WINTER MEETING. 189- 



Did anyone test the value of salt for pear blight, as recommended 

 at the Carthage meeting, December, 1892, and is in the following an- 

 nual report 1 



Which of the three following things injure horticulturists the 

 most, insect pests, excessive toil or carelessness ? 



Wednesday, Dec. 4 — 2 p. m. 



The first number on the program was music by the double quar- 

 tette. 



With a few remarks in praise of Missouri's boys, President Evans 

 introduced Prof. Waters, of the Agricultural College. 



Valvie of Clover and Cow-peas as Fertilizers for Orchards. 



Given a soil reasonably fertile and otherwise adapted to orchard 

 growing, will it retain sufficient fertility and a suitable physical condition 

 for the best results without manuring when handled in the approved 

 manner, viz., the growing on it of tillage crops, such as corn, potatoes, 

 etc.,"among the trees while they are young and giving it clean culture 

 thereafter, as long as the trees remain vigorous and productive ? 



The failure, or indijfferent success, of numerous orchards handled 

 in this way furnish the strongest possible negative answer. A few 

 fundamental principles, briefly stated, will make clear the reasons for 

 failure : 



1. The removal of one or more of the elements of plant food 

 faster than they can be rendered soluble by the usual processes of 

 nature. 



2. The burning out of the vegetable matter or humus, leaving the 

 soil heavy, compact, or, in a sense, dead. In this latter condition the 

 water-holding power of the soil is greatly reduced ; less water enters 

 it when a rain-fall occurs, and it is physically unsuited to the best 

 growth of fruit trees or agricultural crops. It not infrequently occurs 

 that both of the conditions just described are present in a soil that has 

 been grown for a long time in tillage crops, or in a soil grown in or- 

 chard trees for a long time when constantly tilled. It is a well-known 

 fact that tillage greatly facilitates the loss of vegetable matter and 

 nitrogen. It has been found, for example, that for every pound of 

 nitrogen removed in the corn crop, three pounds were lost by cultiva- 

 tion. 



