50 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



« 



apples, and wherever I have pruned them heavily, stopped their growth 

 in summer, I have at once stimulated fruitfulness of the tree and also checked 

 tree growth. Now for the beauty of the tree, an ideal great big apple tree, 

 I am all Avrong; but for a tree down where I want it, one that will bear apples 

 and be of a size I can handle, for the tree and its fruit, that is what I get by 

 summer pruning. 



Prof. Fletcher: Just one caution with reference to summer pruning, 

 that I think Mr. Hale meant to bring out: that is, it is not a general practice, 

 like spring pruning, for all trees; but is only for trees that are growing very 

 vigorously. I have seen whole orchards of apples on the Pacific coast ruined 

 by summer pruning. Trees which are growing very vigorously can be checked 

 and thrown into fruit by summer pruning; but if trees are not growing fast 

 you are likely enough to seriously injure them. So one has to use great 

 judgment. 



One other thing; he has mentioned the neglect of apples in Michigan; 

 and I think we may well take his word with shame. If you will examine 

 the figures on the wall you will see that Michigan has gone from fourth place 

 in apple production in 1890, to seventh place in 1900, and where she is now 

 I do not know. You will also see that during the last 50 years we have 

 been practically at a standstill as regards the number of bearing apple trees. 

 In peaches we are first; but in apples we are sadfy behind. I think we may 

 well devote considerable time, Mr. Chairman, to the importance subject of 

 brushing up our apple industry. I think we ought to be ashamed for the 

 condition into which it has fallen. 



Q. I would like to ask Mr. Hale if he doesn't think that if an orchard 

 that has been under high cultivation and grown very vigorously as an apple 

 orchard, were seeded down, if that would not have a tendency to stop that? 



Mr. Hale: Yes, sure. 



Prof. Hedrick: I will try and tell you in just a moment the results of 

 some experiments that have been carried on in New York in regard to the 

 real values of sod mulch and tillage. About 1900 Mr. Grant Hitchins, 

 near Syracuse, New York, grew a crop of beautiful apples. Mr. Collingwood, 

 of the Rural New Yorker, and Mr. Johnson, of the American Agriculturist, 

 saw this beautiful fruit, heard Mr. Hitchins' story of how he grew it, and 

 immediately began to advocate the sod mulch method of taking care of apple 

 orchards; advocated it for all conditions. The experiment station in New 

 York, and, for that matter, nearly all experiment stations are advocating 

 and have always advocated tillage as the best method for taking care of 

 the average apple orchard, or any other kind of orchard; and when thus 

 challenged by these newspapers as to the value of tillage for orchards, and 

 being pressed by the newspapers to show any definite instances or give any 

 results or experiments, they were unable to do so; and Prof. Beach at the 

 Green station immediately started two experiments, one on the farm of Mr. 

 Grant Hitchins and one on the Octor farm. I can give you the results of 

 the Octor orchard. We have had four crops in the Octor orchard. I may 

 say the Octor orchard consists of ten acres of Baldwins, not a tree missing, 

 thirty-five years old, wonderfully fine trees, as good trees as can be found 

 of that age in Western New York. Several trees in the orchard this year 

 bore ten to thirteen barrels to the tree. The orchard was divided into two 

 plats, five acres tilled and five acres sod mulch. Sod mulch treatment consists 

 in cutting the grass, allowing the grass to grow as high as it will and cutting 

 it and throwing it around the trees, or throwing it on the ground. The first 

 year the sod mulch trees gave a slightly larger yield than the tilled; the 



