68 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



DISCUSSION. 

 LED BY C. J. MONROE, SOUTH HAVEN. 



Mr. Monroe: Mr. Morrill has taken up this matter of cultivation and 

 care, and has brought it down, in a systematic way, to the marketing, 

 which is the next item on our program. Now I am satisfied that it will 

 be a good deal more valuable to this audience — if any one differs from 

 Mr. Morrill on cultivation, trimming, thinning — to take that up and use 

 the little time we have in that way, rather than for me to undertake to 

 add anything to what he has said, and I know that I shall serve this 

 audience best by allo^ving the questions to be asked. 



The Chairman: We shall be glad to hear the questions or experiences 

 of anyone here present, confining yourself to the matter of the cultiva- 

 tion and care of x)eaches. 



Q: Mr. Morrill, do you use the Universal weeder, or what? 



Mr. Morrill: I used the Ward weeder last year, but I bought some 

 Breed's weeders for this year. 



Q: Will the latter work in small loose stones? 



Mr. Morrill : Couldn't tell you, haven't got them. 



Mr. : I have a small peach orchard in the town of Sparta, 



and as near as I can ascertain from seeing other peaches, they are the 

 Wheatland variety, and for four or five years they had no appearance of 

 bearing at all and I neglected them. This last spring everything was 

 favorable, and I bought a new steel cultivator, and cultivated the 

 orchard. The trees started, and after a snow I saw another chance, and 

 gave it another thorough cultivating without plowing; I fertilized with 

 ashes and so on, and the consequence was that I had a tremendous 

 growth. I never saw trees grow better in my life. Those trees bore two 

 crops. We had first a tretoendous crop of large peaches, and a month 

 from that there were others as big as walnuts that grew and matured 

 after the first crop. 



Mr. Morrill : I can now see how my Wheatlands may get even with me; 

 they haven't done anytking for eight years; perhaps they will bear two 

 crops a year. 



Mr. Whitmeyer: I understand you do not recommend deep plowing. 

 Now I would plow deep the first year. Also in regard to heading our 

 peach trees. It is a question whether it is not policy to do so, as we are 

 after dollars and cents. Of course we like a nice orchard, but we can 

 raise a nice orchard by real low pruning. Mr. Hale gave me some ideas 

 about starting an orchard. When I started, I left my trunks 2^ feet. 

 The next year I started another orchard, and headed it lower, and last 

 year I started another orchard, and let them start from the ground. Mr. 

 Hale says that in this way you will get better peaches, because they will 

 get the sap right from the root. I am going to try it anyway. 



Mr. Wilson: I tried an experiment some fifteen years ago, when the 

 common custom was to trim the trees up high, so you could get your 

 horse under. I plowed and cultivated thoroughly and just about killed 

 my orchard, and the trees bent over and were sun scorched and pretty 

 nearly killed. 



