FRUIT-GROWING 



FRUIT-GROWING 



349 



lar provision for utilizing the land after the orchard 

 is removed. The grower nsnally does not lay out a 

 plan of land management, one item in which is the 

 growing of orchards. In the case of apples, the 

 life of the orchard is so great, at least in the east- 

 ern states, that the grower feels that he is planting 

 for a lifetime, and he leaves succeeding questions 

 to those who may come after him. Even apple 

 orchards may he retained too long for profit, how- 

 ever ; and peaches, plums and some other fruits are 

 not too long-lived to form part of a rotation plan. 

 The rotation farmer may lay out a course that is 

 not expected to mature within twenty years (pages 

 95, 96). Small-fruits are well adapted to rotation- 

 ing. In fact, careful rotation is the very best 

 means of keeping in check certain difficult diseases 

 and pests of strawberries, raspberries and black- 

 berries. The rotation may be between different 

 kinds of fruits themselves, or between fruits and 

 field-crop courses. The point is that fruit-growing 

 practice ought not to be completely isolated from 

 general farm management plans. 



Aside from a rotation of fields, it is often advis- 

 able to lay out a rotation of crops in the orchards 

 themselves when the trees are young. Such rota- 

 tion practice would reduce the great amount of 

 tillage labor by keeping part of the area always 

 in clover or other sod, would correct the faults of 

 a continuously recurring treatment, would guard 

 against neglect, and would allow of a somewhat 

 definite plan of work for some years ahead. The 

 rotation should be short and should contain the 

 maximum of tilled crops. A three-year course 

 might fit the conditions well, for it would be adapted 

 to the varying early stages of orchards, and would 

 correspond with normal strawberry rotations and 

 even with the best practice in raspberries. One 

 to four three-year courses could be run in orchards 

 before the trees are large enough to interfere, 

 depending on the land, the kind of fruit and the 

 distance apart. A three-year course for young 

 orchards should preferably have two tilled crops 

 and one legume or sod crop ; as (1) potatoes, roots 

 or truck-crops, (2) corn, (3) crimson clover or 

 vetch in fall or spring ; or, again, as (1) corn, (2) 

 cotton, (3) cowpea or velvet bean. Sometimes it 

 may be allowable to run only one tilled crop, in 

 which case the potatoes-wheat-red clover may 

 be useful. Care must be taken to see that first 

 attention is given the trees, and this should call 

 for manure or fertilizers with one or more of the 

 courses. 



Rotation, between the fruit plantations them- 

 selves, may be very desirable in some cases. If one 

 has a hundred-acre farm on which he wishes to 

 make a specialty of peaches, he might set aside 

 six fields of ten acres each, and set them in twelve- 

 year rotations or blocks, planting a new orchard 

 every three years. In this way there would always 

 be a new orchard coming into bearing^ the grower 

 could apply the experience of one orchard to the 

 succeeding one, and he could prepare the land 

 thoroughly in advance of each setting. This pre- 

 paring of the land is exceedingly important in most 

 cases and is usually 'neglected. It often should 



include thorough under-drainage. The following 

 display shows how this plan would work out. The 

 heavy figures show orchards in bearing ; it will be 

 seen that there are always three orchards in bear- 

 ing after the plan is in full working maturity. It 

 is assumed that six years intervene between the 

 plantings on the same ground. The letters a, b, c 

 show how the elements in a three-course crop-rota- 

 tion would combine with the orchards, if it is 

 assumed that it would be safe or desirable to crop 

 the orchard lightly for the first three years. The 

 blank or treeless years would be used in general 

 field-crop practice. It must be understood that 

 this plan is not recommended, but is given to illus- 

 trate the discussion and to suggest a line of study: 



Rotation Scheme op Peach Orchards. 

 Heavy figures represent bearing years. 



Tillage. 



In the great majority of cases, tillage for at 

 least a part of the life of the orchard gives more 

 satisfaction than continuous sod. This is because 

 tillage aids in making plant-food usable and it helps 

 to save the moisture and to keep down weeds. On 

 steep and rough lands, clean tillage may not be 

 desirable, both because of its cost and the exposure 

 of the surface to washing. In lands or regions that 

 are naturally well supplied' with moisture, tillage 

 may not be needful. Like all other agricultural 

 practice, tilling of orchards is a local question ; 

 but the presumption is that tillage is needed, and 

 exceptions must be explained. The fruit in well- 

 tilled orchards is likely to be later in maturing 

 than in comparable untilled orchards, and to have a 



