No. 4.] SOIL IN FRUIT CULTURE. 73 



practicable the thinning of the fruit. By preventing the 

 growth of all imperfect fruit and the growth of an excessive 

 quantity, there is a saving of the plant food which is 

 required to perfect the fruit year after year. Thinning 

 fruit is impracticable on high and very large trees, as too 

 much time is rei^uired to get over and about them ; on 

 low trees this is possible ; and where this work is done, 

 there may be obtained a very much larger per cent of high- 

 grade fruit. No less important is the low tree in its relation 

 to the work of controlling insects and diseases. Spraying- 

 is now as essential a part of the work of orcharding as cul- 

 tivation, and this may be much better done u})()n h)vv trees. 



We are oivino- .some attention to the culture of dwarf 

 trees. While these have been used in })ear culture on a 

 commercial scale, dwarf apple culture has not been at- 

 tempted in any commercial Avay. This can onl}^ be done 

 by specialists. In dwarf culture a much higher system of 

 tillage must be practised. The soil must be more thor- 

 oughly enriched, as a greater number of trees are planted 

 upon an acre. 



With the general spread of the San Jose scale and the 

 inevitable spread of the gypsy and brown-tail moths, so seri- 

 ous in their depredations about Boston, the necessity of 

 planting trees of low growth that may be most readily 

 treated to control these insects, and others that may at any 

 time be imported, will be forced more and more upt)n us. 

 We are starting all standard trees with heads 21/2 feet, and 

 dwarfs from 10 to 12 inches, from the ground. We are 

 doing this in anticipation of the gypsy and brown-tail moths 

 in time reaching our territory. 



Dwarf trees on Paradise stock ma}^ be planted 8 feet apart 

 each way, which will require 680 trees to the acre. These 

 may be allowed to bear for several years, after which every 

 other row each way may be cut out, leaving the balance 16 

 feet apart. With this very intensive method of culture and 

 close planting the soil must be thoroughly^ enriched, and 

 made to support the large demands made upon it. This 

 may be successfully done by the growing of leguminous 

 crops, with the addition of 500 or 1,000 pounds of potash 



