PART I. FRUIT GROWING 



Trees Do Not Grow Up. 



A friend is setting twenty acres of walnuts, and is going to head 

 them two feet from the ground, so that when they reach maturity the 

 head will be four feet from the ground. Have you found this to be so 

 or would you rather head them at four feet to begin with? 



Your friend is wrong in the head. A tree does not grow up from 

 the ground. Unless some one shifts the ground in cultivation or 

 otherwise, the head draws nearer to the surface because the branches 

 enlarge in diameter. That is, the center of each branch remains just 

 where the bud, from which it grew, started on the stem; the lower 

 side being nearer the ground, therefore, by one-half the diameter of the 

 branch. This amounts to a great deal with trees which reach such 

 size and thickness of limb as the walnut and fig. If you wish the 

 lowest limb something less than four feet start the limb at four feet 

 and the under-side of it will draw nearer to the ground later. 



Growing Fruit Trees in Alfalfa. 



How shall I plant alfalfa in a young orchard? The ground was 

 leveled before trees were planted, but will require checking now to 

 control the water. If I throw up border checks along the tree rows 

 will this work any injury to the trees from being in the ground that 

 much deeper? 



It depends upon the kind of soil and how much deeper. It is less 

 dangerous in a light soil, but if there is much dirt shifted around the 

 tree it usually does harm. In such a case the tree should have been 

 planted a little higher, and yet not so high as to be liable to injury 

 on a dry levee. But trees in alfalfa should usually have a cultivated 

 strip to themselves, at least while young, the levee being turned up 

 three or four feet from the trees. 



Sour Sap in the Root. 



My peach trees put out a few leaves and then within a few days 

 the leaves turned brown and dry before unfolding. Some of the trees 

 set out last spring died. The trees planted two years ago are first 

 showing it now. 



There has been too much water standing in the soil. It has 

 destroyed the root-hairs and they could not furnish sap to keep up the 

 growth which started from the sap in the main roots and stems. Cut 

 back the trees, and those not too badly injured will start again later, 



