, if 

 you can get a soil of this kind. Many fine orchards, however, 

 are growing on land where the hard-pan is only eighteen or 

 twenty inches from the surface. Put your trees in the best land 

 you can get, but plant anyhow if your best land is not the most 

 favorable. A slope is better than a level, and the finest apples 

 always grow on high land. Read the chapters on Frost, on Mois- 

 ture Keeping and on Cultivation. In them you will find much 

 information about the best location for apples. 



In all sections north of Delaware and Kentucky, spring 

 planting is best; but fall planting is successful, especially in the 

 South, if it is done at the right time. Trees for fall planting 

 should be ripened early in the nursery, and then planted at 

 once (there is only a week or two in the fall when planting 

 should be done), so they will grow a little before winter comes. 

 This is to give the roots a chance to get moisture with which to 

 replace winter evaporation, and to develop new roots during 

 winter. But in the North, under average conditions, the losses 

 of fall-planted trees will exceed those of trees planted in the 

 spring. Proper spring planting is always successful when done 

 early enough. It is better to get the trees during November 

 and December, heel them in, covering tops and all with dirt, 

 and then plant them the first day the ground is thawed. Heap 

 up dirt about trees twelve inches or more when planted very 

 early. 



One-year trees almost always are best. There are many 

 reasons, but two are enough to prove this. One-year trees can 

 be pruned and headed the way you want them. This training 

 they are not likely to get in the nursery during the second 

 year, and that is the time when it must be done. And one- 

 year trees will be larger at the end of four years than will either 

 two- or three-year nursery trees planted in the orchard at the 

 same time. 



Before you plant, read again all the entire matter on sub- 

 soiling and planting. Dig tree holes with dynamite, if possible. 

 This produces great results. Watch your trees carefully for the 

 first two years and prune them three times each season during 

 this time. Take especial pains to guard against mice and rab- 

 bits. Bridge-graft any trees that have been girdled. Never 



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