CULTIVATION OF ORCHARDS. 39 



cultivation of orchards. My orchards yield more apples, 

 usually, in the even years than in the odd years, but we have 

 a fair crop of apples in what are called the non-bearing, or 

 odd years, and it brings, perhaps, twice as much money as 

 the large crop does on the even years ; and I attribute my 

 success in raising apples the odd years to cultivation. I 

 have always felt the necessity of manuring and cultivating an 

 orchard as regularly and fully as I would cultivate for a crop 

 of vegetables, or anything else. I keep my apple-orchard 

 continually under cultivation. I do not plough very deep, 

 but I never allow an orchard to remain in grass for more than 

 a year or two, and to this constant cultivation, and constant 

 supply of fertilizers, I attribute my success in raising a fair 

 crop on the odd years. I have never taken any pains, in 

 any other direction, by picking off the blossoms, etc. My 

 orchard, at the present time, has been under cultivation, I 

 should think, for twenty years, with hardly any intermission, 

 — not more than a year or two at any time ; and I give it a 

 dressing of manure, if not every year, certainly every other 

 year, but usually every year, and I think by that means I 

 secure a fair crop of apples the odd years. If the ground is 

 so shaded that nothing will grow, I am satisfied with raising 

 nothing ; but if the trees are not so large as to cover the 

 ground fully, I raise, very frequently, fodder-corn. That is 

 something very easily handled, and requires little labor. It 

 is rather difficult to cultivate under apple-trees, on account of 

 the limbs interfering somewhat with the work ; but a crop of 

 fodder-corn requires very little culture, and I have usually 

 raised that. Sometimes, where the ground is not very much 

 shaded, I plant squashes, and in any open space that is allowed 

 between the trees, squashes will grow, and produce a good 

 crop. Where the ground is very thickly shaded, there will 

 be no crop ; but I am satisfied with taking whatever grows, 

 where the trees will admit sufficient sun to produce a crop. 

 But where the ground is completely shaded, so that no crop 

 will grow, I cultivate just the same. After putting in the 

 plough, it is very easy to keep down the weeds with the har- 

 row, — " scarifying," as we sometimes call it. It requires very 

 little labor to keep the ground clear under the trees, where 

 crops will not grow. 



