SHEEP AND SWINE IN ORCHARDS. 23 



The fifty trees were mostly of those varieties, as the Louise 

 Bonne and Vicar of Winkfield, that thrive and endure as 

 dwarfs, while the twenty trees were early kinds that have not 

 established a reputation for succeeding as dwarfs. 



Animals of any kind cannot be safely allowed in orchards 

 without watching. The surface-rooting of swine is good 

 tillage for the trees, and they also destroy myriads of insects, 

 but sometimes they bark the roots and trunks with a voracity 

 bordering on insanity. Sheep, usually harmless, sometimes 

 will rub against the trees, or bite the bark, even when the 

 trees are of considerable size ; and when the habit is once 

 acquired, it is apt to remain with the individuals of the flock. 

 Calves, sometimes harmless, are at others the most destructive 

 of animals. A dozen trees may be barked in a day when 

 they begin the attack. Colts have sometimes shown the same 

 propensity. Yet pasturage is better than mowing. The lush 

 growth of June, suddenly removed, followed by the heat of 

 July, is an extreme change. The grass forms a harbor for 

 mice, that in the winter often prove destructive to young 

 orchards. 



Training and pruning the trees should begin at the begin- 

 ning. Avoid forked trees in the selection, and by judicious 

 training, prevent the formation of such a head, either where 

 the trees limb out, or among the branches. These forks split 

 down when the limbs are loaded with fruit, or ice and snow, 

 and form a favorite refuge for insects. Some trees grow 

 upward, as the Northern Spy, and others downward from the 

 point of limbing, and we should remember these peculiarities 

 in allowing the head to form. Four to six feet from the 

 ground is a good height for the springing of the branches. 

 If too high, the fruit cannot be readily gathered, and suffers 

 more in falling, and the trees are more rocked by the winds, 

 and the trunk and roots fail of a certain degree of healthful 

 shelter. 



If too low, they are in the way of fruit-gathering, and 

 exposed to be broken by animals. The fruit, too, upon the 

 lower limbs, is mildewed and poorly ripened from want of 

 fresh air. Very little pruning is advised. Buds starting in 

 the wrong place should be rubbed off at any time, and at 

 least once a year the trees should be carefully examined, and 



