Show FALL LL PLOWING LOIr N IN ORCHARDS ARDS IS FA FAVORED R D J P 4 v vA vr r A Loaded Heavily Apple Tree on Whitehall Farm Owned by George Smith v Located Near Scottsville Va If It an apple orchard is in sod sad especially espe daily i if the sod sad is an old or stiff one It should be plowed in the full fall Ordinarily Ordinarily fall faU plowing Is good practice In most orchards but in cases where the soil is ver very loose and liable to wash and expose the roots to freezing or where it is very heavy and apt to puddle when exposed to the weather or in very cold climates where the snowfall is light it is best to plow in spring By turning under the grass rubbish etc in the fall the process of decay and incorporation with the soil is hastened is A soil often becomes deadened or lifeless from long inertia and when expos exposed d to the action of moisture and frost its physical condition condition condition condi condi- tion will be improved A disk harrow may often be successfully used for the first breaking up of this sod preparatory preparatory tor tory to plowing It is never advisable to plow deeply In old orchards Plowing should be only deep enough to turn under grass f and other litter an and l cover it with soil This depth will be from 3 to 5 inches 4 being a good average and about right It is always aiwas Impossible to plow any old orchard which has long been down in s sod d without breaking a great many of the roots which of course will be bo close to the surface but it is desirable to break as few of these roots as possible hence the necessity for sha shallow low plowing However the thed d danger nger of br breaking aking roots should dis disk courage no one from plowing as the tho benefits derived under such conditions are many times greater than the dam damS damage age done After fall plowing a stiff staff sod sad the tho best tool to use in the early spring to loosen up the surface soil and to work in any manure which may have been applied during the winter winte is the disk harrow In very loose and open deep soils the tooth spring-tooth harrow will answer for this purpose though not as well as the disk which is the most effective implement especially where I there is a very stiff sod to be broken up or much coarse litter is on the sur sur- sur- sur face Still it will do very satisfactory work and on stony land is better than the disk harrow The orchard should be gone over several times with one of these tools during the first month in which it is possible to get on the theland theland theland land the sooner after growth starts the better After the soil has been worked into a fine mechanical condition subsequent subsequent subsequent quent cultivation will wiIl be done lar largely ely elyin in order to maintain a surface mulch to pr prevent prent ent the loss of moisture by evaporation and incidentally to killand kill killand killand and keep down weeds For the purpose purpose pur pur- pose the tooth spring-tooth harrow should be set more shallow or better still the tooth spike-tooth harrow should be used The orchard should be gone over once in ten days or two two weeks weel s or after hard rains which form a crust |