Pa^c S 



BETTER FRUIT 



August 



Illustration sho\\ ing a box of Winter Nelis 150, 

 licurre Easter, 100, 4-tier. 



-tier, and 



Showing the proper bulge on a box nailed and ready for shipment 



Securing Organic Matter in Orchard Soils 



By J. R. Mattern, Julian, Pennsylvania 



every five or ten years 



STAHIXG every orchardist in the face 

 is the prohlem of getting suflicient 

 vegetable matter into his soil to keep 

 up proper moisture and fertility con- 

 ditions. It is a well-known fact among 

 modern soil experts that organic matter 

 has a great deal to do with the 

 moisture storage capacity of soils, and 

 in connection with moisture the organic 

 matter determines the bacterial activ- 

 ity in the soil, and therefore the amount 

 of natural plant food available. 



On a grain or stock farm the problem 

 is simpler, because there are no trees 

 to hinder free cultivation with broad 

 implements, and no roots to interfere 

 with deei) plowing. Once the trees are 

 started, the ground cannot be plowed 

 more than seven inches deep without 

 damaging the roots. If manure is 

 applied the weeds that spring from the 

 seeds are exceedingly hard to kill by 

 cultivation, and smothering crops can- 

 not be used in an orchard as they can 

 in an open field. 



The one remaining method of secur- 

 ing the organic matter is by the use of 

 cover crops, or what some educators 

 call grecn-iuanure crops. The funda- 

 mental idea in this is to plant some- 

 thing that will make a luxuriant 

 growth of tops and roots, and then 

 ■work the material grown into the soil. 

 Legumes such as crimson clover 

 (where it will grow successfully), 

 vetch, cow-peas, and soy beans are best 

 when they can be grown, but some- 

 times the soil is too much run down, 

 or too rough to permit of these finer 

 plants catching. Rye, wheat, turnips, 

 millet and other such plants then are 

 better. 



Still the chief problem is not solved, 

 for attention to the top seven inches 

 of soil that the plows will reach will 

 not always grow a good orchard. It is 

 necessary to get the organic matter 

 deeper than this — down there is the 

 real feeding place of the roots. Roots 

 of the covcr-croj) jjlanf alone can 

 reach this soil, and they will not do so 

 unless the way is opened for them by 

 deep tillage. By subsoiling an orchard 

 site with plows before the trees are 

 planted, you can accomplish nuich 

 good. A better way is to do it with 

 explosives at the lime the trees are 



planted, and 

 afterwards. 



Too much importance cannot be at- 

 tached to this subject of filling the soil 

 with roots down deep, where they pro- 

 vide organic matter for bacteria to feed 

 on, and to aid in both the storage of 

 moisture and the liberation of insoluble 

 plant foods. Only a few orchardists 

 understand the value of the ijractice, 

 but the exijeriences of these few are 

 illuminating. Clean cultivation or 

 intercrop ])ractice, it makes no differ- 

 ence if the land is cultivated during the 

 weeks from April till in .July, just so 

 the cover crop is sown each year, in 

 soil that has been given intensive tillage 

 down deep, there will be abundance of 

 growth and overabundance of fruit. 



A New Wave of Prosperity 



It is most gratifying to note the 

 preparations being maile to save the 

 by-products heretofore wastetl by the 

 Western fruitgrower. This has been 

 brought about largely by the prohibi- 

 tion of li(|uor retailing in the several 

 Northwestern States. Along the west 

 slope and Willamette Valley a fortune 

 has been spent in hydraulic presses 

 and equipment for making loganberries 

 into soft drinkable beverages. This 

 means prosperity to our valley grow- 

 ers and ijrolits to the several enter- 

 prising concerns that have equipped 



themselves with plants for pressing and 

 bottling. While the present season's 

 crop of loganberries in the Willamette 

 Valley represents a value in excess of 

 a half million of dollars, it is small 

 when compared with the by-products 

 to be saved from apples. Kvaporating 

 Plants, Apple-Butter Cookers and Hy- 

 diaulic Presses are all coming into 

 great demand and the good old-time 

 cider will be replaced by a more choice 

 and higher grade of beverage made 

 from the small or slightly under first- 

 ([uality apples. The "Apple-Ju" pro- 

 (luced by the leading Salem concern is 

 strictly a high-grade beverage, sani- 

 tary, sparkling and delicious, and hun- 

 dreds of tons of apples will find a 

 ]jrofitable market value where hereto- 

 fore they have been thrown away. 



The fact that single contracts amount- 

 ing to over twent.\' thousand dollars 

 have been entered into this season for 

 hydraulic-pressing machinery is proof 

 of the importance of the preparations 

 being made to save and turn the by- 

 products into prfifit. 



I will not attempt to go into lengthy 

 details in this article, but should any 

 reader desires to know more regarding 

 the manufacturing of by-products and 

 the proper equipment required for 

 same, their in(|uiries will be given 

 prompt attention if addressed to U. D. 

 Maxson, 308 East Salmon Street, Port- 

 land, Oregon. — [Adv.] 



Florida, up to the middle of April, 

 had shipped 17,095 cars of oranges and 

 •1741 cars of grapefruit. 



High Class I 



