556 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



wait until the last. We lose a great deal of the very best wood 

 growth by ueglectiug early culture. We in Connecticut are about 

 the sa-iie latitude as you in Pennsylvania — probably a little farther 

 north, but if I can have only one good cultivation in a season, I 

 want that from the middle of April to the middle of May. I used 

 to talk a great deal about keeping orchards clean in fruiting time, 

 but I would rather see the orchard clean during the first growing 

 month of spring than during the last two or three mouths of the 

 season. If possible, by all means cultivate frequently the first three 

 spring months with a cover crop on the land through late summer 

 and fall. The question of what manner of culture must depend 

 largely upon the soil, the trees, and your own opportunity; the 

 implements do not so much matter; anything that will keep the land 

 well broken up will do, particularly during the early part of the 

 season, though of course the best modern implements are to be 

 preferred. So many of us grow cover crops of crimson clover — 

 one of your advantages with it here in Pennsylvania is that it often 

 winter kills. If it continues to grow, and comes up nice in the 

 spring, you are tempted to leave it for another week, and then it 

 looks good again, and you decide to leave it for another week, and 

 then it begins to bloom and it looks so pretty that you want to get 

 your wife or your sweetheart out to see it, and she admires it so 

 that she has two or three friends to whom she wants to show it, 

 and so you have it pumping the moisture out of the land. Never 

 mind what happens in the spring; you want to get cultivation early, 

 and a cover crop put on in August if possible, and anything that 

 tends to interfere with your early cultivation in the spring is a temp- 

 tation of the devil. Early cultivation is necessary for a good, vigor- 

 ous growth of the orchard. 



Now, about the feeding of your orchards. It has been discussed 

 here this afternoon, and the papers have discussed it, but it seems 

 to me that the tree itself will tell the observing orchardist what 

 it needs better than any one else can. The successful orchardist 

 will prune well, and feed well, and cultivate well, in order to bring 

 about the highest degree of fruit development; 30 of nitrogen, 60 of 

 phosphorus, and 100 of potash per acre, is the proportion usually 

 used, but I would say this was just a little bit stingy to your trees. 

 I believe I would pretty near double that if I could borrow the 

 money, and some of you are so good-looking that I would not hesi- 

 tate to borrow money of you, I have in years gone by borrowed 

 money of you. I have in years gone by borrowed money to buy fer- 

 tilizers — hundreds and thousands of dollars, because I could not 

 afford not to do so. If you have more trees than you think you can 

 afford to feed liberally, cut down half of them and feed them that 

 are left full rations. Commercial fertilizers produce the best re- 

 sults. We have been talking for some years — especially the scien- 

 tific fellows — that peach trees did not need nitrogen, but it is well 

 to keep some nitrates on hand, and feed it to your orchards when 

 foliage growth tells you its needed. I would not apply nitrates 

 after July, but during May or June I would watch each individual 

 tree, and any that were not quite as green as I should like I would 

 give a little nitrate. I never buy a mixed fertilizer; the dealer 

 figures that $10 worth of nitrate, |10 worth of phosphorus, and 



