190 State Horticultural Society. 



jST. O. Booth, of the Experiment Station at Columbia, gave briefly 

 the result of their experiments in planting trees with roots of different 

 lengths, showing that extremely long or short roots were not as good 

 as medimn. 



Question : — How late would you cultivate a nursery ? 



iST. F. Murray.— We cultivated till, the last of August and lost 

 75,000 two-year apple trees and 80,000 one-year-olds by the extreme 

 cold of last winter. These were on a north slope. On south slope they 

 came through all right. 



L. A. Goodman. — I am fully satisfied that the hardiness of trees 

 depends more upon the subsoil than upon the soil and cultivation to- 

 gether. Cutting all the roots off, as recommended by some, will not 

 do in this country. 



CULTIVATION^ CKOPS, TOOLS, AND PEUXIN^G. 



By H. W. Jenkins, Boonville, Mo. 



The orchard has been planted and well planted. The question 

 that now presents itself to the owner is, "What shall I now do wdth it ?" 

 Leave it alone to the tender mercies of a pitiless climate and to the mer- 

 ciless rabbit and borer and let these trees which are things of life eke out 

 a miserable existence for a short time, believing in the ''survival of the 

 fittest !" (and the fittest won't bother you long under such treatment) 

 and then give the nurseryman a blessing for selling trees that did not 

 have a "tap root" and a Canadian-oak-iron-clad constitution ! Or 

 shall I take care of them the same or better than any other crop I plant 

 by good cultivation ? 



I answer there is but one alternative, either cultivate and do it 

 well or else waste all your time and money previously expended in the 

 planting. There is no half-way business about it. To meet with suc- 

 cess you must cultivate often — at least every ten days (condition of soil 

 permitting) from May to September. Cultivate shallow and deep, keep 

 the ground level, never allow the soil to bake and become hard around the 

 newly planted tree. By the way, many Missouri farmers injure their 



