390 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
2d. The soil in which the trees are set needs to be prepared 
in the best manner; plowed deep, and thoroughly harrowed 
until it is in good condition for small grain. The holes should 
then be dug as before stated, in the third test, about nine or 
\ 
ten inches deep, and at least three feet in diameter and twenty- 
four feet apart each way, and the trees carefully set, as in the 
third test. 
This distance is much to be preferred to a closer one, as it 
gives more room for the spreading of the limbs and the 
expansion of the top, thereby improving the fruit both in size 
and in flavor'—while closer planting has precisely the con¬ 
trary effect. Close planting has the same pernicious effects on 
fruit, that it has in any kind of grain or root crops. In orch¬ 
ards where the trees are set a good distance apart the con¬ 
venience of cultivating the land is also an important ad¬ 
vantage. 
3d. That mulching is of vast importance and should not be 
neglected upon any account. It should be of coarse stable 
litter (the less manure in the straw the better) and should be 
put around the trees (six or eight inches deep and four or five 
feet in diameter) immediately after setting, to protect the young 
trees from drouth the first season. If it is very dry they 
should be well watered occasionally. With this mode of treat¬ 
ment but few if any trees need be lost on account of the dry 
weather which usually prevails after the season for setting. The 
mulching should be applied every season afterwards, early in 
the fall to prevent excessive freezing, which often kills the 
young trees—and at the same time to prevent the too early 
starting of the trees in the spring by keeping the frost in the 
ground. 
4th, That pruning should be sparingly done, (if done at all) 
at least, until the trees are well into bearing, which of itself 
materially retards their growth ; then they may be pruned to 
some extent for the improvement of the size and flavor of the 
fruit. But by no means prune excessively ; in all cases con¬ 
fine it to the thinning out of the tops and branches, so that 
the sun and air may have better access to the fruit. The limbs 
