No. 4.] FRUIT GROWING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 53 



barrels should be exported, yet by 1911 the quantity had risen 

 to nearly 2,000,000 barrels. New orchards are planted every 

 year, and as yet only a small fraction of the total area has 

 been set. Orchards that have been planted during the last 

 twenty-five years are set 33 feet each way, which for a standard 

 orchard is about right. 



Special attention is paid by the successful grower to the 

 following points : — 



Cultivation. — IMost of the plowing in the larger orchards is 

 done in the autumn, preferably after the leaves have fallen. 

 Early in the spring, as soon as the land is fit, the land is 

 harrowed with disc harrows, followed in ten days with spring 

 tooth and later with smoothing harrows. The cultivation is 

 kept up every ten days until the 1st of July. At this time 

 cultivation ceases, and the entire area is sown with a cover 

 crop of summer vetches or tares. These vetches grow lux- 

 uriantly and produce a very heavy crop, which is plowed under 

 in the autumn. This is of great value to the soil, as it adds 

 an immense quantity of humus, which is heavily charged with 

 nitrogen gathered from the air during the growing season by 

 the millions of bacteria which are ever working, although 

 unseen, in the interest of the orchardist. The conservation of 

 moisture is one of the most important results of cultivation. 

 The stirring of the top soil breaks up the capillary tubes that 

 bring the water from below, and evaporation is checked. Two 

 other advantages of cultivation are that soil under thorough 

 cultivation has a larger amount of plant food available for plant 

 use, and the finely pulverized soil offers no resistance to root 

 development, and thus helps the trees to extend their feeding 

 area. 



Fertilization. — Another important factor in successful or- 

 charding is keeping up the fertility of the soil. Without a 

 generous supply of plant food the trees will not make a satis- 

 factory growth or produce a paying crop. 



For nitrogen, large quantities of nitrate of soda are used. 

 Ground fish, obtained from the Fish Reduction Works at 

 Carver, Nova Scotia, is a splendid fertilizer. Nitrogen is also 

 supplied by manure and the plowing under of leguminous crops. 



Basic slag from the steel works at Sydney, Nova Scotia, has 

 been successfully used the past few years as a source of phos- 



