86 



CA A^A DIA N IIORTIC UL TURIS T. 



old canes cut loose in the rows of the 

 blackberry and raspberi-y plantation, 

 which can be easily handled with a four- 

 tined fork. 



Removing dead Peach Trees. — In 

 early spring, while the ground is still 

 soft and wet, is a particularly convenient 

 time to remove old dead peach trees, or 

 such as have been doomed on account 

 of the Yellows. The small limbs hav- 

 ing been iirst removed with saw or axe, 

 a chain is made fast to the main 

 branches, and the whole tree may be 

 quickly uprooted by a good team of 

 horses, after a good draw in one or two 

 directions. In obstinate cases, we find 

 it necessary to aid in the operation with 

 the spade and the axe. 



Cuttings of currant and gooseberry 

 bushes, or grapevines, may still be 

 made, and buried in the earth for two 

 or three weeks until the ground is in 

 good condition for planting them. 



The Planting of all kinds of fruit 

 stock should not be delayed after the 

 ground is in condition for it. Currants, 

 blackberries, raspberries, etc., should 

 be first attended to, as they start to 

 grow very early. Nothing is gained 

 by hurrying the work of planting. Far 

 better even to defer planting an orchard 

 for another year than plant in unpre- 

 pared soil. By this we mean that ground 

 for an orchard should have been either 

 summer-fallowed, or worked up with 

 root crops, and well enriched the year 

 previous. In accepting parcels of 

 trees from the nursery, see to it that 

 each one has a proper proportion of 

 fibrous roots, as in many instances the 

 workmen who dig the trees from the 

 nursery rows plunge their spades in so 

 near the trees as to ruin them. Indeed, 

 in ordering trees, it would be well to 

 make it a condition that the roots 

 should be of certain lengths in propor- 

 tion to their height, and fibrous. The 

 hole should be made much larger in 

 diameter J;li an the roots demand, and 

 the tree should be set about the same 



depth as it stood in the nursery rows. 

 Fill in with only the best and finest 

 earth, and press it firmly about the 

 roots, taking gieat care that the roots 



are not crowded together, or bent out 

 of their natural course. This point is 

 illustrated bv figures 34 and 35. 



Grape Gpafting. 



[In connection with our " Hints for 

 the Month " the following article may 

 be interesting to some of our Vine- 

 yardists. It is written by S. Miller, in 

 the Horlifmltural Art Jo%irnal.^ 



Why so many will persist in grub- 

 bing up Concord vineyards only five to 

 eight years old, and some even younger, 

 I cannot conceive. They tell me they 

 have found grafting so uncertain that 

 they have abandoned it. 



My success has been varied, but 

 taking all together, I have never dug 

 up a vine liecause the fruit was not 

 good, or because it rotted. One diffi- 

 culty is, that at the proper depth 

 (three inches below the surface of the 

 ground theie is often a twisted or 

 knotty place. This is no defect, as I 

 have found, but instead of splitting the 



