No. 4.] COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING. 37 



one of the biii; (|nosli()iis, iiuicli more so, I think', than in 

 general farming. 



Th(> land which we were setting was all of it badly run 

 down. A large part of it was old sheep and cow pastnre, 

 which had been pastnred for years withont any retnrn of fer- 

 tilizers. One section of it had been cropped alternately with 

 potatoes and rye nntil the rye had failed to reach knee-high, 

 when it was planted ont to " orchard." The trees of this 

 section of " orchard " are now on the brnsh heap, and this 

 land will be given a year or two to recnperate, and will then 

 be replanted to real orchai-d. In one part of the old pasture, 

 which was plowed up and planted with sqnash the past 

 spring, only two patches made a satisfactory growth and 

 gave a good crop of squashes. One of these patches was in 

 a corner of the field, and the other was an irregular section 

 near the center. Inquiry elicited the information that the 

 corner patch was where the bars to the pasture were located, 

 and where the cows gathered at night before being driven 

 home. The irregular patch in the center was where several 

 trees had stood, under which the cows gathered for shade. 

 These illustrations will serve to show the condition of the 

 land, so far as jiast management, or rather mismanagement, 

 was concerned. But naturally the land was an ideal orchard 

 soil, a gravelly loam with rather a porous subsoil; just the 

 type of soil to give a reasonably good growth to the trees, 

 and high color and quality to the fruit. Furthermore, a 

 number of old apple trees on various parts of the farms were 

 making a sturdy, healthy growth, in spite of all the different 

 kinds of neglect which the owners could heap upon them. 

 It was for these reasons that the location was selected, 

 coupled with a firm belief that the fact of a soil being run 

 down is of comparatively little moment, provided it is natu- 

 rally a good orchard soil, and provided also that the owner 

 purposes to see that plenty of plant food is supplied to the 

 trees from the start, — two extremely important provisos. 



The land for setting this first season was plowed as early 

 in the spring as the soil was fit for working, and was then 

 thoroughly fitted, using a disc harrow, a spring-tooth and a 

 smoothing harrow, and finishing with a planker. This left 



