No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 63l 



The first four or five years we grow vegetables or small fruits. 

 We take them out when the tree gets into bearing, and then we plow 

 up the ground and grow cover eroi)s. It is not safe to have any 

 hard and fast rule; a good general must be able to change his plans 

 over night. We use soy beans, or perhaps cow peas would do as 

 well, but we use the soy beans, because we can cultivate by team, and 

 they add humus to the soil. 1 know of some growers who allow 

 the hogs to go into the orchard and gather up the soy beans, but 

 my own practice has been to let the beans go to the ground, and 

 turn them in. Then, 1 like crimson clover. We have one orchard, 

 about eight j^ears old, just coming into bearing; we got about a 

 bushel per tree this last season. In this we have grown clover, leav- 

 ing it mulched around the trees, and then the following spring, 

 turned it in again. Another cover crop that we use very largely is 

 the sand vetch. One objection to it is that its growth takes place 

 in the spring, and thus prevents cultivation, and takes up the mois- 

 ture that is re(iuired by the tree. The vetch, however, seems to take 

 up an immense amount of moisture and retain it in the soil. It is 

 better in this respect than the rye. Mr. Powell recoumiended crim- 

 son clover, but it is not so hardy with us as vetch. We find in 

 cases where the vetch had been planted that we secured twenty 

 bushels more potatoes than where we had grown clover. We like 

 to sow the vetch in July, to get the best results, although we have 

 sown it as late as September, and still had good results. It lays 

 quite low on the ground, and is very convenient to work around 

 because it is not high, and it makes a wonderful growth. 



Now, after the young tree has been shaped, we try to do just 

 as little pruning as possible. I think we often delay the bearing 

 time of our young orchards many years by unnecessary pruning 

 of the horizontal limbs. I know, in my own young orchard, years 

 ago, I explained to my foreman what I wanted done, and he said 

 it didn't look right to him. I gave him permission to do as he 

 thought best, but on my side, I carried out my theory, and in a few 

 years, we saw the good results of it. We will have to be a little 

 more sparing in our use of the knife. We will have to learn from 

 our wiser friends. We are just in the kindergarten stage of fruit 

 growing. A few years ago when the Western men began to ship 

 in this fine fruit, and our orchards were attacked by the San Jose 

 Scale, we became discouraged, but we find that we can grow just 

 as fine fruit as thev do in the West, and the (iood Books savs that 

 *'God gave man dominion," and that must include the San Jose Scale 

 and everything else. In fact, it has been the best blessing we have 

 had. It has been a little hard on the small grower, but it has put 

 thousands of dollars in the pockets of the commercial grower. Let 

 us spray more freely, and we will not have to do so much pruning. 

 Of course, that does not apply to the peach trees, which needs more 

 pruning. The api)le, the pear and the plum need very little thin- 

 ning. Many have said that the sour cherry needs but little thin- 

 ning, but I find it needs about the same as the apple does. We do 

 our pruning in the fall, winter or spring, any time after the leaves 

 fall off. 



In the manner of cultivation, we believe in early cultivation in 

 the early life of the tree. In the second stage — the orchard may 

 be divided into three distinct stages — it is when we grow cover crops 



