June, 1906 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



277 



Washing away of soil and fertility. The cultivator 

 furrows become water courses. To prevent this, 

 sow a cover crop in the autumn 



advantage of early plowing is that weeds are 

 buried before they get well started. In the 

 case of apples, the decaying leaves of last 

 season harbor over winter the spores of the 

 scab disease, becoming a source of infection 

 in the spring. Early plowing helps to con- 

 trol this and some of the other diseases. 

 Spring is a busy season for everybody who 

 has a garden, especially a vegetable garden, 

 and the plowing of the orchard is often 

 neglected until late in the spring. By 

 this time weeds have taken possession 

 of the land, so that they make trouble all 

 summer ; or the cover-crop has grown so tall 

 and rank that it can be plowed under only 

 with difficulty and is so woody that it decays 

 slowly; and the surface soil is hard and dry. 

 First-class tillage later in the season cannot 

 compensate for tardiness in beginning it. On 

 land that has been deeply prepared by trench- 

 ing the benefits of tillage are most marked 

 all through the season. The spring plow- 

 ing should be deep. 

 Deep plowing in- 

 creases the capacity 

 of the soil to hold 

 water; it also has a 

 tendency to deflect 

 the roots of the young 

 trees downward so 

 that they become 

 anchored deeply in 

 the soil and the trees 

 can withstand drought 

 better. The latter 

 effect of deep tillage 

 on young trees, while 

 commonly accepted, 

 has been much ques- 

 tioned of late. It is 

 probable that the root- 

 ing habit of a tree is 

 affected much more 

 by the natural root 

 tendencies of the va- 

 riety and also by the 

 character of the lower 



strata of soil than it is by any surface tillage. 



When the space between rows of young 



trees is not to be used for any crop that 



requires cultivation, it is a common practice 



to plow only three or four furrows on each 

 side of the row the first year, widening the 

 plowed area by one or more furrows a year 

 as the trees grow. In some cases, especially 

 on very light soils, it is best not to plow the 

 orchard every year. The soil may be 

 thoroughly worked up in spring with a 

 spring-tooth, disk, or spading harrow, but 

 it is not usually wise to dispense with plowing 

 more often than alternate years. 



After being plowed and when the furrows 

 have dried out so that the soil crumbles, the 

 land should be fitted, until it is uniformly 

 mellow, using any of the deep-working 

 harrows. Here is the place for extreme 

 thoroughness. One extra turn with the 

 harrow at this time may be equal to two or 

 three cultivations later on; for the more 

 thorough this preparatory tillage, the more 

 efficient will be the soil mulch that is estab- 

 lished later on. I once saw a field of buck- 

 wheat one half of which outyielded the other 

 half by nearly 20 per cent, for no reason 

 except that it was harrowed six times be- 

 fore seeding and the other half harrowed 

 twice. 



SUMMER TILLAGE 



This should be rather shallow, and as 

 level as possible. After the soil is fitted, 

 the objects of subsequent tillage are mainly 

 to keep down weeds and to prevent the es- 

 cape of water. Both are gained most 

 economically by using shallow working tools, 

 such as the spike-tooth harrow or cultivator, 

 or the acme harrow. Two inches of loose 

 soil on the surface is about as effective in pre- 

 venting the escape of water as four inches. 

 It is expensive to move soil, so we shall do 

 no more of it than is necessary. 



THE QUESTION OF TOOLS 



The kind of a tool that it will be best to 

 use for preserving this mulch depends very 



Tilling the orchard with the spring-tooth harrow. This is one of the best tools for making and preserving 

 a soil mulch. These high-headed trees permi close tillage 





Dwarf apple trees under clean tillage. Excellent 

 results are to be had by this system 



mulch. On fairly mellow soils, free from 

 rocks, the spike-tooth harrow is preferred. 

 Some soils need the action of the broad, 

 rounded teeth on the ordinary garden 

 cultivator. 



It is as impracticable to advise what kind 

 of tool to use, without knowing the soil, as to 

 advise what varieties to plant, without know- 

 ing the tastes of the family. A good gardener 

 will find the tool that fits his soil and his type 

 of gardening, and will not copy the methods 

 of anybody else. 



When it is necessary to use, for the sum- 

 mer tillage, a broad-toothed harrow or culti- 

 vator, the soil will be left in rather high ridges. 

 It will pay to level these, especially if the 

 orchard is in a region where every drop of 

 water counts or if the summer is exceptionally 

 dry. The more surface the soil has exposed 

 to evaporation, the greater will be its loss of 

 moisture. Level off the ridges with a section 

 of a spike-toothed harrow or with a joist, 

 say, four by six inches, 

 or a heavy iron pipe, 

 any of which may 

 drag behind the deep 

 working harrow. 



In the very small 

 fruit garden, an iron 

 rake scratched over 

 the soil two or three 

 times a week, makes 

 a most effective tool 

 for preserving the soil 

 mulch that has so 

 much to do with the 

 success of the crop. 



That depends upon 

 the locality, the kind 

 of soil, the age of the 

 trees, the season, and 

 the crop. It ranges 

 from two to, perhaps, 

 twenty times, as the 

 judgment and the 

 energy of the gardener 



largely upon the character of the soil. On 

 some stiff, lumpy, or rocky soils the vig- 

 orous scratching of a spring-tooth harrow is 

 necessary in order to make a satisfactory 



dictate. The kernel 

 of the whole matter is to till as often as is 

 needed to give the trees enough moisture for 

 growth of wood and fruit. The dryer the 

 region, the more urgent is the necessity for 



