5r)4 KEroKT OF OFFICK oK EXl'KKIMKNT STATIONS. 



wlit'ic corn was tfrtjwn. Protcs.sor Card, at the saiiic station," olitaiued 

 14 to 17 per (Oiit more fi'iiit in tilled oi'cliards than in orcliai'ds in 'fi'ass. 



Mnl(liin«i" orchards is soinctiincs a(l\ ocati-d in plac*' of tilla»(o. 

 Munsonat thc^ Maine Station '' conducted expeiinients for four seasons 

 aK)n^^ this line, and found that in ijfeneral the trees on the cultivated 

 areas made the hirger t;^rowth and produced the heaviei- yield of fruit. 



(lenerally speakinjif, the results of experimental woi'k thus far 

 reported indicate that the most serious injuries to orchards occur when 

 planted to crops like grasses and the cereal grains, which dissipate the 

 soil moisture early in the growing season. Cultivated vegetables arc 

 distinctly less injui'ious. When orchards are in full liearing it is ((uite 

 genei'ally agreed that no crop for profit should he grown in them. In 

 the young orchard cultivated crops hke vegetables, small fruits, or 

 corn may })e grown between the rows for a few years, the crops being 

 more and more restricted to the middle of the rows as the trees become 

 larger and begin to bear fruit. In no case should crops be planted so 

 close to trees as to interfere with the cultivation of the trees or to 

 shade them. 



•The above review shows that most of the tillage work with apples 

 has ])een alonsf one line — that of the value of tillage in conserving the 

 moisture of the soil and increasing the growth of the tree. There are 

 scarcely any data on the value of orchard tillage in increasing the 

 yield of fruit. Some figures showing the actual results along this line 

 would be extremely useful. The chief purpose of tillage, that of 

 sui)plying- food to the plant, must not be lost sight of in this limited 

 discussion; nor must it l)e forgotten that sometimes the growing of 

 crops in orchards is very desirable, as for instance when orchards are 

 planted on steep hillsides that would wash unless cropped. The fact, 

 too, that growing crops rapidly evaporate the moisture of the soil is 

 sometimes taken advantage of when orchards are |)lanted on poorly 

 drained land. In localities also where danger from drought is not to 

 be feared orchards may be very successfully left in grass or clover, 

 provided these crops are cut and left on the ground to decay or fed to 

 stock and the manure returned to the orchard. 



Station observations on growing cover crops in orchards have gen- 

 erall}^ been limited to a study of the relative amount of green material 

 produced by diflfei'ent farm crops used for covers, their fertilizing 

 value, best methods of seeding, etc. Professor Taft considers the 

 lessening of the injury from frost one of the most vitally important 

 results to be secured with orchard cover crops. This fact is well 

 brought out in the experience of nurserymen and orchardists in the 

 North Mississippi Valley during the test winter of 1899, when the 

 thermometer in some portions of the section, including Wisconsin, Min- 



" Nebraska Sta. Bui. 39. «» Maine Sta.. Bui. 89. 



