I. 



CONDITIONS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS IN FRUIT CULTURE 



F. WM. RANE 



Soils adapted for growing almost any kind of tillable crops 

 and in good heart will grow fruits. The mistake is often 

 made that the best of our farm fields are too good for fruit 

 and should be retained for agriculture. No land is too good 

 for fruit growing, and when one realizes that the profits 

 derived from fruits usually average from two to ten times that 

 of general agricultural crops on the same area, why should 

 they not be given first place? Fruits do and will grow on 

 our rocky hillsides and worthless fields, but this does not 

 prove that for best results they should be planted in such situ- 

 ations. When preparing the soil to receive fruits, extra 

 attention should be given it. The deeper the soil is stirred 

 and the better its physical and mechanical condition the better 

 the results to be obtained. When the trees or bushes are set 

 they must have continued care and attention. The appear- 

 ance of the trees and bushes themselves usually tells the story. 

 If the plants are given proper nourishment and culture, they 

 will make quick growth and rapid development, but it 

 allowed to shift for themselves, they become stunted and eke 

 out a miserable and usually an unprofitable existence. Many 

 plow up a field and set out a fruit plantation one season ; the 

 next it is in sod and forgotten. In about eight years, when 

 apple trees, for example, should be coming into bearing, in- 

 stead of picking fruit, it is often a hard matter to find the trees 

 themselves. Fruit trees, like animals, are living things, and 

 unless fed and cared for they are not to blame for not doing 

 their best. Animals can forage for themselves, if neglected, 



