I plant by plowing light furrows (thirty-four feet apart) across the lay of the ground, then plowing two or four furrows together up and down the slope thirty-four feet apart, and run a lister in this big furrow, breaking up the ground as deeply as possible. I dip the roots of my trees in lye water, using one pound carbonate of lye to eight gallons of water. Then fill in with a spade around the roots, being careful not to leave any holes for mice to nest in. Two- or three-year-old trees, with roots and top well balanced, no forks to split down when the tree gets older, bark smooth and good color, I consider best. I prefer piece-root to whole-root grafts. My experience is that we get better trees on piece roots, as the union is lower down in the ground and the scion throws out roots, which makes the trees healthy and not wholly dependent on seedling roots. I cultivate my orchard till ten or twelve years old, and keep all weeds and grass away, using an eight-inch plow with one horse next to the trees and backfurrow to every other row; then use two horses and fourteen-inch plow for the middles. The next year I backfurrow to the rows left the year before; in this way we have no large back or dead furrows, but keep the ground level. In cultivating I use a fourteen-tooth Peerless harrow each side of the row, and cultivate the rest with two-horse cultivator; then use a good sharp hoe close to the trees. Corn is the best crop to raise among young trees, as it acts as a windbreak and a partial shade. After an orchard gets to bearing, seed to red clover. I would change from corn to clover eight or nine years after setting.