STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 45 



of a scheme is it to put on a good supply of rock-weed in the 

 fall, let it stay through the winter, and then put on 8 or lo inches 

 of thatch, and a salt hay which we can get in large quantities 

 around the shore, and let it stay till fall again? 



Mr. Van Alstyne : Theoretically that is all right, if it is not 

 carried too far. I should be afraid, in putting any large amount 

 of vegetable matter into the soil, that you could not turn it un- 

 der thoroughly enough so but there would be danger of its dry- 

 ing out the soil. I would rather put on smaller doses at more 

 frequent intervals. If you have a good coating of the weed 

 that you speak of, I should think that would be all that was 

 necessary, if you are going to plough it under. If you are go- 

 ing to mulch, your method is all right. There are orchards in 

 my State, and in Ohio, in which the mulch system has been car- 

 ried through with a good deal of success. But I would not 

 recommend it except on land that could not well be cultivated. 

 In such a case your plan would be admirable. The more ma- 

 terial you can put on to make a mulch the better. 



Mr. Cummings of Paris: I understood you to recommend 

 having the first branches about two feet from the ground? 



]Mr. Van Alstyne : Yes, sir. 



Mr. Cummings : Well, with a wide-spreading tree like the 

 Baldwin, when that tree is bearing won't you have your limbs 

 upon the ground, so that the lower limbs will be in poor shape ? 



Mr. Van Alstyne: Yes, that will come about eventually, 

 just as it will come about eventually if you head the tree as we 

 used to so as to drive a horse under it. In the latter case the 

 time will come when those lower limbs will come down and we 

 will have to take them ofif. On the other hand, the low-headed 

 tree seems to have a greater tendency to grow upright than the 

 high-headed tree. But the time will doubtless come when the 

 limbs will be on the ground. I have got some now that are 

 pretty near the ground. Now then, those limbs will either have 

 to be shortened up, or some of them possibly will have to be 

 removed altogether, but even then I will have a better shaped 

 tree than if the tree were way up. 



Question. How about the deep snows? Do they affect it 

 any? 



Answer. That would probably be a more serious ob- 

 jection with you here than with us, and yet I have an idea 



