5S AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



you will find you are I'utting off tbe little feediutj; roots too 

 much. 



Ques. Do you use a double action cutaway or single? 



Ans. Single. I have never found a harrow that would cut 

 the soil up and pulverize it as well as the cutaway. The earlier 

 you get onto the land the more water you conserve. The man 

 who lets his orchard remain until the first of June without 

 putting a harrow onto it is very foolish. He is losing hundreds 

 of tons of water which evaporates. I would rather have a real 

 dry summer with good cultivation than a very wet summer and 

 no cultivation. If you find your orchard needs underdraining, 

 that is the first thing to do. Get the water down first and 

 then get it up afterwards. 



Ques. Does it make any difference about holding moisture 

 whether the sun shines or not? 



Ans. No. You want to get the top surface dried out and the 

 dryer the top surface is the better. You want to do all the 

 business 2^ or 3 inches below the surface. There is where you 

 want the moisture and you will get it there by cultivating. 



Ques. What is your soil in the valley? 



Ans. We have on the north side of the valley a high moun- 

 tain with trap rock and clay soil. On the south mountain it is 

 a granite formation and somewhat stony. The conditions up 

 our way are just about the same as in Maine. 



Ques. How near to the trees do you plow and cultivate ? 



Ans. Close up to the trees. I do not know as it is bene- 

 ficial but it looks better and I think a strip of grass by the trees 

 is a harbor for insects. Of course there are different ways of 

 training the trees. Our trees in the past have all been trimmed 

 up so that you can get around them with a horse. 



Ques. How high do you have the trunks of your trees? 



Ans. About four feet or a little over. We cannot drive a 

 team very close to them and still we have plow^s fixed so that we 

 can set the plow over and plow nearer the trees. We do the 

 most of our plowing with a two furrow plow. 



Ques. Do you advocate cover crops? 



Ans. Yes, I will take that up with the fertility. 



In regard to fertilizing our orchards, w^e use barnyard manure, 

 cover crops and commercial fertilizers. In spring time an or- 

 chard about 20 years old gets 500 or 600 pounds of acid phos- 



