Vol. LXVII No. 3074 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER 26, 1908. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER, YEAR. 
TREES ON HILLSIDE LAND. 
Mulching and Partial Cultivation. 
There have been many requests for the Hope Farm 
man to print fair pictures of the trees in his young 
orchard. Accordingly four pictures are shown on this 
page—each fairly representing a separate method 
of handling. The apple trees at Hope Farm are 
for the most part planted on a steep hillside. It 
appears to be natural apple soil, rocky and hard to 
cultivate. Some of it is underlaid by a ledge with 
barely 18 inches of soil above the rock. The object 
in planting apples here was to see if a good orchard 
could be established with the least labor in plowing 
and cultivating. This plan was not adopted through 
laziness but because when we started we did not 
have the necessary team and tools to do. the work 
properly, and because on this steep land plowing 
means a great loss by gullying and washing. We 
also wanted to see if it would be possible for a 
family with limited capital and with an ordinary 
A SOD TREE HEADED TOO HIGH. FiG. 4G8. 
farm team to develop a fair orchard in connection 
with general farm work. 
The trees have all been planted right in the sod 
without plowing or previous preparation. We sim¬ 
ply cut back root and top of the tree severely, dig a 
hole just large enough to contain the pruned roots 
without cramping, plant the tree and pack the earth 
firmly around the roots. We began by using two- 
year-old trees—cutting the roots back to three or 
four inches and the top so as to leave a low 
crotch with about two buds on the limbs which form 
it. This usually means cutting off more than half 
the trees. Of late we have been using yearling trees, 
well grown, and cut back to a single switch two 
feet or a little more above ground. We like this 
plan, as it gives full control of the heading. With 
this single stem you can start the head where yon 
like. With the older trees the head is already started 
in the nursery, and the crotch formed. In the tree 
shown at Fig. 468 the cut was made when planting 
just above the crotch formed in the nursery. For 
our needs this tree is headed too high, but is other¬ 
wise quite satisfactory. It is a Wealthy—five years’ 
growth from planting. The soil where it stands has 
not been plowed for 25 years that we can find. It 
is on the east side of the hill, just below a wet 
springy place. Each year about two-thirds of the 
hay has been taken from this field and weeds, vines 
and trash of all sorts have been piled around the 
trees. In one year only has manure been used here. 
There were several apples on this tree the past 
GOOD MODEL FOR A SOD TREE. Fig. 469. 
season. It now carries a good many fruit buds. 
The tree shown at Fig. 469 is on the west slope. 
In this case the tree at planting was cut back below 
the crotch, leaving a mere stick. The buds as they 
started were rubbed off, so as to leave the head as 
we wanted it, and this tree shows just about what 
I am after. I want a low-down, broad-headed tree 
with an open top, open to the sun all around and so 
THE MIDDLES PLOWED FOR CORN. Fig. 470. 
that we can blow the spray all through it. The 
main object of the low head is to prevent too much 
swinging in the wind, which is very high on our 
hills. This tree was planted right in the sod. The 
ground was plowed and planted to corn one year 
and has since been in sod. This Winter we shall 
give each tree a good mulch of wood soil and for¬ 
est leaves, with lime in the Spring. 
The two trees at Figs. 470 and 471 are on the 
other side of the lane which runs through the center 
of the orchard. We divided the orchard in two and 
began to experiment with two methods of easy cul¬ 
ture. On part the middles are plowed—that is, a 
wide strip of grass is left along the tree rows and 
the space between plowed and planted to flint corn. 
The grass on the strip is cut with a scythe and piled 
around the trees. The corn is lightly fertilized and 
well cultivated, with Crimson clover and turnips 
seeded at the last cultivation. This plan will be 
kept up until the trees are in bearing. Fig. 470 
shows a four-year-old tree grown under this system. 
This tree was stunted in its first year by the very 
cold Winter. 
Fig. 471 shows a tree of the same age grown under 
the reverse of the last mentioned system. Here a 
A PLOWED STRIP ON EACH SIDE. Fig. 471. 
plowed strip is turned on each side of the tree row 
—about five or six furrows usually. A row of 
potatoes or beans is planted on each side of the 
tree row, well fertilized and thoroughly cultivated. 
The grass along the tree row and the weeds and 
vines are thrown around the trees. The middles in 
this case are seeded to clover and rye. These crops 
are cut for hay—the leavings being thrown around 
the trees. This has given us a thick, low-growing 
tree which, when trimmed at the bottom, will be 
much like the tree at Fig. 469. Either of these 
methods is suitable for hillside cultivation. The 
strips of sod along the tree rows hold back the 
water and prevent washing, while the partial cul¬ 
ture gives the trees good growth at light expense. 
As between the two I think the plan of plowing a 
narrow strip on each side of the row and planting 
some low-growing crop well fertilized is better. If 
the clover or grass in the middle could be cut and 
piled around the trees this plan would be quite sat¬ 
isfactory. You will see from the picture that the 
trees are vigorous and strong. They made 18 inches 
and more of wood growth this past dry season, and 
our figures show that we are likely to put them into 
bearing at a total net cost of less than 50 cents each. 
I would like to have some of the high cultivators 
