478 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



People in planting orchards should note the different soil require- 

 ments of their varieties, so far as known and distribute them accord- 

 ingly. It is only in that way that maximum returns can be economi- 

 cally produced. Much can be done, however, even on imperfectly 

 adapted soils by good orchard management. 



The next thing of importance to the prospective orchardist in 

 Pennsylvania is the management of the hillside orchard. There are 

 some advantages in the hillside orchard. It is not usually so costly. 

 ''Foot-hill" land is very abundant in the state. It often produces 

 good apples, and is with difficulty rendered profitable in other lines. 

 Drainage of frosty air and excess water is accomplished naturally 

 and thoroughly. But it is open to the great disadvantage of the 

 washing away of soil under tillage, and soil is usually not to be 

 spared on the average Pennsylvania hillside. 



In orchards already set, it is probable that the sod-mulch sys- 

 tem, so successful in Ohio, is the best solution. This system has 

 much to commend it for any orchard, if carried out in its complete- 

 ness. If effectually prevents washing; the decay of the mulch fur- 

 nishes a large source of food for tree-growth and bacterial action: 

 feeding roots are permitted to develop unmolested in the surface 

 soil, and even to come up into the mulch in great abundance, which 

 They do the first season where the mulch is deep and undisturbed. 

 A three-ton per acre, straw mulch, applied June 19th to trees in 

 Mr. Ledy's orchard in Franklin county, showed many rootlets in 

 the mulch by the first of October. 



But the mulch system is open to the objection that for large 

 orchards sufficient straw for mulching is very difficult, if not im- 

 possible to get, and, when it can be obtained, is quite costly. This 

 will keep it out of the majority of our level orchards. But for the 

 hillside orchardist with his trees already set, it is probably the very 

 best system of management. It has i)roved so in Ohio, where it gave 

 better results in both growth and yield than any other system, on 

 ground that was gently sloping. 



But if the hillside orchard is not already set, there is another 

 method available which we believe affords the best solution to the 

 problem of its management. This method is to set out the rows on 

 contour lines — lines of equal height or practically so — and then cul- 

 fivate them the level way, using a cover crop from fall through 

 earl}' spring and leaving a strip of sod along the rows to prevent the 

 formation of gullies. In addition, in those cases where conditions 

 warrant it, the soil can be plowed with a reversible plow% always in 

 one way, and thus build up a set of terraces. But wherever terrac- 

 ing is intended, it should be done before the trees are set, or while 

 they are in the early stages of growth. The contour system 

 thus permits regular orchard cultivation and cover crops to 

 furnish green manure and humus on hillside orchards of any rea- 

 sonable slope, the same as on our best level orchards. The import- 

 ance of this may be seen when it is remembered that in Warren's 

 Survey of Orleans County, N. Y., the total num.ber of tilled or- 

 chards during five years averaged 86 per cent, greater yield than 

 those in grass. Essentially this "contour tillage" system is now in 

 successful operation in Mr. Waite's orchard in Maryjand. There 

 is no apparent reason why it should not be of distinct value in ex- 



