NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 63 



not crowd the trees, see that they are hoed thoroughly and 

 often, as it is very hard to rid them of grass if it is once 

 allowed to grow, and the cultivation that is of most bene- 

 fit during the first few years is that given the ground di- 

 rectly around the little trees. 



When trees get large and are standing in sod, they 

 should not be crowded by a team, nor is it necessary to 

 turn all the sod close to the butts. It would be better to 

 leave a strip four, eight, or even twelve feet wide, if neces- 

 sary, along the rows. If the intermediate space is well 

 fertilized and cultivated, the trees will grow all right, and 

 their lower branches will not be injured nor their roots 

 cut too close to the stump. The top furrow above the 

 trees which is turned on to the sod can be pulled into the 

 open furrow below, so as to keep the ground level. This 

 little strip of grass sometimes prevents washing of the 

 land or the cutting of a channel across the field in low 

 places. 



But to get back to the little trees ; keep them thor- 

 oughly cultivated four, five, or six years, and they will 

 make more growth than they would in fifteen years if they 

 had to rough it in sod with nothing done for them, pro- 

 viding the ground is enriched each year with a good dress- 

 ing of stable manure or fifteen or twenty barrels of hen 

 manure per acre. When the trees come into bearing, add 

 ten to fifteen barrels of wood ashes per acre. 



Now as to trimming: Although this is important, do 

 not think that because some trimming is good, much is 

 necessarily better. This is something I always like to 

 do, although some would think that I do not do it right, 

 but I would rather my growing trees would not be 

 trimmed at all than to have them done the way some 

 would do it who make something of a business of it. To 

 begin with, a little tree usually needs to be cut back in 

 its leading shoots, and its form established by its first 

 main branches. Xo two trees will grow just alike. No 



