6 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



CULTIVATION. 



During the first summer, the orchard, windbreak, and small fruit 

 garden should receive good, clean cultivation. Rows of shade trees 

 and hedges should receive the same care. Individual plants or clumps 

 that cannot well be cultivated may be mulched with straw or coarse 

 stable manure. The orchard and small fruit garden should be well 

 cultivated as long as they are maintained upon the dry farm. The 

 windbreak should be cultivated as long as it is possible to get be- 

 tween the trees. 



The orchard should be plowed occasionally to induce the trees 

 to root deeper. Fall plowing is generally more satisfactory than 

 spring plowing, and one plowing in two years should be sufficient. 

 One may plow six or eight inches deep in the middle, running a little 

 shallower near the trees to avoid breaking the main roots. Cutting 

 some of the small roots will not injure the trees. 



It may be well to mulch the soil about the young fruit trees and 

 shrubs, the first winter at least. If mice are inclined to be trouble- 

 some, the mulch should not extend up to the trunks of the trees. 

 To prevent injury by mice, pile a cone of earth eight inches high 

 <tbout the base of the tree and then mulch outside of this. Bush 

 fruits may be protected by bending them down to the ground and 

 covering them with earth. Raspberries especially need this protec- 

 tion. If the currants and gooseberries are planted near the wind- 

 break where they will be partially covered with snow, they will need 

 no other protection. 



THE WINDBREAK. 



The purpose of the windbreak is one of protection. It should 

 protect the buildings and the fruit and vegetable gardens from sweep- 

 ing winds. In winter it should stop the blowing snow and prevent it 

 from piling up about the buildings. Such protection adds much to 

 the comfort of the home, and without some such protection from 

 drying winds, it is almost useless to attempt to grow fruit upon the 

 dry farm. In summer the windbreak checks the winds which rob 

 the soils of the garden, orchard and yard of their moisture. If it is 

 to serve these purposes it must be dense enough and wide enough 

 to stop the wind. To make it dense, it must be made up of trees of 

 varying habits of growth. A grove of cottonwoods will not serve 

 the purpose, as the lower limbs soon die off and allow the wind to 



