168 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



METHODS OF PLOWING AS A PREPARATION FOR 

 PLANTING FRUITS. 



PROF. WM. ROBERTSON, MINN. COLI.EGE OF AGRICULTURE. 



One method of plowing for planting fruits is not to plow at all 

 but to dig a hole in the sod, set the plant out, and with this assist- 

 ance leave it to work out its own salvation. Probably more farm 

 fruits have had this kind of preparation than have had any other. I 

 tried it myself some nine years ago, with six apple trees. First, I 

 bought the trees one Saturday afternoon to get rid of a tree agent 

 when we were anxious to get our hay in shape for Sunday. The 

 trees came to a town ten miles away, got a ride out with the mail 

 carrier — the roots exposed through the entire ride — and arrived when 

 the threshers were on hand. They were heeled in for the winter, 

 were banqueted upon by the mice under the snow, and in spring 

 when all other work was done they were consigned to their holes in 

 the sod. Two of these trees — a Whitney No. 20 and an Emperor 

 Alexander — fought a good fight, and today stand as evidence of the 

 fact that some apple trees can succeed even with this method of 

 plowing. 



Really, in plowing for planting fruits, we ought to take into 

 consideration the various features that are to affect the life of the 

 plant. We are to remember, too, that this final plowing is to be the 

 last for a longer or shorter series of years at the spot where the plant 

 stands. W'e plow yearly for the annual crop, and if we make a 

 mistake this year we may correct it next. But not so in plowing 

 for fruit planting, so we had better do our job well now and avoid 

 the discouragements and regrets of after years. 



The plant we are to set out is to work over certain elements of 

 the soil into edible combinations and forms. Then it is necessary 

 that this material be at hand in the soil. The plant reaches out by 

 means of an extensive root system to gather this material. The ma- 

 terial must be in soluble form and must be brought to these roots by 

 the movement of water in the soil. It requires energy to force this 

 root system through the soil. The action of the plant in working 

 over this material is much affected by the temperature and the air 

 circulation in the soil as well as out of it. The plant when set out 

 has only a small amount of reserve force, which is to help it till it 

 gets established in its new home ; so, in transplanting, it should be 

 given an intimate and immediate connection with the soil. 



Now, the supply of food material, the movement, abundance 

 and presence of water, the temperature, the air circulation, the ease 

 and evenness of root distribution and the intimacv of immediate root 



