Wild Goose. Some of the Japans, Abundance
and Burbank promise well. Of cherries, Dyehouse, Early Richmond,
Montmorency, English Morello and Ostheim make a succession in the order
named, and are the best for either a family or commercial orchard.

Cultivation of the orchard for the first few years is deemed absolutely
necessary to success, but it is a serious problem how to cultivate the
hills, and at the same time keep them from washing into the hollows and
so denuding the roots of the trees at the top. I know one orchard in
which a back furrow has been thrown to each tree row in the same
direction for several years, leaving a dead furrow (which has become a
ditch) between the rows. It looks like a field of huge sweet-potato
rows, with the trees standing on tripods or "quadrapeds" at the top of
the ridges. Neither back furrow nor dead furrow should be made in the
tree row. As few dead furrows as possible should be left. They should be
frequently changed, and should never run up and down the hill. If
ditches have started, they cannot be stopped by plowing them full of
earth; the loose soil will wash out at the first rain. Fill them with
old hay, straw, stalks, or brush. Old raspberry or blackberry canes are
excellent for this purpose. Begin at the bottom and work up the hill,
letting the forkfuls overlap like shingles. Drive a stake through at
frequent intervals, and secure firmly at the top; else a hard freshet
will wash it all out. Deep ditches may be filled by dams of loose stone
a rod or two apart. On many farms these stones need to be gathered
anyway, and one may "kill two birds with one stone" by filling a big
ditch with a good many stones. "An ounce of prevention, however, is
worth a pound of cure," and the best prevention from washing that I know
of is clover. I would advise seeding a hill orchard as soon as the trees
have had a year or two of vigorous growth. The orchard may be cultivated
after the spring rains, and seeded again in time to prevent washing the
next winter. After the orchard is seven or eight years old, I should
leave it in clover and weeds, mowing two or three times a year to make a
mulch and prevent tall growth of weeds.

"Hogs in the orchard" is generally condemned. I have seen old orchards,
however, that were decidedly benefited by hogs. Hogs and plums go
together. This is no theory, but an established fact. Let them rub the
trees as much as they will; let them tramp the ground till it is as