METHODS OP MULCHING. 329 



Mr. Oliver Gibbs : I can find nothing in Mr. Harris' paper to 

 find any tault with. I think the keynote of the whole matter was 

 sounded in Mr. Cook's paper when he advocated mulching and cul- 

 tivation in alternation. 1 want to call attention to the facts drawn 

 out three years ago from Mr. Somerville. Mr. Somerville has 

 grown famous through his large and well known orchard, and it 

 may be that his success was due to mulching. The question was 

 asked him three years ago when a mulch became necessary. He 

 replied that he put on his mulch late in the fall, and in the spring 

 he turned his hogs into the orchard, and they gave it the alternate 

 cultivation. Many oi the older members and some of the younger 

 members know the reputation of Mr. Somerville's orchard, but I set 

 it down on the tablet's of my memory at that time that mulching was 

 not doing the work alone, but that it was done by mulching and cul- 

 tivation in combination. 



Mr. A. D. Leach : I am rather an enthusiastic advocate of 

 mulching myself, although I do not believe that too heavy a mulch 

 should be applied. I never put on a mulch so thick that it will not 

 wet through in a good shower. I have been raising apples in Min- 

 nesota for thirty years in the same way. I set out in 1881 a Wealthy 

 orchard of thirty trees and succeeded in obtainin-^- some apples. 

 Then came that hard winter of 1884-5. ^^'^^ the cold killed them in 

 such a manner that they had to be cut back. Those trees sprouted 

 up until they have become large, fhriftv bearing trees today, but the 

 shape of them prevents cultivation. They are set 16x24 ^eet apart. 

 They cover the whole ground and the limbs branch out not more 

 than a foot or two above the ground. They spread over the entire 

 ground, and it is just barely possible to go through with the wagon, 

 tut no more. Now the question arose what to do with those trees. 

 We could not cultivate them, and I did not know what to do. About 

 six years ago they showed signs of weakness. I had not manured 

 them any, so I went to work and fertilized them with about a wheel- 

 barrow load of manure about each tree. I had the orchard in clover 

 and instead of taking it off the p-round I spread it around each tree 

 over a space of about six feet. I let it lie there until the next spring 

 when it was quite thoroughly rotted, and the next spring, instead 

 of turning- in the hogs, I took a six fined fork and went around the 

 orchard digging up the ground. When summer came again I put 

 on another mulching of clover and put on some manure the next 

 fall. Next sprine I treated it again in the same way I did the pre- 

 ceding spring, and I think I now have as thrifty and nice and well 

 bearing an orchard as can be found in the state of Minnesota. I 

 harvested this summer between 150 and 175 bushels of extra fine 

 Wealthy apples, and nearly all of them were of a good or medium 

 size. In cultivating young trees I am in favor of cultivating around 

 and up to the trees and keeping on a good dust mulch. If the 

 orchard gets too big I am in favor of mulching and forking in the 

 manure, when soring comes taking a fork and digging the manure 

 well into the soil. 



Mr. R. A. Wrio-lit : All the discussion so far has been upon 

 the apple. In regard to small fruits I want to sav that I am in 



