Winter Mectino-. 179 



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school kept or not. I hired a man and put him into that orchard with 

 a turning plow and told him to go down in that orchard as deep as 

 he could. He went down about fourteen inches and he turned it upside 

 down. What was the result? The following year I had the best crop 

 of apples that I ever had in my life. That orchard is in good condition 

 today, and is the best orchard I have. It was planted in 1876. Those 

 roots were torn all to pieces, and the result w^as that we had a good 

 crop of apples the two following seasons. 



Now I saw some damage, but I saw a great deal of benefit from 

 that method of plowing. And why? Because it formed new roots 

 and formed new conditions. The roots absolutely covered the ground ; 

 when we were done we harrowed it over and harrowd it down. I be- 

 lieve there is nothing like tearing things. 



Mr. Speakman, Neosho, j\Io. — Mr. Chairman : I don't know that 

 I can give anything that will be of any benefit to the society, but I will 

 say that it is my opinion from the cultivation of orthards in South- 

 west Missouri that it is best to plow^ to a reasonable depth and culti- 

 vate to a reasonable depth. Of course it must be watched that the 

 ground is not kept bared too much. It is necessary to have cover for 

 it a portion of the time at least, but I am emphatic in saying that a 

 good reasonable depth of cultivation — of plowing and of cultivation — 

 is the best. 



Mr. Irvine, St. Joseph, Mo. — There is a question that a gentleman 

 who intended to be here, but is not here, asked me to bring up before 

 this meeting, and that he wanted discussed under this head. Now this 

 gentleman owns an orchard along these Missouri river hills, and he 

 believes in cultivation, but his orchard is more or less steep and he is 

 afraid if he gives the thorough cultivation that is recommended, his 

 soil will wash too much. What would you do where you had an orchard 

 of this character along the Missouri river hills, where the soil is very 

 porous and washes very easily? 



Mr. Tippin. — As I know of a case of that kind, perhaps it would 

 be well to state it. A gentleman in Southern Missouri in the moun- 

 tains, who has been successful in raising an orchard on very steep land, 

 until it is now 8 or 9 year old, and has suffered very little from wash- 

 ing — and he has a splendid growth of his trees and has almost a per- 

 fect stand — has done it by breaking it up in the spring and sowing it in 

 cow peas every year broad cast. He mows the peas off, taking off much 

 hay later in the season. In that v.-ay he cultivates his land, .builds it 

 up and saves it from washing, and I believe it would be a good line of 

 policy, for the gentleman who has presented the question to follow in 

 the ^Missouri hills. 



Mr. Irvine. — How will he cultivate cow peas broad cast? 



