stant cultivation, and in most cases, unfortunately, this practice is 

 carried out with the idea of obtaining both a crop of fruit and of 

 grass or hay. This practice would be satisfactory in many cases, if 

 it was realized that the amount of plant food required for the two 

 crops is much larger than many growers are likely to apply. The 

 greatest objection, however, to this method is, that after the land has 

 been a long time in grass, in the attempt to turn over the turf, 

 the roots, which have been working more and more to the surface the 

 longer the trees are in grass, will be much cut and broken, and after 

 this rotation is repeated a few times the trees are very seriously 

 injured — ,and as long life cannot be expected as where they are either 

 in turf all the time or under constant cultivation. 



3d. Very few orchards of any considerable age are to be found 

 in this State that have been cultivated from tke beginning, but from 

 what experiments have been made I think it is beyond question that 

 the quickest returns and the greatest profits will result from this 

 practice. The advantages of constant cultivation are that the mois- 

 ture of the soil is preserved in severe drouths, and in very wet times 

 the air is let into it, the latent plant food in the soil is made avail- 

 able and much less plant food will be required to produce the 

 growth necessary for profit, the roots are kept deep in the soil and 

 are not as liable to injury from heat or cold, and in well drained 

 soil no injury need be feared during excessively wet seasons that 

 might occur if it was not underdrained. 



Of the three systems of orcharding as practiced in Massachusetts, 

 that of continued turf culture, where cheap land can be utilized, an 

 abundance of fertilizers used, and continued cultivation employed, 

 with cover crops on the land from the middle of August to the first 

 of May, is best adapted to produce profitable results. 



CULTIVATION OF ORCHARDS. 



With the modern tools for orchard cultivation this work can be 

 done very thoroughly and cheaply. The work for a season has 

 been variously estimated at from $10 to $25 per acre. In plowing 

 an orchard that has been long in turf, the greatest care must be 

 taken not to cut and tear the large roots and to plow only three or 

 four inches deep, using shallow working tools after the plowing has 

 been done. With the modern low-headed orchard tree, Fig. 18, it 



