STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 7I 



Such formation near the surface prevents the water in the 

 soil below from rising to supply the needs of vegetation, through 

 long periods of drought. Where a hard pan formation may 

 exist from six to ten feet below the surface, it is of great value, 

 for there a certain moisture supply is assured through dry sea- 

 sons, especially where frequent cultivation is given to the sur- 

 face soil. 



SOIE FERTIEITY. 



One of the great problems before our country now and for 

 all time, is the conservation of the plant food of the soil, and 

 its economical increase. 



This may be accomplished in two ways, — by tillage, and by 

 the growing and ploughing in of leguminous crops. There is 

 yet a great amount of plant food in the soil, but much of it is 

 in unavailable form. More and better tillage will improve any 

 soil. Too generally, ploughing is hastily and poorly done. The 

 real object of ploughing is not alone to prepare the soil for a 

 seed bed or for the better planting of trees, but to get at the 

 plant food that is essential to the growth of vegetation. 



Every atom of soil contains plant food, and the greater the 

 division, and the finer the particles of soil are made, the more 

 readily may the roots of trees and plants get from them the 

 plant food they require. 



After more than six thousand years of production on the soil 

 of the older countries of Europe, crop yields are larger and 

 steadily increasing, and this is due to the more intensive tillage 

 that is done more than to any other one cause. 



At Orchard Earm, for a period now reaching over sixteen 

 years, I have been growing clover and ploughing it in, as a 

 means of improving the soil, and have the evidence of a marked 

 increase in production and general improvement. The first 

 efforts in the use of crimson clover were most discouraging; 

 but few plants grew after the germination of the seed, but by 

 persistence in repeated sowing of the seed on the same ground, 

 a steady increase in the growth of the plants was secured, until 

 at the present it is only necessary to sow the seed, when a strong 

 growth is obtained. 



After a season of over five months of protracted drouth, with 

 only occasional very light showers, there is on one hundred 

 acres of orchard of 10,000 trees a luxurious growth of clover 

 33 



