To push fruit trees to the limit of healthy
growth is practical and wise. They can accomplish as much in growth and
development in three years, when judiciously stimulated, as in five or
six years of the "lick-and-a-promise" kind of care which they usually
receive.
A tree must be fed first for growth and afterward for fruit, just as a
pig is managed, if one wishes quick returns. To plant a tree and leave
it to the tenderness of nature, with only occasional attention, is to
make the heart sick, for it is certain to prove a case of hope deferred.
In the fulness of time the tree and "happy-go-lucky" nature will prove
themselves equal to the development of fruit; but they will be slow in
doing it. It is quite as well for the tree, and greatly to the advantage
of the horticulturist, to cut two or three years out of this
unprofitable time. All that is necessary to accomplish this is: to keep
the ground loose for a space around the tree somewhat larger than the
spread of its branches; to apply fertilizers rich in nitrogen; to keep
the whole of the cultivated space mulched with good barn-yard manure,
increasing the thickness of the mulch with coarse stuff in the fall, so
as to lengthen the season of root activity; and to draw the mulch aside
about St.
Pages:
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390