1/2 AGRICULTURE 



A small orchard for home use should have varieties which give 

 a, succession of fruit throughout the season. The varieties in a 

 market orchard should be the most salable ones adapted to the 

 section. Near a good market, summer and fall fruits are often 

 profitable. At a distance from market, varieties that keep well 

 and bear handling and storage should be raised. 



Transplanting Trees. Young fruit trees can be set _ out in fall 

 or spring; spring planting is usually preferred. On page 63 there 

 are general suggestions for transplanting, but there are some special 

 points which should be regarded in the case of trees. A portion 

 of the soil should be dug away, and the roots should be loosened 

 and carefully withdrawn. Bruised and broken roots should be 

 trimmed off. In resetting it, the subsoil should be loosened at the 

 bottom of the hole, and a little fine soil put in. Then the tree 

 should be set with its largest root in the direction of the prevailing 

 wind. 



Orchard Cultivation. After the young orchard is set, it should 

 be cultivated. No farmer expects to make a crop of corn or tobacco 

 without care and tillage. Without care and tillage, it is just as 

 impossible to raise good orchard crops. It is money and time 

 wasted to buy and transplant trees and then neglect them. 



The orchard should not be used as a grain field nor a pasture. 

 Fhis does not mean that crops, often profitable ones, cannot be 

 raised in an orchard. But the trees must be the first consideration. 

 Stock, especially cattle, should never be kept in a young orchard, 

 as they injure and often kill the trees. Small grain should never 

 be grown in it; grain and trees make growth and require much 

 moisture at the same time, and the trees are robbed of food and 

 moisture. Clean crops which destroy humus should be followed 

 by cover or catch crops cut for hay or plowed under in the early 

 spring. 



