Grass and Fruit Tress It is a commonplace among fruit-growers
that grass checks the growth of young trees, and it is thought by some that it has a definitely toxic effect. Yet the grass must not be maligned. In the fruit-growing districts of the West it becomes a common practice to seed down grass in apple orchards of a certain standing. The trees are found to bear better in the grass than in cultivated land. So it is alleged, at any rate. Now it has been discovered by a chemist, working on behalf of a cider-maker, that apples grown in cultivated soil have a larger percentage of nitrogen (which is not desired by the cider-makers), and this fact may indicate that cultivation of orchard land may stimulate growth at the expense of fruit-buds. The moral seems to be that grass should be kept away from the trunks till the trees are of desirable dimensions.
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