Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1904-09-22
The Younq Orchard.

The ground on which the new or
cnard Is growing need not be lett
Dare, but the crop grown there should
not be one that will injure the trees.
we have seen young orchards stand
ing in fields that were being mown
Tor hay. This Is great mistake. as
the drain on the ground Is very great
both for plant food and for moisture.
The writer remembers one orchard that
had stood In grass for five years from
planting. At the end of that time 1t
seemed not to have grown at all.
Near it was another orchard that had
been given the best Of care. 1t had
made a great growth and was already
bearing fruit. The contrast was a re.
markable one, showing the result OF
caring for and not caring for the
orchard. These instances can be null
tiplied ten thousand times in the his.
tory of orcharding in the United
States.
The best crops to grow in the or
chards are those that cover the
ground quite well and yet take more
from the air than from the soil. Fer
this reason the potato is remark
ably good plant to grow. The tuper
is the only part taken from the field
and that is composed largely of
starch, and this starch has been gath
cred from the air by the leaves. The
plant itself requires good deal OF
potassium, but this potassium is to a
considerable extent in the leaves and
goes back into the ground when the
leaves and stalks of the potato decay.
The work of cultiyating the potato
stirs the ground and keeps it in a
loose state very favorable for the de-
velopment of the latent plant food in
the soil that the roots of the trees
are seeking after as they extend
through the ground. Moreover, the
cultivation Of the ground in the po-
tato crop makes the roots of the trees
strike deep, which Is desirable. On
land that is not cultivated at all the
roots follow the surface layer of soil
largely, and when the trees become
large the ground is SO filed with
roots that ii is impossible to put even
a cultivator to work among the trees.
There is another thing That may be
said in favor of the potato crop and
that is that the tops cover the ground
at the time of year when the ground
most needs protection from the hot
rays of the sun in midsummer. With
many crops the land Is left pare and
dry at the very time of year when of
all others it needs protection. This is
true of the winter grain crops, which
are cut in early summer. The ground
is unprotected during the hottest
period and dries out to considerable
depth. In such circumstances trees
sometimes stop growing altogether
1t is hard on trees the first year to
have the ground over their roots de
void of crop. The roots have not
obtained much Of a grasp of the earth
in any way and the ground dries out
to the roots themselves. The trees
do well if they keep from dying under
such conditions.
The young orchard should re en-.
couraged to grow, but it should not
be encouraged to grow very fast.
OOHl6 ulSu Sceu 10 nave Tie lued LldL
the faster the young trees grow the
better. But a tree that makes a great
growth during the summer and grows
after the end of July is likely to suf-
fer, if the succeeding winter be a
hard one. Many tree has died be-
cause it made more wood than it
could ripen before cold weather came.
The trees should be encouraged to
make a reasonable growth. On land
that is rich no manure should be
given while the trees are young, but
after they come into bearing the
orchardist may be more liberal with
them. The young trees should grow
only so fast as they can make a firm
hard trunk and firm branches. Then
the winter will have less effect on
them. Also the rapidly growing tree
is more open in texture and is more
susceptible to the attacks of blight
This is another reason why young
orchards on rich land should not be
stimulated by high manuring to make
an unusual growth.