362 Elementary Principles of Agriculture 



efforts made to encourage rapid growth in the young 

 trees. Other crops in young orchards are permissible 

 if due precaution be exercised to see that they do not rob 

 the trees of their moisture and light. Tall-growing plants 

 like corn should never be planted in orchards. Low- 

 growing crops like strawberries, peanuts, beans, and other 

 garden crops are sometimes grown in young orchards 

 and cause no injury if plenty of space is allowed for the 

 trees. Hay. or other untilled crops, as well as rank growing 

 weeds, are not usual in successful orchards. 



537. Ripening Wood. Orchard trees make their 

 largest growth in the spring and early summer season. 

 The branches do not grow in length very much in the 

 late summer. The natural tendency is to use this period 

 for ripening the young wood and storing food in the 

 branches for the next spring's growth of stem and fruit 

 (If 159-160). The suggestion therefore naturally arises 

 that the treatment of orchards should look carefully to 

 conserving the spring moisture supply to the trees, and 

 through the summer to protect them from extremes of 

 dryness or other conditions that would affect the ripening 

 of the branches. Disc harrows and other mulch-making 

 implements are much used in tilling orchards. Some- 

 times orchards are sodded down, but as a rule this practice 

 is not desirable, except on lands subject to washing. 



538. Recognizing Fruit and Leaf Buds. Branches of the 

 common fruit trees of the community should be brought into 

 school and study given to the buds until all members of the class 

 are able to distinguish the leaf buds from the flower buds and to 

 see their relation to the season of growth and the age of the branches. 



539. Harvesting and Marketing. Fruits are mar- 

 keted in various ways, usually in half-bushel or bushel 

 baskets or boxes and sometimes in barrels or even sold 



