THE HOME FRUIT GARDEN ‘i, 
WueEn AND How to Puant.—Usually a better stand of plants will 
be obtained by setting them as early in the spring as it is possible to 
prepare the soil. Equally good results will be obtained by planting 
fruit trees in the fall. The ground should be prepared as thoroughly 
as for a vegetable garden. It is important that the plants be entirely 
dormant, with no buds starting, at time of planting. Also, the roots 
should never be allowed to dry out. Berries and grapes should be set 
at the same depth as they grew in the nursery. The fruit and nut 
trees should be set slightly deeper. The roots should be spread out 
when the plants are set. When the holes are dug the topsoil and sub- 
soil are separated. The topsoil is placed about the roots of the tree 
in the holes and the subsoil is used last to fill up the rest of the hole. 
The soil should be thoroughly firmed about the roots to prevent 
drying out and to help hold the tree in position. 
Pruninc Berorr PLANTING.—Strawberries should have all fully 
developed leaves picked off before being planted. The canes of 
raspberries, blackberries, currants, and gooseberries should be cut 
back to 6 inches at time of planting. Grapevines are usually cut 
back, leaving only one or two buds. If fruit trees obtained from the 
nursery are unbranched whips, they should be headed back to a 
height of 3 to 3% feet. If they have several good-sized branches well 
spaced along the trunk, three or four may be left. The branches 
should be spaced about a foot apart up and down the trunk and point 
in different directions. 
Cuttivation.—The cultivation of the home fruit garden is similar 
to that of the vegetable garden for the first part of the season. After 
about July 15 cultivation of fruit trees and bushes should cease. 
Strawberries should be cultivated until the end of the growing season. 
Under most conditions the same methods of maintaining the fertility of 
the soil that are followed in a vegetable garden are successful with 
fruit. Where stable manure is available, its liberal use generally gives 
excellent results. In the States in this region strawberries should not 
be fertilized after August or early in September. Strawberries should 
be mulched with straw to protect them from winter injury. This 
should be done in the fall after killing frosts, but before it is cold 
enough to freeze the ground. Straw 1 to 2 inches deep after settling, 
in Maryland and Kentucky, and 3 inches deep in central and northern 
Illinois, furnishes the needed protection against cold. 
All berry plants should be given clean cultivation as are vegetables 
unless there is an abundance of straw or other mulching material to 
furnish a permanent mulch. Fruit trees and grapevines should be 
given clean cultivation for the first 3 or 4 years if it is not possible to 
mulch them with straw or strawy manure. Thereafter apples, pears, 
plums, cherries, grapes, and nuts may be kept in sod. Peaches do 
best where they receive some cultivation, but they can also be grown in 
grass and mulched where cultivation cannot be given. Manure mulch 
will take care of the fertilizer requirements of the fruit plants. When 
manure is not available, a fertilizer high in nitrogen should be used. 
Prunine Arrer Frrst Yrar.—To many inexperienced growers the 
question of how to prune trees and bushes appears to be very compli- 
cated. If certain basic principles are kept in mind, however, it is 
possible for even the inexperienced grower to do a highly satisfactory 
job of pruning. The purpose of pruning is to develop the tree or bush 
so that it will have maximum strength to carry a load of fruit and maxi- 
mum bearing capacity. A safe rule in pruning trees, particularly 
