Winter Meeting. 199 



as to plant an orchard and expect fruit from it without giving it proper 

 attention. This is no pen picture, but one that can be verified by a 

 ride of only a few miles through the country. I had occasion to ride 

 some twenty miles through our county (Adair) during the month of 

 October, and, as is my usual custom, took particular notice of orchards 

 along the way and, my word for it, there were very few but what showed 

 great neglect, and had we not had a very wet season, would no doubt 

 show the effects of drouth. Some were young orchards planted a year 

 or tw^o ago, others were five or six years old, and some were old veterans 

 that were fast going to decay and needed to be removed that they might 

 not offer a breeding place for injurious insects and that the owner 

 might use the land for other purposes. Some had planted the ground 

 to corn and given the corn fair cultivation but forgot to cultivate the 

 trees, and you could hardly see them for the weeds; the owner never 

 thought to cut them down so that they might not seed 

 the ground for another crop. Don't you suppose it hurt those 

 ti-ees with that great crop of rag weed, Spanish needle, etc., sapping 

 the very life out of them and taking the nourishment the trees needed ? 

 I do, and the foliage showed it very plain and seemed to be asking for 

 better treatment. It is a shame for a man to plant trees and give them 

 such treatment for, be it known, with just treatment they are his best 

 friends. It is strange to me why men will cultivate their other crops 

 and neglect their orchards when the orchard will pay many times the 

 best. One of my neighbors sold nearly $600 worth of Ben Davii^ 

 apples from three-fourths of an acre orchard in the past five seasons, this 

 year getting $135 for the fruit. Can you do as well raising corn or 

 w^heat ? 



Can we help the trees ? I answ^er yes, and the time to begin to 

 help them is before planting by having the ground in the best possible 

 condition. Use care in setting and then cultivate thoroughly so as to 

 send the roots deep into the ground that they may not suffer when 

 drouth comes, which is sooner or later. Cultivation should begin early 

 in the spring and be kept up until about August, when it may cease 

 provided the season is a reasonably wet one, otherwise it will be well 

 to cultivate later. One who has never tried it will be surprised how 



