244 AMERICAN POMOLOGY. 



other root crops, which require frequent cultivation, are 

 preferred by some orchardists, because of their being 

 lower, and thus they will shade only the surface of the 

 ground, without affecting the trees themselves. Let it 

 ever be remembered, particularly in respect to soils that 

 are of poor or of moderate fertility, that all these crops 

 will remove their full share of plant-food from the land 

 that we have already appropriated to another object, and 

 that the main crop which we desire to draw its sustenance 

 from the earth for a long series of years, may thus be robbed 

 of its proper nourishment. Under such circumstances we 

 must meet the emergency by applications of fertilizing 

 materials. I am aware that it may be urged by the theorists 

 of agriculcure, that these crops call upon the soil for differ- 

 ent elements, and that, according to the customary views 

 of the objects attained by a rotation, they may even be 

 of advantage to those which are to follow. Others will 

 make the practical observation that the fertilizing materi- 

 als of common use in modern agriculture, may so readily 

 be applied to compensate for these abstractions from the 

 soil, that this is a matter of little moment, and not worthy 

 of serious consideration. But it should be observed that, 

 while men will often be induced to apply fertilizers to the 

 temporary crop, counting upon an immediate return for 

 their outlay, they seldom feel willing to make any return 

 to the soil in compensation for what they have already re- 

 moved from it, and rather wait until the necessity for such 

 enrichment becomes painfully apparent in the diminished 

 productiveness of their fields. 



Hoed crops, such as those above mentioned, should alone 

 be allowed to occupy the space between the young trees, 



