COMMERCIAL SIDE OF FRUIT GROWING IN UNITED STATES. 151 



the wood. The green cover assists the soil in preventing the penetration 

 of the frost to some extent and furnishes humus and potential plant-food 

 when ploughed in, as it should be the following spring. The third 

 method maintains a grass cover on the orchard soil all the time. When 

 the grass is cut the crop is allowed to remain for the enrichment of the 

 ground. The fourth method, pasturing, is in vogue among orchard- 

 owners who are also "stockmen." Sheep and hogs are the best kinds 

 of stock to keep in mature orchards. Cattle and horses cause much 

 injury to the trees. We might make a fifth class of the systematically 

 neglected orchards — those where hay is made and where weeds compete 

 for food and moisture with the trees. 



The following table gives the average results of the yield of the Apple 

 crop grown under the different methods described, and is the result of the 

 examination of many hundreds of Apple orchards in New York State. 



Five-year Average, Yield per Acre. 





Bushels 



Income per acre 



Tilled ten years or more 



327 



#182 



Tilled five years or more 



326 



145 



Tilled over half of preceding five years 



231 



118 



Sod over half of preceding five years 



243 



122 



Sod five years or more 



204 



108 



Sod ten years or more 



171 



87 



Three-year Average, Yield per Acre. 



Pastured with hogs 312 bushels 



Pastured with sheep 308 „ 



Pastured with cattle . . . . . 153 ,, 



Not pastured 217 



Although the land in these orchards is comparatively new, at least new 

 when judged by Old World standards, it clearly shows the need of regular 

 manuring. Stable and green manures are used more frequently than the 

 commercial forms of fertilisers. (The foregoing tables &c, of course, refer 

 to the orchards in bearing.) During the growing or formative period 

 secondary crops are grown and taken off, but the ground is rarely or never 

 worked so highly as is customary in Great Britain or on the Continent. 



Pruning. — Our fruit-growers are sadly careless both as to the require- 

 ments of the tree in this matter, and as regards the manner of performing 

 the operation. There is no fixed system in pruning Apple trees. Each 

 grower pursues his own ideal, if he is fortunate enough to possess one, 

 which is the exception. More often he allows his trees to grow till the 

 tops become a mass of brush, and then he attacks the task armed with 

 saw and axe and gives the trees, as he calls it "a good trimming." This 

 results primarily in an important contribution to his pile of wood, and 

 secondarily in a vigorous crop of " water sprouts " in the succeeding season. 

 Many, however, are practising the better method of pruning annually and 

 moderately. Dwarf Pears in the commercial orchards are headed back 

 each winter. Peaches are treated in the same manner till they come into 



