54 DWARF FRUIT TREES 



America have bred a strong prejudice against all sorts 

 of hand labor like this, but experience will show that 

 under some conditions it is quite worth while. A. 

 very common mistake in all kinds of agriculture is 

 to allow prejudice to rule experience. 



Garden culture means not only good tillage of the 

 soil, but good treatment in other respects. It means 

 good feeding and good spraying. As for spraying 

 we need make only two observations. First, the 

 treatment to be given is almost precisely the same 

 as that which is given to standard trees of the same 

 species; second, the work is much more easily per- 

 formed because the trees are smaller. If one happens 

 to have a considerable block of dwarf trees closely 

 planted. There may be difficulty, it is true, in driving 

 in with a spray pump. This difficulty is overcome by 

 having long runs of hose on the spray pump, so that 

 the cart may stand on the borders of the garden while 

 the operator carries the nozzle in among the trees. 

 In case of large plantings of dwarf trees alley-ways 

 should be left every one hundred feet, or better, every 

 eighty feet, between the blocks. These alleys will 

 be useful for other purposes besides spraying. 



In the management of a small garden the gardener 

 is expected to be liberal in his allowance of fertili- 

 zers. While it is true that dwarf fruit trees should 

 be liberally fed there is a possibility of overdoing 

 it. It has already been explained that the dwarfing 

 of the tree depends in a certain way on its well-regu- 

 lated starvation. If the tree top could get all the 

 food which its nature calls for it would not be dwarfed. 

 The rule in feeding dwarf fruit trees therefore should 



