2?8 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 



few years, it may not be necessary to turn any 

 furrows in the plantation in later years, except to 

 turn under cover crops. 



All this can be done even with hard clay land. 

 The writer has the management of two orchards 

 upon very hard clay of uneven surface, which, in six 

 years from the setting of the trees, is in such con- 

 dition that deep plowing is no longer necessary, and 

 the spring fitting of the land is done with spading 

 harrows and spring -tooth harrows, and the subse- 

 quent tilling is partly done with a spike -tooth har- 

 row. Weeds are not allowed to appear ; but if a 

 patch should get a start now and then, it can gen- 

 erally be destroyed with the cultivator. Perhaps 

 once or twice during the season it will be necessary 

 to send a man through the orchard with a hoe to 

 take the weeds away from the trees, but the space 

 which needs such hand labor will not exceed two 

 feet in diameter, and it is usually very much less. 

 This has been accomplished by exercising great care 

 to plow the clay when it is in such condition that 

 it pulverizes when it is worked, and by the incor- 

 poration of one or two cover crops. It will be 

 necessary now and then to put cover crops on the 

 land for the purpose of adding humus, and the land 

 will then be regularly plowed in spring to turn the 

 crop under ; but even then it may not be the de- 

 sire to secure a heavy growth of cover crop, and 

 the spring plowing need not necessarily be deep and 

 laborious. If, however, it seems to be necessary to 

 plow six or eight inches deep, there will be no 



