Winter Meeting. 34^ 



pruning young trees I would always want to leave the lower limbs i8 

 to 20 inches from the ground. I have been in a great many orchards 

 that have never seen a pruning shear and they seem to do well ; possibly 

 they would do 50 per cent better had they been pruned. It is certain 

 that soil conditions have a great deal to do with pruning, as trees grown 

 on deep, rich soil would require greater pruning than trees planted on 

 our uplands of southwest ^Missouri. 



There are many ideas of cultivation, but the best cultivation is 

 that which will give us strong, thrifty trees. I consider good and 

 thorough culture of the most importance in growing fruits successfully : 

 first, by getting the ground ready, that is, in the best possible condition, 

 while the trees are growing. Now, this is not only necessary during; 

 the growing season before your trees come into bearing, but especially 

 is it true that during their fruiting the ground should be cultivated and 

 kept in a pulverized condition, in order to have the best results when 

 gathering the fruits. By thus keeping your ground in a loose, pliable 

 condition, you counteract in a measure the efifect of droughts and en- 

 able your fruit to keep on growing and to some extent prevent it from 

 falling. 



There is no doubt in my mind that, for the first few years, cultiva- 

 tion that will keep the soil loose and mellow, until the time when corn 

 is laid by, is the best treatment. When trees are first planted we gen- 

 erally plant five rows of corn between the apple tree rows. As the 

 trees grow larger we drop off a row until trees are six or seven years 

 old ; then we only plant three rows. This gives us ample room for cul- 

 tivating between corn and trees and gives us partial return for our 

 labor. In planting corn, it gives shade to the trees in the summer, and 

 \vhen the stalks are left standing in winter, it serves as a windbreak to 

 a certain extent. Take it all in all, I believe that corn is the best crop 

 that can be grown in our young orchards, as in the spring you can 

 break down the stalks, plow them under, thereby adding more humus 

 to the soil. In my mind our fruit growers do too little cultivating. 



PROFITS IX HORTICULTURE AS CO-^fPARED WITH AGRI- 

 CULTURE OR STOCK RAISING. 



(ISyAsa Chandler. Randolph, Mo., read before the Missouri Valley Horticultural Society.) 



Mv subject has scope enough, a_quarto volume could be written 

 upon it. Tlie profits in any business will largely depend upon the 

 personal equation of the man. We must recognize the fact that one 

 party will succeed in business, while another will fail in the same 



