KINDS TO USE AS FILLERS 61 



Orchard Fillers. — The question of the use of ' ' fillers ' ' in the 

 orchard is a vexed one. A filler is a temporary tree, usually a 

 small and early bearing one, which is planted between the per- 

 manent trees and removed (sometimes) when it begins to crowd 

 them. Most men have very definite opinions on the filler, either 

 condemning it altogether or favoring it with equal decision. 

 The matter simply narrows down to this, or it ought to : If a man 

 can make more money out of growing fillers in the orchard than 

 he can out of any other crop, then they are the best crop to grow. 

 If beans or potatoes or cabbages will bring him more money, then 

 he should grow these crops and not fillers. 



The chief objection urged against the use of fillers in the 

 orchard is that they are not cut out as soon as they should be. 

 The owner holds onto them from year to year in order to get a 

 revenue from them. If they have not borne much fruit he feels 

 that he must hold onto them until they come into bearing and he 

 " gets his money out of them." If they are bearing well then 

 he feels that he simply cannot destroy the source of so much 

 income. Now while the writer is strongly in favor of the filler 

 system for his own use and believes that it ought to be possible 

 for a man to cut the fillers out in season, yet there is no question 

 that the method does often fail. 



This filler question is in exactly the same class as the sod- 

 mulch question. Where either one is well carried out it gives 

 good results, but both of them tempt the owner to do what is not 

 for the best interest of the orchard, in the one case by hauling off 

 the hay and in the other by holding onto the fillers. As most of us 

 yield to temptations, it is best not to put any extra ones in our 

 own paths unless we are pretty sure that we can resist them. The 

 man who keeps stock ought not to have a sod orchard, and the 

 man who can not bring himself to prune a tree severely enough 

 or to thin fruit " because it is such a waste " had better not try 

 the filler system. 



Kinds to Use as Fillers. — But for the man who can and will 

 handle it rightly, it is a good system. If a man is going to use 

 fillers he is most likely to be successful if he uses for the purpose 



