CHAPTER VI 

 ORCHARD MANAGEMENT 



FRUIT trees will not produce profitable crops when left 

 alone to struggle for their existence. Good fruits are 

 produced only when the trees are supplied with an abun- 

 dance of food and moisture. 



Cultivation. Cultivation aerates the soil, improves its 

 texture, and makes plant food available. It also deepens 

 the top soil, and increases the feeding area of the roots. The 

 practice of plowing the soil in the spring and harrowing it 

 frequently during the growing season is followed by many 

 successful growers. This is known as the soil-mulch sys- 

 tem. By stirring the soil and keeping the upper surface 

 loose and friable, soil moisture is maintained and the 

 growth of weeds prevented. As this is the cheapest method 

 of maintaining soil moisture and of feeding the trees it is 

 usually the most desirable practice. As early in the spring 

 as the land can be worked a cover crop should be turned 

 under and the soil smoothed down with a harrow. Every 

 week or ten days, and after every heavy rain, the land is 

 again harrowed to keep the top soil fine and loose. This 

 is continued until late summer, when a cover crop is sown 

 and left until the following spring. 



Some growers find it better to practice the sod-mulch 

 system. Where the land is unusually fertile and moist, 

 good fruit may be grown by this system. On farms where 

 the fruit crop is not the principal money crop or where the 

 land slopes so that cultivation cannot be practiced without 



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