GLEN SAINT MARY NURSERIES 53 
Cultural Department 
Banking up oranges with fine earth in the fall is a great protection^ against 
cold. This also helps to hold newly planted trees against force of wind. Mounds 
should be removed in spring. 
When trees are set, or just prior to that time, it is a good idea to mix with 
the soil, that is to be placed about their roots, about one pound per tree of some 
good, high-grade commercial fertilizer rich in ammonia. This puts fertilizer right 
where the roots of the trees will get it immediately as needed, thus forcing them 
to make a good first growth, which is always desirable. This fertilizer should con¬ 
tain about 4 to 5 per cent of ammonia, 7 to 9 per cent of phosphoric acid and 3 to 
4 per cent of potash, and should be made up with chemicals derived from mineral, 
not organic, sources. 
Along in the spring, say about March or early April, a second application of 
fertilizer of about one pound per tree, should be applied, and a third application 
during late June or early July is also advisable. 
As the trees attain age and size, a larger quantity of fertilizer should be given, 
and after they come into bearing a fertilizer containing more potash and less 
ammonia will be better. For this application to bearing trees, 10 to 12 per cent 
of potash, 7 to 9 per cent of phosphoric acid and 3 to 4 per cent of ammonia is 
about right. 
If the trees are transplanted during the winter months, cultivation should 
commence about the time when growth ordinarily commences and should be con¬ 
tinued until midsummer, after which time it is better to plant a cover-crop, like 
beggar-weed, in the middles between the trees. A small space immediately 
around the trees should be kept free from grass and weeds until later in the fall. 
Mulching around the trees is practiced in some sections and is often advisable, as 
it serves to maintain a more equable temperature of the earth and retains mois¬ 
ture. After the cover-crop has died down, in the late fall or early winter, it should 
be turned under, thus supplying humus to the soil and putting the land in better 
mechanical condition. Cover-crops should never be turned under in the South 
while green, as, if this is done, the land becomes sour and in poor condition for 
plant-growth. 
Another point in connection with cover-crop or mulching, and this applies 
particularly to sections subject to damage from frost, is that all vegetable matter 
should be turned under in advance of danger from cold weather. A grove that 
exposes nothing but clean earth to the action of frost will go through the winter 
in much better shape than one covered with grass and weeds. 
DECIDUOUS FRUITS 
The land for a Peach orchard, and in fact for many of the deciduous fruits, 
should be dry or of a character that can be readily drained. Peach trees par¬ 
ticularly do not do well when planted on low, wet ground. Where possible, soil 
underlaid with clay is preferable, but this is not always possible, nor is it abso¬ 
lutely necessary. For a Peach orchard, it is far better to select virgin land, and, 
in many sections of the extreme South, almost absolutely necessary to plant them 
on land where cow-peas have never been planted. This is on account of the fact 
that in many of the southern soils the root-knot (^Heierodera radicicola) insect is 
quite abundant in old lands, and particularly so in lands that have been planted 
