THE APPLE 



17 



tliey buy and plant do not grow when there is little 

 or no plant food in the soil to sustain them. One has 

 as good a right to expect a crop of corn from land 

 with no fertilizer as a good growth of trees under sim- 

 ilar conditions. If some of the people who fail in 

 tree planting from this cause, could see the amount 

 of manure or fertilizers used by nurserymen and suc- 

 cessful orchardists, they would cease to wonder why 

 their trees do no better, and put the blame where it 

 belongs. On land that is naturally rich and moist, 

 however, fruit trees, especially the apple and peach, 

 will need little or no manure or fertilizer until fruiting, 

 if the land is kept frequently cultivated. 



PREPARING THE TREES FOR PLANTING 



It matters not how carefully trees may be dug 

 from the nursery, more or less of the fine roots and 

 all of the root-hairs will be injured, and, as generally 

 received from the nurseries, there is 

 little to the trees but a few stubs of 

 roots and the top, with its numerous 

 branches and buds to be supplied with 

 moisture and food from this small 

 amount of roots. The consequence 

 is that none of the branches makes 

 much growth, or the evaporation is 

 so great from the large amount of .the 

 surface of the branches and numerous 

 buds that the moisture is dried out 

 faster than it is supplied by the 

 scanty roots, and the tree dies. To 

 remedy this condition, the top must 

 be reduced in proportion to the injury 



. ,, . -u • 1?' ty Fig. 7-Tree Properly 



to the roots, as shown m Figure 7, HeadedUpatPiant- 

 h h h. The older and larger the log 



