STATE POMOLOCICAL SOCIETY. I05 



"be subject to cultivation. It is the vast aggregation of experi- 

 ences and the recognized causes behind them that estabhsh the 

 principle. 



Why do we cultivate, you may ask. Some one may urge that 

 trees under wild or natural conditions sprout, develop and,ma- 

 ture in uncultivated soil; that forest trees do so and wild apple 

 trees as well. All of this is beside the point. It is true, but it 

 does not meet the issue. \\'e nuist bear constantly in mind that 

 agriculture is an art of man — not a natural phenomenon ; that 

 man, when he sows the seed, expects to improve upon unaided 

 nature by his own efforts. And it is these efforts that have 

 developed the arts of agriculture and horticulture. 



Corn was originally a wild plant and has attained its present 

 high state of development through culture. Does any sane man 

 plant his corn on a sod patch? Yet there are many men who 

 buy good nursery stock, set it out in a pasture and expect a 

 benign Providence to do the rest. When farmers and so-called 

 orchardists realize fully that a fruit tree is an agricultural plant ; 

 that it requires warm, well-drained, aerated soil, freedom from 

 undesirable plant competition and sufffcient food and drink, they 

 will be on the way towards a rational system of orchard treat- 

 ment. 



Until we study the question, tlie role that cultivation plays 

 in promoting the desired conditions for plant growth is scarcely 

 appreciated. Time will not permit a discussion of the diff"erent 

 ways in which cultivation benefits. Let me briefly enumerate 

 them, and consider but one. 



CULTIVATION AIDS THE TREE. 



first: By improving the physical condition of the soil. This 

 it does in three ways : 



1. By reducing the size of the individual soil particles 



and increasing the surfaces presented to the roots. 



2. Fjy increasing the depth of soil ; i. e., by allowing a 



greater root run. 



3. By warming and drying the soil in the spring. 

 Second: Cultivation augments the chemical activities in the 



soil. 



1. By helping to set free plant food. 



2. By hastening the decomposition of organic matter in 



the soil. 



