264 A YEAR IN AGRICULTURE 



reference to the points of the compass. Others say that all 

 the branches should be cut off clean and most of the stalk 

 also, as well as all of the roots. Common sense would suggest 

 a middle ground. The head of the young two-year-old tree 

 should be cut .back so that three or four side limbs are left 

 ^and these pruned to three or four buds. A central limb 

 should be left upon which to form a new set of scaffolding 

 limbs for the next season. These side branches become the 

 scaffolds upon which the future top is formed. The roots 

 should be pruned to six or eight inches, and all broken or 

 injured parts removed. 



If the orchard site has been put in good tilth and furrows 

 opened up with the plow, little hand digging will be neces- 

 sary. If the soil, especially the subsoil, is hard and compact, 

 it will be necessary to loosen it up by digging a hole somewhat 

 larger than is necessary to hold the roots of the tree. If the 

 ground for the orchard has not or can not be plowed, holes 

 from three to four feet in diameter and from one to two 

 feet deep should be dug where the young trees are to be set. 

 The holes should then be filled with good soil, and the young 

 trees planted slightly deeper than they were growing in the 

 nursery row. One of the main principles to observe especially 

 in planting the tree is to have the earth well firmed about all 

 the roots, leaving no air spaces. The ground about the trees 

 should be mulched with soil and well rotted manure for 

 winter protection, and the trunks of the little trees covered 

 with common window screening or some other shield to pro- 

 tect them from mice and rabbits. No grass should be allowed 

 to grow about the young fruit trees. 



