2o6 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The trees now being set, the field plowed and fertihzed, say 

 with 1,200 pounds of good fertilizer to the acre and harrowed 

 in, It may be planted with potatoes, beets, carrots, strawberries, 

 or any hoed crop. The cultivation necessary for the crop will 

 do for the orchard the first two years or three, provided every 

 time the crop is cultivated and hoed, the ground about the trees 

 is hoed and kept free from weeds, soft and mellow. The bodies 

 of the trees should be washed every May with potash water, one 

 pound of potash to eight quarts of water. This is important, 

 and should never be neglected, until the trees are ten to twelve 

 years old at least. Spraying, pruning and thinning the fruit 

 should be done each year, and the trees examined every May and 

 October to destroy the borers, if any are present. 



After the third year, crop the orchard no more, but fertilize 

 every year, using 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of good fertilizer to the 

 acre. Cultivate the ground annually, and cultivate every week 

 or two, at least, until the last of August, when a cover crop may 

 be sown. This may be crimson clover, rye or barley. In spring, 

 this is to be plowed and worked into the soil, as well as it can 

 be, with a cutaway harrow or cultivator; afterwards to be fol- 

 lowed through the season with a spring-tooth harrow or other 

 fine tilling implement. 



The fourth year and after, apples are the only crop the soil 

 should be required to grow. Now the orchard has been reared 

 to bearing age, and should give a crop of apples every year fol- 

 lowing. The orchard, as I have said, should be fertilized every 

 spring with three-fourths to one ton or more of fertilizer, and 

 cultivation should begin early and be thoroughly done all 

 through the season, whether weeds grow or not. Cultivation 

 conduces to moisture, which is as essential to the trees and fruit 

 for best results as the fertilizer. Trimming should be done 

 annually ; spraying all that is necessary, and thinning the fruit 

 if the trees set too full to carry through the season properly. 

 Never let any other crop on the farm interfere with spraying or 

 cultivating the orchard at the proper time. Neglect other crops 

 if you must, rather than the orchard. 



You may say I have estimated for a crop of apples every year, 

 while the facts are that trees bear only every other year. That 

 is true with our present management or mismanagement of 

 orchards, but orchards managed as I have directed will bear 



