Appendix. 213 



grafted stalk; but you will be well paid for all your trouble. My 

 experience in changing trees has been limited to those from one to 

 eight years old, and I would not ask for better success. 



The cultivation of an apple orchard while the trees are small is 

 easily managed; but after the trees have become older and larger, it 

 requires different instruments in order to do thorough cultivation, 

 especially in a low-topped orchard. I discard the use of the plow in my 

 orchards after they are six years old, and thereafter use the disc. The 

 plow lifts and tears the roots, leaving them very ragged, and oftentimes 

 exposed to the sun. It also leaves a wound very susceptible to crown 

 ^all. 



The disc harrow cuts the roots smoothly, and leaves all injured roots 

 in a splendid condition for immediate new growth. But do I hear some 

 one saying, "You can not go deep enough with a disc harrow." Ah ! 

 my brother, I believe in deep cultivation, but if you will weight your 

 disc harrow and put on some extra horse power you can surely get it. 

 All cultivating instruments to be used in working an old oixhard must 

 be very wide in order to be successful. Here is my list of instruments: 

 An eighteen-inch disc that cuts five feet, but may be extended to thir- 

 teen feet; a three-section smoothing harrow that covers thirteen feet; a 

 home-made leveler that covers twelve feet; a two-section clod' smasher 

 that covers twelve feet; a spring-tooth harrow that covers five and one- 

 half feet, but may be extended to eleven feet; and a New Kimball 

 Orchard Weeder, fourteen feet wide, which cuts only four feet on each 

 end, and leaves a six foot space in the middle. This space is cut out 

 -afterwards with an eight-foot Kimball Weeder. 



With these sized implements, you will have but little space left around 

 the trees to cultivate with a hoe. I desire to add here that the Kimball 

 Weeder is the best dry weather instrument I ever saw. It absolutely 

 cuts and lifts all the dirt, letting it drop back without exposing any 

 moisture to the sun. As a weed killer, it is unexcelled. In our climate 

 we try to keep a dust mulch in our orchards from three to four inches 

 deep during our summer months. If there is any part of orcharding 

 upon which I am an enthusiast, it is cultivating and pruning. When I 

 was a boy I was taught that a good corn grower never waited for weeds 

 to grow before he repeated the cultivation. Just so in cultivating an 

 apple orchai'd. Keep the molecules of earth loosened and you prevent 

 the penetration of the sun's rays, the loss of moisture from your soil, 

 and literally instill vigor and life into your trees. 



A few days ago I passed through a young orchard (and I am 

 ashamed to admit it was in our own valley) which caused me to wonder 

 why some people could expect success. The trees were one .year old 

 when set last spring. They had been topped from three to three and a 

 half feet high, so the sap during our hot days could have time to become 

 almost boiling hot, and to lose a large per cent by exaporation before it 

 finally reached the top where it had forced out a small, sickly growth 

 fi-om two to six inches long. The weeds were quite numerous, and had 



