JOO The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



two or three inches deep. Hard}' varieties may be 

 simply held down by throwing a few shovelfulls of 

 earth on the tops of the canes, thus allowing the 

 snow to fill in amongst the tops. If the grower 

 lives in a locality where he does not fear late 

 spring frosts, the bushes should be raised early in 

 the spring; but if frosts are feared, they may be 

 left under cover until corn -plan ting time. If the 

 buds become large and are bleached white under 

 cover, they will suffer when exposed to the atmos- 

 phere ; and one must watch the bushes in spring, 

 and raise them before the buds become soft and 

 white. This method of laying down blackberry 

 plants costs less than $10 per acre, and the slight 

 breaking of the roots is no disadvantage. Some 

 growers dig the earth away on both sides of the 

 row, and still others bend over the canes without 

 any digging. Whatever method is employed, the 

 operator must be careful not to crack or split the 

 canes. The method can be varied with different 

 varieties, for some bear stiffer canes than others. 



The laying down of orchard trees is little prac- 

 ticed in this country, but it must come to be better 

 understood as the country develops and a greater 

 interest arises in amateur fruit-growing. Fig. 9 

 (page 99) shows a method of training peach trees 

 for laying down.* The trunk is trained in a hori- 

 zontal position, and it should be ten feet or more 

 long to allow of its being twisted. The top is trained 



*J. T. Macomber, Peach - growing in the Cold North," Amer. Garden, 

 xi. 231. 



