88 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Now coming back to the question of the proper tillage of an 

 orchard for the conservation of the moisture in the orchard. This year 

 the method of orchard culture I have described was put to the sever- 

 est test possible. In our home orchard we had a tremendous crop this 

 last season. All of the varieties, with perhaps one or two exceptions 

 Mere literally loaded with fruit. A great many, trees had more apples 

 than they should have carried. We considered thinning, but our 

 orchard is so large, thinning seemed impossible. Consequently we let 

 the orchard go. As far as the thinning was concerned. Now this 

 year, it so happened that when the heat broke, the first of September, 

 and the local showers began to fall in different sections and localities 

 in the state, we were missed I think the section where we live, was 

 perhaps the last to receive one of those very welcome local showers 

 that came along. But during the spring we had an abundance of 

 rain, and the sub-soil was pretty well soaked down three or four feet, 

 and in some instances more.- The long period of drouth and the 

 intense heat, seemed to have conserved all the moisture in orchards, 

 that were not cultivated. Even orchards that were in clover, I am 

 told the results were not as gratifying as they were where clean culti- 

 vation was practiced. 



I have in mind an orchard in this state and it is one of the best. — 

 It is a young orchard and is planted in clover. This year it had 

 perhaps a half a crop. Last year it bore an enormous crop, and this 

 year the trees were resting, although they had pretty close to half a 

 crop. In our orchard at home, where we practiced this careful culti- 

 tivation, and the trees were literally loaded down with fruit, — the man- 

 ager of the F. G. association told me that our fruit run fully as large 

 in size as this other orchard that was planted in clover, and bearing 

 only a half a crop of apples. 



Now it seems to me that if there is any advantage in cultivation 

 over the growing of clover or vice verse, that this year, with adverse 

 conditions throughout the growing season, we should be able to tell 

 which plan is preferable. Now I believe that in our home orchard 

 we will follow careful cultivation for a year or two more, then I 

 believe we will seed it down to clover. I believe that an orchard should 

 be permitted to lie in clover for three or four years, because the clover 

 will help to build up and fertilize its soil. Taking into account the 

 conservation of the moisture and the fertilization of the soil, this rota- 

 tion gives the ideal system. By putting the ground in clover and 

 leaving it there three or four years, you help to feed the tree with 

 plant food, and you escape the necessity or advisability of cultivating 

 the soil. 



Now that to my mind is the ideal system of tillage for an orchard 

 that is in bearing. 



I do not think I have anything further to offer, unless someone 

 has a question to ask. 



