76 Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 



sprouts, which are most likely cut off at or 

 near the surface, thus leaving a stub below the 

 ground. This stub sprouts, and is probably 

 cut off in the same manner. This being re- 

 peated time after time, forms a stool just be- 

 low the surface that is much harder to kill than 

 the stump above the ground would have been. 

 When sprouts are removed from stumps there 

 are no new stools allowed to form. Then when 

 decay begins above the ground it soon extends 

 to the root system, and the stump is not only 

 dead, but out and gone before you have been 

 able to kill the sprouts and stools in the land 

 that was grubbed. 



In preparing the orchard site we should re- 

 member the one object is to enable the roots of 

 the trees to occupy the entire area. It is best 

 when possible to plow the entire surface, al- 

 though many thousands of trees are being set 

 on rough mountain land, with only a few fur- 

 rows thrown out for the tree row, and the re- 

 mainder of the surface to be broken up later. 

 When this is done there should be just as 

 thorough preparation of the place where the 

 tree is to stand as possible. This practice may 

 be satisfactory on land that has an abundant 

 supply of stone or gravel in it, or land that 

 has a very porous subsoil, so that there would 



