Holmes further says, in substance, that we must make the trees grow vigorously, whether upon poor or good soil.  Growth is the first requirement.  To do this, we need a strong, deep, moist soil,—­good grass land well underdrained makes the best.  If this is on an elevation with a northern or western exposure, it will be better than a southern or an eastern one.  While apple trees will grow on a thin soil, so much care and fertilizing is required that the crop will be of little or no profit upon such land.  Lastly, we must protect our fruit from insect and fungous pests.

On land that is free from stones and not too steep, thorough and frequent cultivation will give the quickest and largest returns.  On such land, hoed garden or farm crops may be profitable while the trees are small, but after five or six years it will generally be found best to cultivate it entirely for the growth of trees.  Organic matter in the form of stable manure or cover crops will be needed, and must be applied in the fall or very early in the spring to keep up the supply of humus in the soil.

Stony land that cannot be plowed or cultivated except at a great cost may be made to grow good crops of fruit.

While the trees are young, the soil should be worked about them for the space of a few feet and then the moisture retained by a mulch system, making use of any waste organic matter like straw, leaves, meadow hay, brush, and weeds cut before they seed.  Most of the first prize apples at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo were grown under the “turf-culture” system.

Unless you have trees already on your land, it is too long to wait six or seven years for a crop.  We can graft good fruit on almost any tree, though the new dwarf trees will bear much sooner, and if we have trees we need not even wait for the harvest of our crop, since the windfalls will keep us in apple sauce, jellies, and pies, for no apple is too green for apple sauce, not even the ones that the boys can’t bite.

The greatest difficulty in the profitable growth of the apple is the market.  Much of the profit in apple growing, whether in the East or the West, will depend upon the extent of the business done, especially if one is a considerable distance from markets.  The above are the essentials noted by this practical scientist.  Next to the apple crop, perhaps the most important fruit crop for shipping is the peach.  The locality is perhaps the most important consideration in a peach orchard.  In the Eastern and Southern states, and in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, and, of late years, Georgia, peaches flourish and produce enormous crops.  As a general rule, the nearer the orchard is to large bodies of water, the more likely one is to get a crop, as the temperature of the water prevents a too early budding out in the spring and delays killing autumn frosts.

Generally speaking, a sandy, porous soil is best for peaches, but they may be raised on clay lands if provided with plenty of humus.