156 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



condition, fertile, and free from hard or "sour" places 

 and pernicious weeds. There are exceptions to this 

 rule in the case of certain rocky or steep lands upon 

 which it is desired to set apples; but for all orchards 

 which are planted directly for commercial results, 

 this advice has few, if any, exceptions. It is gener- 

 ally best to put the land into hoed crops the sen son 

 before the trees are set, as potatoes or corn; although 

 sod land, if well fitted and naturally in good heart, 

 often gives excellent results when turned over and 

 set at once to orchards. But most soils need the 

 previous cultivation to bring them into a mellow and 

 uniform condition. Many of the "bad places" in or- 

 chards, where trees die out the first two or three 

 years, could have been discovered and corrected if 

 the land had been devoted to one or several hoed 

 crops, for the owner would have observed that they 

 were too wet or too lumpy, or had other serious de- 

 fects. Lands look more uniform when in sod than 

 when cultivated, and the farmer may be led to over- 

 estimate their value for orchard purposes. It may 

 also be said that the familiarity with a particular 

 piece of land, which comes of frequent cultivation, 

 enables the careful grower to judge accurately of its 

 adaptability to particular fruits or even to special 

 varieties. 



The best tillage is that which begins early in the 

 season, and which keeps the surface stirred until late 

 summer or early fall, and the best implements are 

 those which secure this result with the least amount 

 of time and labor. For the first few years, it is gen- 



