Mapping and Labeling. III 
possible on good soil, well prepared, and by men who work well 
together. 
Mappmg and Labeling. —Where mixed varieties of fruit are 
planted, the orchard should be mapped as soon as the trees are 
set. A good durable map is made of the glazed muslin, such 
as carpenters and architects use for their drawings. The map 
can easily be drawn to a scale by using a fraction of an inch to 
represent a foot. After the map is made, it can be rolled on a 
broom stick and is easily preserved. With such a record, the 
grower need not care what becomes of the labels, as he can 
locate a variety any time by its row and tree number. If, how- 
ever, one desires labels, let them be made in this way: Take a 
piece of common sheet zinc five inches wide. Across this cut 
pieces three-quarters of an inch wide at one end and tapering 
to a point at the other. Near the wider end write plainly with 
a common lead-pencil the name of the variety. This will get 
brighter by exposure to the weather. The small end may be 
coiled around the branch of the tree; it will yield as the tree 
grows and will do no injury. Such labels will last for a long 
time. Labels attached by a cord or wire should be removed 
as soon as the trees are set, for they are apt to be forgotten 
and the tree seriously injured by the cutting in of the ligature. 
Jeven when iabels are used the map is the only surety, because 
any kind of a label is apt to be lost by accident or by malice or 
mischief of intruders. 
Mulching —Although early-planted trees on deep soils in 
regions of sufficient rainfall need only good cultivation after 
planting, there are cases in which mulching is desirable. Va- 
rious light materials may be used for a mulch, but nothing is 
better than well-rotted straw, in which fermentation has killed 
all weed seed. Apply it to a distance of two feet around the 
tree, and to a depth of not less than six inches. It is best 
done as soon as the tree is planted, and is to be especially 
recommended when late planting is practised. Even in local- 
ities of light rainfall, if the trees are well mulched early in the 
winter, irrigation may be unnecessary for the young deciduous 
tree: Trees planted very late in the spring may, by using great 
care and mulching well, make as great a growth as those set 
out early in winter. This should not be an excuse for late plant- 
ing, but we mention it to show that where late planting is 
necessary, mulching will help the trees to pull through. It is a 
far easier way of keeping the ground moist than by irrigating. 
Of course this does not mean that a mulch will obviate irrigation 
where systematic irrigation is found necessary, though there are 
indications that irrigation may often be lessened, and in some 
cases obviated, by extra cultivation or mulching, at least until 
the trees come into bearing. 
