178 State Horticultural Society. 



it away from the trees, and went down deep and even broke some roots- 

 — now that was a six year old orchard — and on that we had the largest, 

 finest apples that we have had, and it has been plowed with a plow and 

 cultivated with a cultivator every year since it was planted, and we had' 

 some enormously large apples for six-year-old trees, and the trees ore 

 a few acres of that place paid for the ground they stood on. Now that 

 is one of these young men stories. I say that for the benefit of Judge 

 Wellhouse. 



Now I want to know whether to break it up with a breaking plow 

 or use the disc. 



President Murray. — If you mean that the best part of your story 

 is true, I would say break it with a breaking plow and keep on. 



Colonel Evans. — You made one remark that impressed me and I 

 would like to have that impressed on every fruit grower here. He says 

 he plowed it with a plow and cultivated it with a cultivator and culti- 

 vated it every year. That is, for the six years. Now keep that up for 

 ever and that is good for it ; that is all right. But, if you ledve ofif your 

 plowing for three or four years until the surface gets filled up with 

 roots, and then put your big plow in and do it all at once you will dam- 

 age your orchard, but then as long as you keep those roots down below,, 

 there you can cultivate the surface just as much as you please. I want 

 to say this : One word answers the question of the management of an 

 orchard, thorough cultivation. 



J\Ir. Robnett. — I never exactly ruined my orchard, but I had a 

 neighbor of mine that had 700 trees that he ruined. When lie bought 

 the orchard, the man from whom he purchased had taken good care 

 of it and it seemed all right, and when this man came along he plowed 

 the orchard and plowed up the roots. He cut them all off, and I never 

 saw such a crop of Ben Davis apples in my life as he got from that 

 orchard the next year, and that has been six years ago and he has never 

 got an apple since. He ruined his trees. He ruined his apple orchard 

 from that time to this. Now the possibilities are if he had gone on and 

 kept cultivating, it would have been all right, but he plowed it only the 

 one time. Air. Tippin said thorough cultivation. I think you can get 

 it closer than that. I say intense cultivation. Plow it every time it 

 rains and nm the ground together to get something over it. 



Major Robinson. — I was reminded while Colonel Evans was speak- 

 ing that we are certain of nothing, except nothing is certain. In my 

 experience in orcharding, I had an orchard that had been run down, 

 had been rented to one party five years who had given it very little 

 attention. The orchard had given me no returns during that period or 

 very little. I was somewhat disgusted with it and didn't care whether 



