370 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUKE. 



and nice has very little effect. Sowing patches of grass about trees in culti- 

 vated orchards has almost no effect. The reason is plain. Tiie roots run all 

 through the soil between the rows. The small spaces referred to are only a 

 small part of the whole surface used by each tree. The fruit in the college 

 orchard is of better color on trees with no culture and in grass, but the quality 

 for eating is much superior when grown on trees which are well cultivated. At 

 least this has been the case with Northern Spys the past season. If cultivated, 

 I believe in sowing orchards to buckwlieat, rye or oats, or allowing the weeds to 

 grow after the middle of August. Moderate culture of trees on good ground 

 seems to take the phice of mulch or manure about trees without culture. The 

 culture is cheaper than the manure. A little culture and a little manure each 

 year is a good thing for apple trees. The best orchard in the State, or the one 

 which has received the first prize for two or three years, stands on rich soil with 

 heavy subsoil. It belongs to Mr. L. H. Bailey, of South Haven, who manures it 

 very heavily every year and cultivates it, taking off a good crop of tine fruit and 

 also a good crop of corn, wheat, oats or some other farm crop. I need hardly 

 add that ashes, lime, old plaster, muck and other substances are often valuable 

 for apple trees. 



PRUNING. 



Here, again, we arc on debated ground, strange to say, although people have 

 been thinking and practicing two thousand years, yes, three or four thousand 

 years. After all, that has been said and done by the agricultural press and by 

 our eminent pomologists in every part of our country, still a well pruned orchard 

 is the rare exception and not the general rule. The reasons may vary with dif- 

 ferent persons. Many do not know how to prune in any approved method, and 

 are too heedless to inform themselves by reading or inquiring. Trees grow fast. 

 Limbs are rapidly multiplied. The general farmer has irons in the fire. He is 

 very likely to neglect some things, especially in the growing seasons of the year. 

 Some prefer low trees, some high trees ; I prefer them with limbs starting about 

 five feet from the ground. A very common mistake in trimming is to cut out 

 and keep cutting off the main stem or leader of the tree, and allowing two, three 

 or four large limbs to grow out near each other and spread in every direction. 

 Such trees, especially of some varieties, are quite likely to split down or decay 

 in the fork before tliey live to bear many large crops of fruit. The better way 

 is to encourage a strong central stem or leader from which branches may be 

 allowed to run out in every direction. Do not allow branches to come out or grow 

 to be large nearer each other than eight inches, one above the other. By this I 

 mean, if one branch starts out three feet from the ground the next branch ought 

 to be eight inches higher up the main stem. Whatever you do, avoid cutting off 

 large limbs — limbs over one inch in diameter. No matter if they do cross and 

 look bad, go farther out and cut off many small limbs rather than a few large 

 ones. Thin out small limbs from the ends as a barber thins hair. The lower 

 limbs of a tree die because the limbs above them are too thick. If kept thin 

 enough, fine fruit will grow on the lower limbs as well as on any part of the 

 tree. 



There are some advocates for pruning in each month of the year. I prefer 

 to prune just as the buds are starting out. Keep the "water sprouts" rubbed 

 off while tender two or three times during the summer. Cut the limbs off close 

 so as not to leave an ugly stub. 



I must not close this portion of my subject without making a stern protest 



