There is no reason why the same care and labor should not produce
equally good results with far less expense in the well-watered regions
of the eastern and central part of the United States. The neglected
orchard will prove a failure anywhere, as surely as will a neglected
garden, and success will come only by giving to fruit the same
intelligent care that would be bestowed upon any other crop.

The cultivation of apples should receive particular attention in the
north central states, because they have great food value, are not
perishable, can be shipped long distances, and the demand, both at home
and abroad, is always greater than the supply. The home orchard,
however, should contain many kinds of fruit, and the same general rules
in regard to the care of the orchard apply to all of them.

First, the orchard should not be located on land that is fitted to
produce the best farm crops, but it must not be too steep and hilly to
be cultivated. A sunny sloping hillside is best suited to orchard crops.

In most cases little fertilization is needed except the planting of
clover or some other leguminous crop. If corn be planted in young
orchards, as is often the case, potash should be used as a fertilizer
after the crop is gathered, since both corn and fruit trees draw very
heavily on the potash in the soil.

Old orchards sometimes need a single application of a general fertilizer
containing all the principal soil elements. All fertilizers should be
applied not merely around the base of the trunk, but as far from it as
the tree spreads its branches in all directions.

The trees should be carefully pruned and special attention paid to
trimming the tops low to prevent damage from winds, and also to make
spraying easy.

The soil should be deeply cultivated the first few years in order to
make the roots strike deep into the ground, and afterward the soil
should receive some surface cultivation every year.

When there is danger of frost after the trees have bloomed, brushwood
fires are lighted and a dense smoke is raised over the orchard by
burning pots of crude oil. This smoke is helpful in preventing the
formation of frost, and will often be the means of saving the crop.

The other great causes of failure to grow large quantities of perfect
fruit, if the varieties are well chosen, are plant diseases and damage
by insects. The methods of their control are given in the chapter on
Insects, and include principally the di