200 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Mr. Morrill: Yes, sir; two and a half inches deep. 



Mr. Kellogg: Then he uses a Breed weeder and goes over it. He 

 simpl}' keeps that dust mulch on, and he uses a good deal of bone and 

 ashes. I remember they were spreading ashes on it the day I was there. 

 He has an immense ash-house, about a hundred feet long, it looked to me. 

 I dug down, at an intimation from Mr. Fifield, just threw back the dirt not 

 more than two inches. It was a sight that I never will forget. On that 

 ground there were just untold millions of little roots. You could see 

 them reaching up after the bone and ashes. You all know that if you 

 plow seeds down they will not germinate, unless they can get the warmth 

 of the sun. You get the roots away down in that cold ground, plow 

 deep and get them away down below there, I do not believe it is right. 

 I believe that deep plowing in the orchard has contributed more than 

 any other one thing, except general carelessness, to the lack of success. 

 What is the use of fertilizing and manuring a foot deep? Why not con- 

 centrate it where the plants can use it? I commence to plow an orchard' 

 very shallow. W^hen you commence plowing it shallow, do just as Mr. 

 Morrill does. You would have to pay Mr. Morrill a big price for the 

 privilege of plowing in his orchard four inches deep. If any crop is to be 

 put into an orchard I would have some soft crop. I believe if we could' 

 manage to plow under peas and get a very soft humus right on top of the 

 ground, not more than three inches, it would be the best thing out. I 

 should in such case plow the orchard two or three inches deep and work 

 it down very gradually. 



Prof. Waite: I would like to ask Mr. Kellogg if he thinks his methods 

 would apply to unirrigated soil? 



Mr. Kellogg: Well, Mr. Morrill does not irrigate. Mr. Morrill keeps a- 

 dust mulch on his soil all summer long. At least he did that summer, 

 that was the dry summer of 1895. How many times was it you said you" 

 had been over it? 



Mr. Morrill: We go over our orchards from twenty-five to forty times, 

 during the season. 



Mr. Kellogg: You can go over fifteen or tw^enty acres per day. 



A MIs^TAKE IN STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 



Mr. Kellogg: I spoke in this society once, recommending the Breed 

 weeder for strawberries. It is all right for everything else, but I made a 

 great blunder in recommending it for strawberries. Once in a while 

 I think I have a big thing, when it is a mistake. Confession is good for 

 the soul. I said some things about that, but I would like to swallow them. 

 Now, it does leave such a nice mellow soil all over the top of the ground, 

 and I was greatly pleased with it. A strawberry plant is different from- 

 any other plant. New roots start out in the spring, and they start above 

 the old ones. That is one of the little things that escaped my attention. 

 The Breed weeder will tear them right off, and keep tearing them off every 

 time you use it. It is too harsh, and it loosens up a good many plants. 

 I got a new one with small teeth and paid .f]2 for it. and I set a man 

 to cultivating with it last spring. He got there a little before I did and 

 had had gone over a dozen yards. The plants had been set some days. I 

 went out and looked at the work, and began to yell, and scared the people 



