METHODS OF MULCHING. 327 



around, but after several years the roots came up above the soil in 

 which the trees were planted, he got tired of mulching, and a hard 

 wind came along and his trees tipped over. He had no roots in 

 the soil. I believe in light mulching and wherever practicable having 

 a dust mulch. 



Mr. Clarence Wedge : I commend heartily everything that was 

 said in the paper, but I differ from the remarks which followed the 

 paper. The dangers that may come from mulching I think are al- 

 together exaggerated as compared with the dangers that may come 

 without the mulch. The example !Mr. Harris gave of the man who 

 mulched his orchard and then neglected it and, as a consequence, 

 lost his trees seems to me to be rather in favor of the mulching. 

 Of course, mulching should be kept on during the year. During the 

 past year we have found that the ground without snow or without 

 mulching is a very dangerous thing. When we get to grafting upon 

 the stocks which Prof. Hansen is recommending to us, those Pyrus 

 baccata, then, perhaps, we can do away with the mulching, but at 

 the present time I consider mulching as the safety anchor for our 

 orchards in these snowless winters. Another point Mr. Harris 

 stated in his paper, that a dust blanket was ec^ual to straw or bet- 

 ter. I shall have to express my decided dissent from that. The 

 difference in value between these two classes of mulch was very 

 firmly impressed upon my mind in heeling in a lot of nursery trees 

 in the fall. A portion of the ground had been cultivated, and we 

 had cultivated it unceasingly during the year ; it was practically a dus^ 

 blanket when we heeled in the trees, while another portion which 

 was contiguous was covered with straw. In heeling in the trees we 

 found the soil very dry under the dust blanket, so dry, in fact, that 

 we had to use a good deal of water to heel them in safely, while in 

 heeling in that portion that was covered with straw we found the 

 soil so moist that we needed no water at all in order to carry the 

 trees through the winter. That was my experience with the two 

 styles of mulching. 



Mr. J. S. Harris : In answer to Mr. Wedge's first exception I 

 want to say that I used the term ''excessive mulching," and I stick 

 to it, because I thoroughly believe that a heavy mulch, especially 

 when the ground is dry under it, is dangerous to the orchard, but a 

 light mulching, with the ground suitably moist under it, if we would 

 apply it every winter about this time, I believe would be a great bene- 

 fit to our trees. However, if you put on a heavy mulch just be- 

 fore the fall rains take place you have got to pay for what you do. 



Mr. Clarence Wedge : In regard to that mulch shedding water. 

 It is a great mistake to place mulch in such a way that it will shed 

 water. We must get away from that idea. The roots of a tree 

 of any size — the roots six or eight feet away from the tree — are just 

 as important and just as valuable or more so, but the mulch should 

 be put on in a level form so as not to shed any water. It should 

 be kept on all the season round. I do not believe in this spasmodic 

 mulching ; I believe it should be kept on all the time. 



Mr. Wyman Elliot : We have with us today a man who has 

 had considerable experience in mulching, but with material different 



