ORCHARDING ON THE FARM. ICQ 



am going to speak directly to the subject. It is about the only 

 thing I would care to say to this society, to the farmer or to any 

 once who wants to raise fruit, because I feel that it is the most 

 important thing that confronts us in the growing of fruit. A good 

 many of you know what it is. I feel as though I wanted to keep 

 your minds on it. What is the one thing we most need here in 

 Minnesota to make fruit growing a success? (Answers of "Mois- 

 ture.") Moisture, that is the only thing I care anything about. 

 If you give me enough moisture I will raise fruit anywhere. It 

 makes the only difference between here and western New York, 

 where I was born. How are you going to get it? (Answers "By 

 mulching," "Cultivation.") ' Cultivation; that is my idea, that is 

 what I would like to have preached over and over again. If you 

 will travel over the country, I will guarantee you will not find two 

 men in a hundred that are paying any attention to it, I will 

 guarantee you that ninety-eight men out of a hundred are neglect- 

 ing that entirely. If that is true, that moisture is the thing we 

 most need and there are not two per cent of the planters that are 

 paying any attention to it, I do not know why this is not a very im- 

 portant subject to consider in an organization like this. Mr. Cash- 

 man recommends thorough cultivation. I am glad he got that in 

 there, because I believe he is a practical man, and I am glad he did 

 not leave out that part. I would hke to rub that in hard. Mois- 

 ture is the thing we need, and the most practical way to get it is to 

 practice thorough cultivation. 



Mr. Jno. Freeman: When do you cease to cultivate? 



Mr. Underwood: We never stop. We cultivate from April 

 to December. I was taught that we must stop cultivating in July 

 in order to allow the wood to ripen. I followed that practice until 

 I became satisfied, as I have told you before, after losing six thou- 

 sand trees in the orchard, I was on the wrong track. Now remem- 

 ber one thing connected with it. Everybody plants his orchard too 

 close. You have got to plant your trees further apart, and you 

 will have to cultivate if you want them to grow. The farmer needs 

 to know this more than anybody else, for in traveling over the 

 prairies you will find no one cultivates. Mr. Leach gives his trees 

 thorough cultivation, and he is successful as a fruit grower. 



Mr. A. B. Lyman : What do you mean by thorough cultiva- 

 tion; once or twice a month? 



Mr. Underwood: In the spring of the year I would start out 

 to cultivate as soon as it could be done. If I could plow the or- 

 chard I would. If we had an implement hke a gang plow it would 

 do. Last spring we plowed our orchard with a common stirring 

 plow. We used two horses as much as we could, and then we used 

 one horse. We had to turn the dirt over in the rows and then 

 turned it back again. Then we put on a spring tooth harrow. As 

 soon as it gets dry I would turn it again some way, and I would 

 keep the surface stirred. It does not need to be stirred so very 

 much to prevent evaporation. It can be done cheaply, quickly and 

 thoroughly, and it is the most practical thing to do that I know of. 

 I feel more intensely on the subject because I see there is so little 



