. The American fruit culturist. Fig. ii8.—Faulty Manuring. is no better way of imparting to them vigor than by ifia? of adopting the more common practice of digging acircular trench around them and filling this with manure, theoperation may be performed in a more perfect and efficientmanner by digging narrow radiating trenches from within afew feet of the trunk, directly from it—this will prevent cut-ting many of the roots. The an-nexed diagram (Fig. 119) will showthe position of these may then be filled wth acompost made of turf, stable manure,ashes, and perhaps a
. The American fruit culturist. Fig. ii8.—Faulty Manuring. is no better way of imparting to them vigor than by ifia? of adopting the more common practice of digging acircular trench around them and filling this with manure, theoperation may be performed in a more perfect and efficientmanner by digging narrow radiating trenches from within afew feet of the trunk, directly from it—this will prevent cut-ting many of the roots. The an-nexed diagram (Fig. 119) will showthe position of these may then be filled wth acompost made of turf, stable manure,ashes, and perhaps a little bonemanure—the turf to be the chiefconstituent, say one-half or two-thirds — and the ashes say one-thirtieth. The bone manure is notessential, as its constituent parts arein common manure in small quan-tities. If this is done in autumn,the roots will be prepared to penetrate it early in spring, andif the tree is not past recovery, it may make a new Fig. T19.—Diagram for Trenchesfor Renovating Old Trees. CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. 83 The roots probably reach as far each way as the height of thetree, and the trenches should extend about the same need not be cut very near the tree, as the roots are alllarge there, and would be more likely to be injured andwould be little benefited. The trenches should be only thewidth of a spade, and be from two to four feet apart. Old apple orchards always grow and bear best when keptunder cultivation. If the soil is, however, naturally or arti-ficially fertile, they succeed well in grass continually grazedshort by sheep and swine. These animals are useful in de-vouring the insects of the fallen fruit, and assist in manuringthe surface. An annual autumn application of yard or stablemanure, with a small portion of ashes—or, in the absence ofashes, of lime—will commonly be useful. If the orchard isonly top-dressed, the application in autumn is of great impor-tance, that the soil ma
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