HOUSE AND GARDEN 
March, 1911 
179 
cable to use a horse, this can be given by 
working a space four to six feet wide about 
each tree. Every spring the soil should 
be loosened up, with the cultivator or fork, 
as the case may be, and kept stirred dur¬ 
ing the early part of the summer. Unless 
the soil is rich, a fertilizer, high in potash 
and not too high in nitrogen, should be 
given in the spring. Manure and phos¬ 
phate rock, as suggested above, is as good 
as any. In case the foliage is not a deep 
healthy green, apply a few handfuls of 
nitrate of soda, working it into the soil 
just before a rain, around each tree. 
About August first the cultivation 
should be discontinued, and some “cover 
crop” sown. Buckwheat and crimson clover 
is a good combination ; as the former makes 
a rapid growth it will form, if rolled down 
just as the apples are ripening, a soft 
cushion upon which the wind-falls may 
drop without injury, and will furnish 
enough protection to the crimson clover 
to carry it through most winters, even in 
cold climates. 
In addition to the “filler crops,” where 
the ground is to be cultivated by horse, 
potatoes may be grown between the rows 
of trees; or fine hills of melons or squash 
may be grown around scattered trees, thus, 
incidentally, saving a great deal of space 
in the vegetable garden. Or why not grow 
a few extra fancy strawberries in the well 
cultivated spots about these trees? Neither 
they nor the trees want the ground too 
rich, especially in nitrogen, and conditions 
suiting the one would be just right for the 
others. 
It may seem to the beginner that fruit¬ 
growing, with all these things to keep in 
mind, is a difficult task. But it is not. I 
think I am perfectly safe in saying that 
the rewards from nothing else he can 
plant and care for are as certain, and 
surely none are more satisfactory. If you 
cannot persuade yourself to try fruit on 
any larger plan, at least order half a dozen 
dwarf trees (they will cost about twenty 
cents apiece, and can be had by mail). 
Order your trees now, and get them in 
the first thing this spring, as soon as the 
soil is dry enough to work properly. It 
will prove about the best paying invest¬ 
ment you ever made. 
Old and New Vegetable Varieties 
That Have Made Good. 
(Continued from page 170) 
old Extra Early White Spine is still the 
best early—for the main crop, some “per¬ 
fected” form of White Spine. I myself 
like the Fordhood Famous, as it is the 
healthiest strain I ever grew, and has very 
large fruit that stays green, while being of 
fine quality. In the last few years the 
Davis Perfect has won great popularity, 
and deservedly so. Many seedsmen pre¬ 
dict that this is destined to become the 
leading standard — and where seedsmen 
agree let us prick up our ears! It has 
done very well with me, the fruit being 
the handsomest of any I have grown. If 
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