82 



CULTIVATION OF THE SO.I,. 



trees from six to twelve feet apart in the rows. This mode 

 admits of deep and thorough cultivation, and the team 

 can pass freely in one direction, until close to the row, 

 where the soil need not be turned up so deeply, or so a<f to 



# * # * * 



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***** 



****** 

 * * * * * 



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Fig. 42. Fig. 43. 



injure the roots. Fig. 42 exhibits this mode of planting , 

 and fig. 43 another mode, where the trees are in hexagons, 

 or in the corners of equilateral triangles, and are thus more 

 equally distributed over the ground than by any other ar- 

 rangement. They may thus be cultivated in three direc- 

 tions. For landscape effect, this is undoubtedly better than 

 by any other regular order. 



Trees are frequently mutilated in cultivating the ground 

 with a team ;* to obviate this difficulty, arrange the horses 

 when they work near the line of trees, one before the other, 

 ad tandem. Let a boy ride the forward one, use long tra- 

 ces and a short whipple-tree, and place the whole in the 

 charge of a careful man who knows that one tree is worth 

 more than fifty hills of corn or potatoes, and no danger need 

 be feared. In the absence of this arrangement, oxen will be 

 safer than horses. 



When it becomes necessary 

 for trees to stand in grass, as in . 

 some instances near dwellings, 

 a circle of several feet round 

 each tree must be kept mellow 

 by the spade, fig. 44. The work 

 should be shallow near the tree 

 to prevent injury to the roots, 

 and gradually deepen as it re- 

 _j cedes. This operation when re- 

 15.15 peated several times during sum- 

 Fig. 44- mer, has been known to increase 

 the growth five fold. But a not less important result is the 



* When bark is accidentally rubbed off", if in early summer, the fresh surface 

 should be left untouched, and a new bark 'will soon form and cover the surface. Rub 

 bing the wound with earth, spoils this surface, and leaves a bad wound. 



