MISCELLANEOUS. 



-ORCHARD CULTIVATION IN SOUTHERN INDIANA. 



In the evolution of approved methods in agriculture from the crude 

 ways of our fathers, the teachers themselves had to learn. With no one 

 to call them down, they frequently went to extremes. Because more 

 culture than our fathers gave proved beneficial, they jumped at the con- 

 clusion that the more culture the better. Also if intensive culture was 

 best for the pumpkin it was also best for the plum; if best for the 

 plum, also for the apple. They failed to observe that yard grass does 

 best only where the ground is tramped hardest. 



Careful observation will show us that some things grow well only by 

 much cluture; other things do well with little or no culture. Just how 

 much culture the apple orchards require for best results has not yet been 

 fully determined. It will be found somewhere between the clean culture 

 taught by our agricultural colleges and the no culture practiced by many 

 of our farmers. 



I have a small orchard, planted about twenty years ago in bluegrass 

 sod, and has been kept so ever since. The only cultivation has been a 

 mulching of straw around the trees when we had the straw and time to 

 apply it. This has been about once in two years. On account of the 

 heavy yield of summer varieties, we have found it necessary to apply 

 stable manure to them freely. This year the fruit from two Yellow 

 Transparents sold for $20, from one Trenton $11, two Benoni $26. 



But I am not to stand entirely as an advocate for a bluegrass orchard. 

 I am only trying to point out the fact that the high culture necessary for 

 a good grain crop is not always necessary for a good apple crop. To be 

 plain, I don't believe clean culture is best for the apple. The amount of 

 culture for best results depends on the fertility of the soil. On very rich 

 soil apples do best with no culture, save mowing the weeds or grass. 

 Too much, and especially too late cultivation, prevents the proper coloring 

 of the fruit. Whatever detracts from color detracts from quality. Our 



*Read at American Pomological meeting. 



