22 FRUIl CULTURE IN GENERAL. 



to make trees grow ! Is it any wonder that three out of every four 

 trees taken from the nursery die without having reached the stage 

 of fruit-bearing? 



In the first place, the soil must be dry before planting. If not 

 so naturally, it must be made so by deep plowing, and, if this will 

 not suffice, then by underdraining. A clay subsoil should be under- 

 drained to the depth of three feet ; but an/ soil not very retentive 

 of water may be sufficiently drained, by the use of a subsoil plow 

 and a strong team. With good underdraining and a proper admix- 

 ture of manures, ashes, sand, and loam, the toughest clay soils may 

 be reduced to a proper couditiou for fruit trees. All soils that are 

 sufficiently porous to drain well should be first prepared with the 

 plow, harrow, and sub-soiler ; and then the holes for the trees 

 should be made only of proper size and depth to admit the roots in 

 their natural position, and at two or three inches greater depth 

 than they stood in the nursery. Deep holes in a hard and tenacious 

 sub-soil will injure the trees by retaining too much water. Such 

 soils should be avoided for a fruit orchard ; or if used, should first 

 be properly underdrained. Many young trees die from the effects 

 of standing in deep holes, prepared for them at great expense. 



Previous to planting, the soil should be enriched with well-rotted 

 barn-yard manure, thoroughly intermixed and pulverized by the 

 harrow. If planting is to be done in the spring, the Y)lowing 

 fehould have been gone through with the fall previous, and then 

 thoroughly stirred again just before planting. When the whole 

 field is thoroughly prepared by the plow, it can be cultivated to 

 some useful crop, and the trees will be more likely to receive the 

 necessary tillage than they would if standing in the field alone. 



MANURING. 



It is a quite common experience that the quality of fruit in or- 

 chards will, after a few years, gradually decline, yielding only 

 small and imperfect specimens. Some varieties will show this 

 decline much sooner than others. Negligence in regard to manur- 

 ing is generally the cause of this deterioration. The application 

 of birn-yard manure will cure the evil, though with some fruits 

 other ingredie)its are very valuable. Ashes is a good fertilizer for 

 most fruits, and is worth more to the fruit-jrrow^r, as such, than for 

 any other purpose. In the peach orchard there is little danger of 



