Fruit Cultivation 



205 



especially if you can grow a patch of potatoes or 

 corn on it one year, while your trees are getting] 

 further growth. In such land the holes will not 

 have to be prepared. If, however, you are not 

 fortunate enough to be able to devote such a space 

 to fruit trees, and in order to have them at all must 

 place them along your wall or scattered through 

 the grounds (as suggested in the diagram, page 

 189), you can still give them an excellent start by 

 enriching the soil in spots beforehand, as suggested 

 above in growing lima beans. In the event of 

 finding even this last way inapplicable to your land, 

 the following method will make success certain : 

 Dig out holes three to six feet in diameter (if the 

 soil is very hard, the larger dimension), and twelve 

 to eighteen inches deep. Mix thoroughly with the 

 excavated soil a good barrowful of the oldest, finest 

 manure you can get, combined with about one- 

 fourth or one-fifth its weight of South Carolina 

 rock (or acid phosphate, if you cannot get the 

 rock). It is a good plan to compost the manure 

 and rock in advance, or use the rock as an absorbent 

 in the stable. Fill in the hole again, leaving room 

 in the center to set the tree without bending or 

 cramping any roots. \Miere any of these are in- 

 jured or bruised, cut them off clean at the injured 

 spot with a sharp knife. Shorten any that are long 

 and straggling about one-third to one-half their 



