CHAPTER VII 



Summer Care of Plantation 



Advantages of Glean Cultivation Pruning Rejuvenating Neglected 

 Trees Grafting and Budding Thinning the Fruit 



CLEAN cultivation, starting as soon as the ground can be worked 

 in Spring and continuing until Midsummer and then followed 

 by a cover crop, is the almost universal practice of successful 



fruit growers. Cul- , . 



tivation has the advan- 

 tages that it conserves 

 moisture, makes plant 

 food available, helps to 

 control certain insects, 

 prevents damage to tree 

 trunks by mice, enhances 

 the quality and increases 

 the quantity of fruit, con- 

 trols weeds and permits 

 the use of a leguminous 

 cover crop from which all 

 the nitrogen that fruit 

 plants will need can be 

 secured. 



Fig. 34. Right and wrong ways to cut twigs. A, 



right; B, too long a slant; C, too long a stub; D, 



too close to bud 



Fig. 35. Right place 

 to cut limb 



All the cultivation that a young fruit plan- 

 tation needs may be given to vegetable crops 

 planted between the tree rows. When crops 

 such as Melons and Tomatoes,- that either 

 mature by late Summer or are killed by early 

 frosts, are used the cover crop may be sown 

 among them at the usual time without in the 

 least jeopardizing the vegetable yields. It is 

 imperative, however that the cover crop be 

 plowed or dug at the earliest possible moment 

 in Spring, preferably before it starts to grow. 

 When the fruit plants begin to bear the area de- 

 voted to vegetables must be reduced, both be- 

 cause the vegetable yields will be smaller and 

 because the fruit plants need the food and water. 

 When the trees and bushes are in full bearing 

 the growing of vegetables may be reduced to 



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