MY DUCHESS ORCHARD. 3O7 



about it, but it leaves the beginner in a position where he does not 

 know what to do ; but the main point of it all is right here, that we 

 must understand to what end we plant this tree, — what we want to 

 grow the tree for. If we plant a tree we must grow the root first 

 before we grow the apple, and if we want the root to grow it must 

 have plant food. If the ground is not cultivated the trees cannot 

 feed so easily, and all trees have got to have food and drink ; they 

 are like a good many men, — they have got to have moisture. 

 (Laughter.) This moisture nature supplies in abundance if we 

 can only keep it in the ground. 



Mr. Richardson : That orchard grew in blue grass sod and the 

 grass stood up to me here (indicating the central button of his vest). 

 If you can do any better on cultivated ground I would like to see it. 



Mr. Yahnke : You have a different condition. There is not 

 the same condition at another place. You have got to know what 

 you are doing or what you can do with your own soil. If you have 

 a dry soil you must prevent evaporation of the moisture. If 

 the ground is porous, the evaporation is very rapid, and if you do 

 not use the proper method to prevent it, your moisture is soon 

 gone. The conditions vary on different soils. The ground that Mr. 

 Richardson speaks of is probably very rich and very level, and is 

 probably saturated with moisture, and if you do as I do or as Mr. 

 Underwood does in that kind of soil, — cultivate a good deal, — you 

 get too m.uch moisture, and the trees do not do well. In some places 

 we cannot do as Mr. Underwood does or as Mr. Richardson does. 

 If we cultivate the trees until they are of bearing age and manure 

 the ground, the ground becomes too rich and we get no fruit. In 

 another place it may be necessary to cultivate all the time, and it 

 is all because the soil is different at different places. If a man 

 has no manure to put on, no fertilizer to use, and he keeps on cul- 

 tivating your after year, the soil becomes more compact, and the 

 condition of the soil such that there is no humus in it; so it 

 becomes necessary for him to seed it down to clover, cut it down 

 and let it decay and use it for a mulch; or he must put on some 

 manure, some way, to get this humus back into the soil ; and so 

 we must treat the ground according to the conditions we find. 



Mr. Sahler : I have planted deep and planted shallow ; I have 

 cultivated and allowed trees to stand in sod ground, and I lost the 

 trees that were in the sod ground. Those that were planted deep 

 stood for just three years; and those that v/ere planted where just 

 the roots were covered grew remarkably well, and they have borne: 

 heavy crops of apples. 



