The Planting of the Fruit-Farm 83 



from above. The best irrigation is to keep the 

 ground, the surface, constantly stirred. This is 

 equivalent to a rainfall and is more beneficial than 

 irrigation. If you keep the cultivator running 

 through your plantation, you will not need ir- 

 rigation. 



All plant-food is soluble, therefore it should reach 

 the plant as moisture. In the laboratory of the 

 soil the change is from solid to liquid. The thin 

 walls of the root-cells absorb moisture, feeding on 

 the soluble food as it passes through the cell walls. 

 Therefore all fertilizers must dissolve or decay, 

 must break down into liquid or gas in order to be- 

 come available plant-food. This law must be re- 

 cognized when trees and vines are planted. Raw 

 fertilizer touching the roots poisons them; but 

 a neighboring supply of food for the speedy use of 

 the young plant helps it tide over the shock of 

 transplantation. I have found it desirable to set 

 the young tree deeper than it stood in the nursery. 

 As a rule, deep setting means a greater supply of 

 food to the root. Grafted trees — spears, cherries, 

 prunes, plums, peaches, indeed all trees which 

 are grafted or budded at the root (of course, 

 apple, or other varieties grafted in the stock, ex- 

 cepted) — should be set so that the bud-stock will 

 be covered, otherwise the latent buds in the wild 

 stock may burst forth into perennial suckers of 

 endless annoyance. A grapevine, being a cutting, 

 not a graft, gives no like trouble, but should be set 

 so that the top bud is quite even with the ground. 



