72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Often a rental of $400 is paid for a single acre of land. 

 When we come to consider the possibilities of the improve- 

 ment of land, Ave in our country know but little about it 

 as yet, because we have had so much land, we have worked 

 over an extensive surface, and we have never been driven 

 to the necessity of taking a small acreage and working out 

 of it its great possibilities. 



While it is admissible to grow other crops in young or- 

 chards if extra fertilizing is done, the profits of the orchard 

 will be greater in future years if the entire use of the land 

 is given to the trees ; and under these conditions the close 

 interplanting may be possible if the trees are given the 

 entire resources of the soil. When the interplanted or 

 filler trees begin to grow upon the others, they must be 

 removed, — first the dwarfs on Paradise stock, and later the 

 half dwarfs on Doucin, or of standards of early bearing 

 kinds ; these must be removed as soon as they begin to 

 encroach upon the space of the permanent trees. Herein 

 lies the danger in recommending this system of close plant- 

 ing of trees, for, while the fillers are bearing liberal crops 

 of fine fruit, the temptation will be strong to leave the trees 

 for one more crop, and still another, until without great 

 care the soil will l)ecome so taxed and depleted that the 

 entire orchard will fail to produce, and the plan will prove 

 a failure. It requires considerable nerve to send in men to 

 cut down three-fourths of the trees in an orchard when they 

 are regularly producing good crops of fruit ; but this must 

 be done at such time as is demanded by the permanent trees, 

 which are to occupy the land for upwards of three-fourths 

 of a century, with profitable production. 



There will be advantage to the soil, as well as to the 

 trees, by starting them with low heads. On land that is 

 naturally well drained, the shading of the ground by low- 

 headed trees will lessen somewhat the great evaporation of 

 water during the hot period. While the fine tilth produced 

 by frequent cultivation serves as an excellent mulch, a par- 

 tial shading of the soil will be an additional help in con- 

 serving moisture through the hot season. Low trees Avill 

 be an advantage in saving drain upon the soil, by making 



