INDIANA nOETICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 625 



enough sense to cut out these trees when they begin to Interfere. Why 

 not cut them out when the profit from the permanent ones is much greater 

 than all combined? 



Mr. Swaim: Won't the average tree be ready to come out by the 

 time they interfere? 



Mr. Van Deman: A great many will, and a great many will be in a 

 healthy, thrifty condition right at that time, I might say. I would plant 

 such varieties as the Wealthy, Oldenburg, Jonathan, Grimes Golden, 

 Wagener, etc. These will come into bearing from five to eight. The Fall 

 Pippin is very tardy in coming into bearing. 



Now in regard to cultivating trees. I should expect to cultivate them 

 for at least five or six years without having a crop in there, excepting 

 something that would be thoroughly tilled during the summer months. 

 As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring I would begin to 

 cultivate the ground. When an orchard is young it is all right to plant 

 corn in it. I would not plant close to the trees, but would leave a space. 

 Potatoes and vegetables are good crops to plant. I want to plant some- 

 thing that must be tilled during the summer months of May, June, July 

 and August, and then cultivation should as a rule stop. I do not believe 

 in very late cultivation of apple orchards. I think five years will be the 

 limit for this kind of cultivation. It is now time to stop cultivation and 

 let the trees have room. I would not let clover stand more than one 

 year. As I have said, the trouble is that most people try to take some- 

 thing out of the ground and off of the ground info the bam instead of 

 devoting the soil to 'the orchard crop. That is the great stumbling block 

 over which so many fall, and where tliey make their saddest mistake. 



Nature has supplied the average farm with an inexhaustible supply 

 of potash and phosphoric acid, but not nitrogen. But there is nitrogen 

 in the air, but we might as well try to dip the ocean dry with a pint 

 cup as to take the nitrogen out of the air. We can follow out nature's 

 suggestion by raising cow peas, clover, vetch, and other crops of this 

 sort, and get some of this inexhaustible supply of nitrogen. This is the 

 one element that we pay more for than anything else when we buy fer- 

 tilizer, and it is supplied right at hand. * It fills every particle of space 

 about us, and if we will only make use of it we do not need to go to the 

 factory for fertilizers. 



I would be glad to hear from anyone that differs with me. and should 

 like to know just wherein they differ. 



Prof. Latta: Mr. Flick, have" you any questions to ask? 



Mr. Flick: Do I understand Mr. Van Deman to say that this course 

 will supply to the soil all that is necessary to keep up the fertility? 



40 -Agri. 



