No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 353 



factor in the behavior and success of every orchard. I am coming 

 to put more and more importance upon ''the man behind the tree." 

 A man's orcliard reflects his personality. 



Taking up now some of these fundamental orchard operations, 

 we perhaps may ask first of all: ^^hall we cultivate oi' shall we not 

 cultivate? That is a very important (juestion. Its correct answer 

 all depends upon conditions. The man who believes in tillage says 

 ''cultivate:" The advocate of the sod mulch method says "No culti- 

 vation" and there you are! Both may be right, both may be 

 wrong; each one may be right and each one wrong part of the 

 time. It all depends ! It frequently is the case, however, that neither 

 one knoAvs just what he is accomplishing in terms of actual and 

 ultimate results by the particular method he has adopted or is ad- 

 vocating. If he happens to be giving thorough cultivation, this is 

 about what he is accomplishing by the operation: (li improving 

 the physical condition of the land; (2) conserving the soil moisture; 

 (3) increasing the chemical activities of the soil. 



The influence of tillage has been very adequately set forth by 

 Prof. Bailey. I cannot do better than to quote him in this con- 

 nection : 



"1, Tillage improves the physical condition of the land. 



(a) By fining the soil, and thereby presenting greater feeding sur- 

 face to the roots ; 

 (b). By increasing the depth of the soil, and thereby giving a great- 

 er foraging and root-hold area to the plant ; 



(c) By warming and drying the soil in spring. 



(d) By reducing the extremes of temperature and moisture. 



2. Tillage may save moisture, 



(e) By increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil ; 



(f) By checking evaporation. 



3. Tillage may augment chemical activities. 



(g) By aiding in setting free plant-food ; 

 (h) By promoting nitrificatioii ; 



(i) Bj' hastening the decomposition of organic matter; 

 (j) By extending these agencies (g, h, i) to greater depths of the 

 soil." 



To these efl'ects of tillage there may also be added a secondary 

 influence, namely the maintenance of the surface of the soil in such 

 condition that it will readily absorb the water that falls on it as 

 rain, thus reducing the "run-off" or surface drainage to a minimum. 



It is probably within conservative bounds to say that the vast 

 majority of orchards require, in the average season, for maximum 

 results, all the benefits enumerated that can be supplied or enhanced 

 by tillage. 



But I suppose the advocate of the sod mulch system claims that 

 he is accomplishing the same thing by his methods. It should be 

 observed, however, thus early in the discussion that a great many 

 who claim to practice the sod mulch system are doing nothing of 

 the kind. They are simply not cultivating. They may even be har- 

 vesting a crop of hay from their orchards. But because it is in 

 sod and they are not cultivating it — that to ihem is the sod mulch 

 method. The sod mulch method irai)lies a mulch — not a crop of 

 hay. Of course there may be both but more often one of these 

 things is at the expense of the other. You cannot use the grass 

 that grows in an orchard for hay and leave it on the ground at 

 the same time to decay and enrich the soil. 



23—7—1910 



