THE APPLE 23 



introduction of air. In young orchards it will be found 

 most economical to grow some hoed crop among the 

 tre26 for a few years; but, as a rule, such crops will 

 not more than pay the cost of cultivation and fertilizers 

 used, while they often fall far short of this, and the 

 owner must take his profit in the increased value of 

 his trees. Any hoed crop may be used that does not 

 require cultivation during August and September, as 

 cultivation during these months often causes a late 

 growth of the trees that are more likely to be injured 

 than if they matured earlier. The corn crop, if of the 

 small stalked kinds and not planted too close to the 

 trees, is also a good crop, but none of the small grains 

 should be used, as they draw so heavily upon the mois- 

 ture supply in May and June as to seriously check the 

 growth of the trees. 



With the use of the modern tools for orchard 

 cultivation, now on the market, the cost of cultivation 

 is much less than it was twenty years ago, and orchards 

 are more and more being cared for by constant cultiva- 

 tion. The advantages of this method are, that the 

 roots are kept deep in the soil and are less liable to 

 injury from the extremes of cold or drouth ; less plant 

 food is needed to keep up a vigorous growth, as the 

 latent elements in the soil are made more available by 

 contact with the air; the moisture during dry weather 

 is kept in the soil by the mulch of fine soil produced 

 by frequent cultivation ; the greater the drouth the more 

 frequent should be the cultivation. There may be a 

 limit to the number of times one can cultivate with 

 a profit, but twice or three times each week in very 

 dry weather is none too frequent ; a more even temper- 

 ature of soil is produced by cultivation, which results 

 in a steady and healthy growth that is less liable to 

 diseases, most of which only attack trees in a weakened 

 condition. 



