196 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



looking for an apple that showed a worm hole, there was not a single one 

 came in view. Mr. Stephens' challenge was: "You can't find a wormy- 

 apple in the orchard." We came away without this seemingly rash 

 assertion, when we knew that hundreds of orchards could not be found 

 with scarcely an apple in them that did not have a worm hole to exhibit. 



System of Spraying. 



This condition of thrift and perfectness, freeness from blemish, is 

 due to the system of spraying that is in use and practiced in this orchard. 

 For more than twenty-four years Mr. Stephens has been spraying this or- 

 chard. His present system is to spray four times each season, thus not 

 only exterminating any insect or fungus disease that may have had a 

 lodging place, but completely heading off all attacks that may have 

 been attempted. This was not a spasmodic attempt at killing off an 

 enemy or reducing his fighting force and thus giving him an opportunity 

 to recuperate, but it was a sure thing, a systematic onslaught that meant 

 death to enemies of the orchard. It was this year and next year, year in 

 and year out, for twenty-four years. It was a duty that became a habit. 

 It was like eating three meals a day; it did not demand an exertion, 

 scarcely a thought. This has resulted in the most perfect display of 

 fruit that we have ever had the pleasure to witness in an orchard. 



The accompanying treatment of this orchard which Mr. Stephens 

 gives and which he says the one is useless without the other, in the 

 preparation of the commercial orchard, is mulching of trees and cultiva- 

 tion of the ground between the tree rows. This work seems to be a plain, 

 mechanical duty that is performed by spreading wheat straw in the tree 

 row to about eight to ten feet in width and eight inches deep. The bal- 

 ance of the ground space, which means the vacant ground between the 

 tree rows, is disced and harrowed until there is a fine soil mulch. This 

 is kept in a nice state of cultivation throughout the summer season. At 

 the time we visited this orchard, August 18, there had not been in that 

 locality any rain for a month, or thereabout, yet the ground three inches 

 below the surface, between the tree rows, would ball when dug up and 

 squeezed in the hand. The ground under the straw mulch was moist, 

 though not moist enough to ball when taken out even at twice the depth 

 of that cultivated. 



Three Important Foints. 



This illustrates three very important points which :\Ir. Stephens em- 

 phasizes as necessary for the successful growing of apples in Nebraska — 

 spraying, mulching and cultivation to hold the moisture in the ground for 

 use of the tree in fruit production. He is quite pronounced in his opinion 

 of the necessity of adopting the smudge pot system of warding off the 

 late spring frosts. With this addition to what he is already practicing, 

 he believes the question of success with the commercial orchard in Ne- 



