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to take care of the crop. This is our bearing year for apples, 

 and it seems to me better to spend our time and labor in the 

 orchard and gi\e it as good care as possible, rather than to 

 give half care and put the rest on to hoed crops. My or- 

 chard is on a steep hillside, and is at present in sod, very 

 largely a combination of Sweet and Alsike clover. Our 

 plan for handling it this year is about as follows : — 



In April. w.e shall. godnto that orchard and plow seven 

 or eight furows on each side of a row of trees, throwing the 

 furrows to the trees. Then about 600 pounds of lime to the 

 acre will be put on this plowed ground and worked in with a 

 Disk. This ground will be harrowed at intervals of about 

 two weeks up to the latter part of June. Later after our early 

 crops are planted, we shall plow the middles on what is left 

 of the sod between the rows, put on more lime, and harrow 

 down in the same way. Then two rows of corn will be 

 planted at the center of these middles. That is all we care 

 to plant between them now, as they are about 16 years old, 

 and will give a good crop. 



These trees have received about 15 to 20 pounds of 

 chicken manure each, or that equivalent in good stable ma- 

 nure. This was scattered on the sod around and under the 

 trees. During May we expect to put eight pounds or a lit- 

 tle more of phosphate around each tree, and thoroughly har- 

 row it in. We used slaked lime in this orchard instead of 

 ground lime stone, as the slaked lime is quicker in its action, 

 and the haul of the top of the hill means considerable to us. 

 A com fertilizer is used in the hill for the corn, and good 

 culture is given up to early July, when a comtDination of 

 buckwheat and Sweet and Alsike clover mixed together is 

 seeded over the whole orchard and harrowed in. This clover 

 will stand for two years. We usually plan to cut at least 

 tw;ice during the season, and let it lie on top of the ground 

 under the trees. The third year the sod is plowed again, and 

 the same work I have mentioned gone through with. Thus 

 we plow every third year, at which time we usually get 

 enough corn to pay the cost of plowing and cultivation. I^ 



