The Cultivation of Orchards. 307 



Here, then, is a chance to compare the effects of tillage with 

 humus in a season of almost unprecedented drouth. At this 

 writing (Sept. i) the green manured strip is much thedryest por- 

 tion of the orchard. The tree growth in this portion is much less 

 vigorous and the leaves perceptibly lighter colored than on the 

 adjacent plots. Even the unfertilized but well tilled tract shows 

 a better foliage. In this green manure portion, leaves on peach 

 trees are now beginning to yellow and fall from the effects of 

 drouth, whilst the same rows, when they strike the other plots, 

 show perfect foliage. In apricots the effects are also marked. 

 Pears and plums also show the differences. In the cultivated 

 portions one can easily stir up loose earth with the toe of his 

 boot, while in the green manured part one has to dig from six to 

 ten inches in a hard soil before he can find visible moisture. 

 Careful tests show the same fact. Samples of soil were taken to 

 the depth of i foot on September i, by means of a soil sampler, eight 

 samples being lifted from representative parts of both the tilled 

 and untilled areas. Four of these samples were combined into 

 one, and this mixture constituted the complete sample which 

 was used in a test for moisture : that is, there were two samples 

 of untilled soil and two of tilled soil, but each of these was made 

 up of four other samples selected from various parts of the areas. 

 These samples were carefully weighed and were then equally fire- 

 dried and weighed again. The loss in weight represents the com- 

 parative content of free water in the different samples. The results 

 are as follows : 



Sample I. Sample II. 



Moisture in tilled soil, 11. 3 12.8 



Moisture in untilled soil, 8.7 9.6 



In addition to this difference in moisture between the two areas, 

 it should be said that in the tilled land it was distributed to within 

 two inches or less of the surface, while in the untilled land the 

 first few inches was exceedingly dry. In other words, in the 

 tilled land nearly the entire soil w^as in condition to part with its 

 fertility, while in the other the uppermost and richest soil was in- 

 active. 



All this emphasizes the fact that tillage alone is better than 

 green manuring alone. But the best results would no doubt have 



