86 CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 



tant that tillage be begun very early in the season in order to 

 conserve the moisture which has been stored up from the win- 

 ter rains and snows, and also to facilitate the growth of the 

 trees. The growth of fruit-trees takes place very early in the 

 season. Tillage may cease by midsummer or August in most 

 cases, although if the orchard is carrying a heavy crop and if 

 the land is somewhat dry, surface tillage should be maintained 

 later than that in order to hold the moisture. A heavy crop 

 of peaches may often suffer if tillage is withheld at midsum- 

 mer. 



It will be seen from the above remarks that all the heavy 

 ploughing work in the orchard is to be done when the trees 

 are small. Therefore the old difficulty of tearing up the roots 

 of old trees and breaking their tops by heavy ploughing is 

 obviated. The surface tillage is done by light tools like 

 smoothing harrows, spring-tooth harrows, and the like, and 

 they may cut so broad a swath that the team does not need to 

 be driven within several feet of the trunks of the trees. 

 Whenever one sees a farmer laboriously breaking up an old 

 orchard, he may be sure that the plantation has not been well 

 cared for. He is trying as well as he can to correct the mis- 

 takes of the earlier years, although he may not himself under- 

 stand why he has got into such difficulty. 



In modern practice, orchard lands are rarely ever prepared 

 with the subsoil plough. Lands which are greatly in need of 

 subsoiling are usually not adapted to the growing of fruits. 

 Or, if they are otherwise adapted, the best treatment is to tile- 

 drain them. This is a permanent corrective, since it lowers 

 the water table and breaks up the hardpan. Subsoiling is only 

 a temporary corrective, as a rule. However, if land is thor- 

 oughly subsoiled when trees are set, the trees may be able to 

 send their roots into the hardpan before it returns to its origi- 

 nal dense condition. One or two crops of red clover will tend 

 to improve its condition, because the tap-roots extend far into 

 the soil. 



It was the old notion to plough one year to the trees and 

 one year from the trees in order to keep the land more or less 

 level. With the modern harrowing tools, however, it is easy 

 to work the soil away from the trees, and thereby to keep a 

 level surface, even though the furrows are thrown toward the 



