i88 Home Vegetable Gardening 



Fruit trees have one big advantage over vegeta- 

 bles — the ground can be prepared for them while 

 they are growing. If the soil will grow a crop of 

 clover it is already in good shape to furnish the 

 trees with food at once. If not, manure or fer- 

 tilizers may be applied, and clover or other green 

 crops turned under during the first two or three 

 yeas of the trees' growth, as will be described later. 



The first thing to consider, when you have de- 

 cided to plant, is the location you will give your 

 trees. Plan to have pears, plums, cherries and 

 peaches, as well as apples. For any of these the 

 soil, of whatever nature, must be well drained. If 

 not naturally, then tile or other artificial drainage 

 must be provided. For only a few trees it would 

 probably answer the purpose to dig out large holes 

 and fill in a foot or eighteen inches at the bottom 

 with small stone, covered with gravel or screened 

 coal-cinders. My own land has a gravelly subsoil 

 and I have not had to drain. Then with the apples, 

 and especially with the peaches, a too-sheltered 

 slope to the south is likely to start the flower buds 

 prematurely in spring, only to result in total crop 

 loss from late frosts. The diagram on the next page 

 suggests an arrangement which may be adapted to 

 individual needs. One may see from it that the 

 apples are placed to the north, where they will to 

 some extent shelter the rest of the grounds; the 



