STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 83 



THE EFFECT OF TILLAGE AND COVER CROPS. 

 Prof. W. M. MuNSON, University of Maine, Orono. 



(Abstract.) 



Of the particular lines of agricultural work open to the farm- 

 ers of Maine, none is more promising than that of fruit-growing. 

 As a rule, however, farmers have made the serious mistake of 

 regarding fruit as one of the secondary farm products. The 

 fence corner, the hedge row, and the roadside have been the 

 places devoted to the apple trees; or in event of there being a 

 definite area set apart as an orchard, some rocky hillside unfit 

 for cultivation has been the location most usually sought. 

 Whether from an inherent dislike to the business of working the 

 soil, or an inborn love for flocks and herds, dating from the time 

 when 



"First Cain was born, to tillage all addicted 

 Then Abel, most to keeping flocks affected," 



or whatever the cause, the tendency among orchardists has for 

 many years been distinctly away from cultivation and toward 

 some easier method of handling their trees. 



There is an element of uncertainty in all agricultural work. 

 The skilled mechanic may select his material and, applying the 

 principles he has learned, can construct a machine that shall be 

 practically complete and in accordance with his plans and expec- 

 tations. No farmer or fruit-grower can, however, predict with 

 certainty the outcome of his labors. Nature and Providence 

 have much to do with the' processes, and we can only assist the 

 one and submit to the other — we can control neither. As there 

 is no royal road to learning, so there is no royal road to success- 

 ful fruit-growing, success comes as a result of patient, per- 

 sistent effort. The man behind the plow is the power which 

 sets at work the various forces of nature and insures the 

 best results that soil and season will permit. We hear much 

 of plant food, of phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen, of com- 

 mercial fertilizers and stable manure, but in the absence of a 

 suitable physical condition of the soil, the application of plant 

 food is a foolish waste of time and money. 

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