THE APPLE 9 



i;lant food applied is likely to be washed to the foot 

 of the slope, leaving the tops of hills with a small 

 supply unless a soil cover crop is kept on the land. 



TREES FOR AN ORCHARD 



The best stock for planting is vigorous trees that 

 liave reached a medium to large size in two years from 

 the bud or root graft, while an older tree is not so 

 desirable, on account of the number of roots that must 

 necessarily be destroyed in transplanting. A three or 

 four-year-old tree has more vitality and will stand more 

 ill treatment and exposure than a younger one, yet 

 the young tree, if properly planted and cared for, 

 will start into growth more vigorously and in the 

 end make the better tree. The fibrous roots of the 

 young tree will be found not far from the trunk, while 

 those on the older tree will each year be extending 

 outward, and as the distance from the tree that the 

 spade is inserted in digging is the same in both cases, 

 the fibers of the older tree will be the most injured. 

 A very good plan, followed by some orchardists who are 

 obliged to purchase trees grown at a long distance from 

 home, is to buy strong one-year-old trees and plant 

 them in good soil in their home nursery, where they 

 grow for one or two years, and then dig and transplant 

 them to the orchard with little or no exposure of the 

 roots to the sun and drying air. 



If the planter has the necessary skill to grow trees 

 to the proper form after they are planted in the orchard, 

 it would be much safer to set out stocky, low-branched 

 trees, as tall, slim ones are liable to be injured by the 

 hot sun striking on the long, slender trunk after being 

 removed from the shelter of the nursery and require 

 considerable time and skill to train the head to the 

 proper form. 



