s grow
vigorously, whether upon poor or good soil. Growth is the first
requirement. To do this, we need a strong, deep, moist soil,--good
grass land well underdrained makes the best. If this is on an
elevation with a northern or western exposure, it will be better
than a southern or an eastern one. While apple trees will grow on a
thin soil, so much care and fertilizing is required that the crop
will be of little or no profit upon such land. Lastly, we must
protect our fruit from insect and fungous pests.
On land that is free from stones and not too steep, thorough and
frequent cultivation will give the quickest and largest returns. On
such land, hoed garden or farm crops may be profitable while the
trees are small, but after five or six years it will generally be
found best to cultivate it entirely for the growth of trees. Organic
matter in the form of stable manure or cover crops will be needed,
and must be applied in the fall or very early in the spring to keep
up the supply of humus in the soil.
Stony land that cannot be plowed or cultivated except at a great
cost may be made to grow good crops of fruit.
While the trees are young, the soil should be worked about them for
the space of a few feet and then the moisture retained by a mulch
system, making use of any waste organic matter like straw, leaves,
meadow hay, brush, and weeds cut before they seed. Most of the first
prize apples at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo were grown
under the "turf-culture" system.
Unless you have trees already on your land, it is too long to wait
six or seven years for a crop. We can graft good fruit on almost any
tree, though the new dwarf trees will bear much sooner, and if we
have trees we need not even wait for the harvest of our crop, since
the windfalls will keep us in apple sauce, jellies, and pies, for no
apple is too green for apple sauce, not even the ones that the boys
can't bite.
The greatest difficulty in the profitable growth of the apple is the
market. Much of the profit in apple growing, whether in the East or
the West, will depend upon the extent of the business done,
especially if one is a considerable distance from markets. The above
are the essentials noted by this practical scientist. Next to the
apple crop, perhaps the most important fruit crop for shipping is
the peach. The locality is perhaps the most important consideration
in a peach orchard. In the Eastern and Southern states, and in
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