Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 1 75 



crop at some time of the year means depleted 

 fertility sooner or later. 



Foreign Mulches. — It frequently happens 

 that there is a surplus of straw, old hay, fodder 

 or coarse manure that may be hauled and 

 spread around young or bearing trees. This 

 foreign mulch brought in from other fields is a 

 very great help to the orchardist who can ap- 

 ply it without too much expense. There are, 

 however, many rough, steep hills planted in 

 orchards where it would not be practical to 

 attempt to haul these foreign materials up the 

 hills, if the orchardist should have them at his 

 command. So some other means must be devised 

 whereby the same effect may be obtained. 



"To keep your trees in copious bearing, 

 Supply them food with hand unsparing; 

 Rich barnyard compost, well decayed, 

 Work it in well with hoe and spade 

 Around the tree on every side — 

 Its mouths, you know, stretch far and wide ; 

 Such feeding given twice a year, 

 Ere long will make its worth appear.'' 



Mulch Grown in Orchards.— The grow- 

 ing of some crop between the trees is one of 

 the practical means of obtaining material for 

 mulching the orchard that is steep. After this 

 is grown, it then becomes a question with the 

 orchardist as to the way it should be used. It 



