72 CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



by the spade. The work should 

 be shallow near the tree to pre- 

 vent injury to the roots, and grad- 

 ually deepen as it recedes. This 

 operation when repeated several 

 times during summer, has been 

 known to increase the growth 

 fi ye f ^. But a not less import- 

 Fig. 8 . ant result is the exclusion of the 

 mice, for which this is by far the most effectual 

 method, if the surface is raised nine or ten inches 

 round the tree just before winter. The grass no 

 longer affords these animals any hiding place ; and 

 the embankment round the stem prevents the col- 

 lection of deep snow. It proves completely effect- 

 ual. Fig. 8 represents the mode in which this 

 embanking should be done.* 



Among the crops which are best suited to young 

 trees, are potatees, ruta bagas, beets, carrots, beans, 

 and all low hoed crops. Corn, though a hoed crop, 

 is of too tall a growth, shading young trees too much 

 by its formidable stalks. All sown crops are to be 

 avoided,! and grass is still worse. Meadows are 



* The writer has often saved young trees of the pear and 

 apple, which have been girdled by mice, by fitting in small 

 pieces of wood with the fresh bark, so as to restore the con- 

 connexion between the two severed portions of the bark, 

 covering the whole with grafting wax. 



f Peas are by manj r regarded as a good crop for orchards. 

 They are much worse than corn which is kept hoed, though 



