2o8 Home Vegetable Gardening 



not practicable to use a horse, this can be given by 

 working a space four to six feet wide about each 

 tree. Every spring the soil should be loosened up, 

 with the cultivator or fork, as the case may be, and 

 kept stirred during the early part of the summer. 

 Unless the soil is rich, a fertilizer, high in potash 

 and not too high in nitrogen, should be given in the 

 spring. Manure and phosphate rock, as suggested 

 above, is as good as any. In case the foliage is 

 not a deep healthy green, apply a few handfuls of 

 nitrate of soda, working it into the soil just before 

 a rain, around each tree. 



About August 1st the cultivation should be dis- 

 continued, and some "cover crop" sown. Buckwheat 

 and crimson clover is a good combination ; as the 

 former makes a rapid growth it will form, if rolled 

 down just as the apples are ripening, a soft cushion 

 upon which the windfalls may drop without injury, 

 and will furnish enough protection to the crimson 

 clover to carry it through most winters, even in cold 

 climates. 



In addition to the filler crops, where the ground 

 is to be cultivated by horse, potatoes may be grown 

 between the rows of trees; or fine hills of melons 

 or squash may be grown around scattered trees, 

 thus, incidentally, saving a great deal of space in the 

 vegetable garden. Or why not grow a few extra 

 fancy strawberries in the well cultivated spots about 



R ft II ft. 



