Summer Meeting. 149 



is likely to be the last part of that farm to receive attention. In 

 case of a large commercial orchard, the amount of work that might 

 be done is apt to be far in excess of the facilities and labor avail- 

 able for doing the work. As to the cultivation given the orchards, 

 it is probably safe to say that generally good cultivation ends at the 

 time when it begins to be inconvenient and unprofitable to grow 

 some cultivated crop between the rows of trees, and this is usually 

 at about the time the trees begin to bear, just the time when culti- 

 vation is most needed. Ideal cultivation should begin as early in 

 the spring as the ground is suitable to work, and continue at in- 

 tervals sufficiently frequent to keep the surface of the soil in good 

 tilth until about midsummer, when a cover crop should be sown. 

 Entire clean cultivation is not practicable for most sections of the 

 Ozarks, because of the tendency of the soil to wash badly. Here 

 arises another problem. In some places the land is of such char- 

 acter that it is next to impossible to use the more improved types 

 of machinery, the double shovel and the ordinary turning plow 

 being about the only implements that can be employed. This fact 

 greatly increases the weight of the labor and the expense of culti- 

 vation. What would be the possible effect of generally establishing 

 thorough cultivation on the crop production of Ozark orchards 

 is difficult to say, except as we may judge from the experience of 

 other states and some other portion of this State. There are 

 some things, however, which thorough cultivation and the best 

 of care will not do. It will not counteract the effect of unfavorable 

 seasons, nor keep away frosts; neither will it cause thrifty trees 

 to be grown on soil that is wholly unfit for orchard purposes. 



In the face of all obstacles and the contention held by some 

 that the uncertainty of crops makes it inadvisable and almost im- 

 possible, from a financial standpoint, to follow out a thorough 

 system of cultivation, it certainly seems that, by good cultivation, 

 the growing of cover crops and the judicious use of fertilizers 

 (preferably stable manure) that the rate of production in orchards 

 would be greatly increased. 



Pruning is a question that should involve no difficulty. One 

 man may prune a little differently from another, but, if not carried 

 to an extreme one way or another, the result will be about the 

 same. If dead wood, cross limbs and water sprouts are kept out 

 of apple trees, that is generally considered sufficient. This is as- 

 suming that some attention is given to the frame work of the 

 tree. In young orchards the missing trees should be replaced each 

 season. In old orchards it hardly pays to attempt to replant. 



