Winter Meeting. 135 



been so very richly endowed by nature) would only embrace and improve 

 the opportunities, and give that pains-taking care, and thorough culti- 

 vation to their orchards and fruit gardens, that the people in the over 

 crowded countries of Europe, and in the less favored sections of our 

 own country, are compelled to give in order to make a bare living, then 

 the fame of our fruits would soon become world wide, and the universal 

 verdict would be that Missouri orchards pay better than those of any 

 other country in the world, and that Missouri, fruits are the very best of 

 all to be found on this side of Paradise. 



DISCUSSION OF CULTIVATION. 



Question. — I have a young orchard which has been cultivated in 

 corn for three years, what shall I plant next ? 



J. C. Evans. — T would advise cowpeas from this time on. 



D. A. Robnett. — If the land is rich I would plant two more corn 

 crops. 



M. Butterfield. — I w^ould recommend two more crops of corn, if the 

 ground is very rich. I would cultivate five years and then seed to clover, 

 get one crop of hay, and then continue to mow it twice a year, leaving 

 the clover on the ground, and never break that land up again for twenty- 

 five years. 



Mr. Auten, Carthage. — I have a sixty-acre orchard, eight or nine 

 years old, which has never had much of a crop. It is in clover. I think 

 it has too much nitrogen. The twigs produce only wood buds. The 

 trees are very full of slender twigs. 



N. F. Murray. — I am aware that young orchards are sometimes culti- 

 vated too much and make too much wood growth, but there is a vast 

 difference in soils and localities. 



Col. Evans, in his Ozark lands, is about right, but in rich land a 

 different course may be better. , So I say it is necessary to vary the treat- 

 ment of an orchard according to the soil, the season and other conditions. 



Mr. Chandler. — [ would like light upon the new system of bringing 

 orchards into bearing by girdling the trees. 



Maj. Frank Holsinger. — I have had experience in making trees bear 

 by girdling to stop too vigorous growth. There is no doubt of its suc^ 

 cess, if you do it at the right time. In our latitude this is about the 

 middle of June, when the cambium layer is forming. The girdling stops 

 tlie excessive growth and induces the formation of fruit buds. Such 

 varieties as 'Northern Spy and Yellow Bellflower are brought into bearing 

 by removing all the bark from two or three feet of the trunk of the tree. 

 There is no danger in this. Some men peel the bark up into the limbs. 



