PLANTING THE TREES 45 



an apple grower who had the nerve to pull 

 out his peach trees when they got large enough 

 to interfere with the apples. I hereby acknowl- 

 edge all compliments but disclaim any title to 

 them because the year in which we pulled 

 our peach trees was preceded by a very severe 

 winter that killed most of them anyway. It 

 has always been a question in my mind whether 

 I would have pulled those trees with such en- 

 thusiasm if they had been in perfect health and 

 with a nice crop of promising buds. (The 

 word " promising" is used advisedly in con- 

 nection with peach buds.) That temptation to 

 "leave them for another year" is the great ob- 

 jection to the use of peaches in an orchard. If 

 it was not for the potential damage they might 

 do by remaining too long they would be ideal 

 fillers in an apple orchard that was so situated 

 that it could be regularly cultivated. I would 

 not advise their use in an orchard that was to 

 be handled by any of the sod mulch systems. 

 The reason for this will appear later. For the 

 present, take my word for it. 



We have used plums as fillers with consid- 

 erable success. A small portion of our or- 

 chards is still provided with fillers of this class 

 and they have not interfered with the apples 

 in the least. On the other hand, they started to 

 bear at a rather early age and have continued 

 to do so with considerable regularity regard- 



