24 FIELD NOTES ON APPLE CULTURE. 
CHAPTER VI. 
HOW TO PLOW AN ORCHARD.—ORCHARD TILLAGE. 
Whether to plow the orchard to the trees each year, or 
to turn the sod in opposite directions in alternate years, 
must depend upon the soil and location. It is only in 
exceptional cases that the former course should be pur- 
sued. In poorly-drained orchards, on low, black land, 
this practice of heaping the sod about the trees has the 
advantage of favoring drainage. Even in this particular, 
however, it is doubtful if the benefits will overbalance 
the inconvenience resulting from such a practice. Bet- 
ter tile-drain the orchard and keep the surface even. 
Drainage is not always secured by the deep dead fur- 
rows. The ground must. have a good natural slope, or 
deep pools will be formed in the dead furrows just where 
the young roots demand warmth and drainage. The 
constant lowering of the dead furrows cuts off the smaller 
roots and drives them deep into the subsoil where there 
is little nutriment. The valuable surface soil is piled up 
about about the trees, where it does no good. Roots feed 
largely upon the valuable elements which leach down 
from the surface soil. The most active roots of large 
trees are far from the trunk. An uneven surface in an 
orchard is a constant source of aggravation, especially in 
picking-time, when one must enter with a wagon. Wind- 
falls roll into the dead furrows, and become bruised, wet 
and decayed. ‘Thesod furrow does not usually strike close 
against the body of the tree. As a consequence, a little 
depression is formed there, into which drifts litter, form- 
