166 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



In this connection, I might say, never plant a blackberry root in 

 your garden or orchard or. in fact, any place where you may want 

 to cultivate. They are one of the most difficult things to extermi- 

 nate, especially the hardy varieties. 



Cultivation after the Crop Has Been Picked. — In some sections 

 where the autumn season is long extended, with alternating warm, 

 wet weather and cold spells, it is not a good thing to continue culti- 

 vation after the harvest of the crop. Our experience in Minnesota, 

 however, has proven that the opposite rule should apply here. Fall 

 weather in this latitude is decisive, and when it comes it is with 

 sufficient severity to check the growth of the tree in time to prepare 

 it with well-ripened wood for winter. Only a few times in our 33 

 years' history of orcharding at Lake City do our records show that 

 trees have gone into winter with wood insufficiently ripe. Our 

 policy now, therefore, is to renew cultivation as soon as the crop is 

 off and there is no further danger of jarring the apples from the 

 tree. There is considerable growth made by the tree during this 

 time, especially if the season be favorable, and as our growing sea- 

 son in the north is very short, it is a decided advantage to give the 

 tree all the growth possible while the warm weather does last. 



Implements. The chief requisites for a cultivator to be used 

 in the commercial orchards are three in number: 1. A cultivator 

 that will cover the ground with the greatest possible rapidity; (2) 

 one that will go as near as possible to the tree without injuring it; 

 (3) a construction that will pulverize the soil to its greatest degree 

 of fineness. This is a question regarding which there is a great 

 amount of discussion, and we have no doubt but there are a large 

 number of cultivators made that perform the service equally well 

 when handled properly. We have tried many makes and have in- 

 vented several ourselves. A cultivator that will work with two 

 horses is a necessity for large orchards, as a one-horse implement will 

 not cover enough space, and the time of the driver is wasted. At 

 present we are using a large spring tooth cultivator, such as may be 

 obtained at almost any farm implement house. This is arranged 

 with levers to regulate the depth by lifting the teeth out of the 

 ground when necessary. It is made in two sections and we have 

 rigged up a long evener, to which we attach one section at each 

 end, which causes them to work out under the branches next to the 

 trees, while the team travels in the center of the space between the 

 rows. After going through the orchard once in this manner we 

 replace the long evener with the short one, which brings the two 

 sections together, thus covering the space not taken in the first time. 

 By going through the orchard in this way, and then crosswise once, 



