WHAT PLACE HAS GRASS IN THE ORCHARD? Sit 
drouthy countries to cultivate thoroughly and clean, allowing noth- 
ing to grow among the trees. 
The President: This is a very interesting feature of our work. 
Our friend Oliver Gibbs has been having quite an experience in 
South Dakota, and he has taken a back seat and not shown himself 
at all; I would like to know what his opinion is about mulching and 
cultivation. Will you tell us, Mr. Gibbs, what your preference 
would be? t 
Mr. Gibbs: Southeastern Dakota is not so bad as some may sup- 
pose, and I presume it is the finest country to which a mancan go. 
It expresses my idea exactly that there should be nothing allowed 
to grow in the orchard except trees and, I would add, during the en- 
tire season. I would keep the ground clean until I could cultivate 
no longer. I have never seen an orchard that was mulched in which 
the mulching took the place of cultivation, that is, where mulch was 
used as a substitute for cultivation, without any cultivation. I 
thought Mr. Somerville’s orchard was only mulched and not culti- 
vated, but I found I was mistaken in regard tothat. He doesnot 
use mulch in place of cultivation, but he places his mulch in the 
orchard and then turns in his hogs the next spring and the early 
part of the season, and they give the orchard the most thorough cul- 
tivation you could imagine. Inreply toa question, he stated that 
the hogs put the ground in the best possible condition, and the or- 
chard looks as though it had been put in that condition by very 
thorough cultivation instead of by mulching. If the soil is properly 
prepared and the planting properly done, I think in dry regions 
thereis no occasion for mulching whatever. If the roots go down 
where they ought to go, and where they want to go, and where they 
will go if the sub-soil is properly prepared for them, a dust blanket 
which is produced by thorough and frequent cultivation is all the 
cultivation they want. There is no danger from root-killing if the 
roots are down where they ought to be. That is myidea. The place 
for grass in an orchard is on some side hill, where the soil will wash: 
and where in the early life of the orchard there must be some culti- 
vation for the early benefit of the tree. My own orchard was ina sit- 
uation of that kind. It wassosteepI could not plow it, and I al- 
lowed the grass to come in and protect that side hill from wash, 
and then around each tree I kept acircle clean—I kept it thoroughly 
clean for seven or eight years, widening the circle gradually as the 
trees grew, until I had a circle the average width of which was 
about eight feet, and the rest was in grass. 
Prof.Green: JI would like to speak a few words in regard to the 
subject of the place of grassin the orchard. I believethat grass or 
some such crop is certainly very desirable in an orchard. I believe 
that those people who come in here and tell you that there is no 
place for grass in the orchard are talking about something they 
have not tried long enough to get results. I have had some exper- 
ience in the older sections of the country where they have tried it. I 
refer to New York state and some other eastern states. My reason is 
just this: Mr. Van Houten referred to the fact that results discounted 
theories, but a good theory is the first essential to a successful prac- 
tice. You takea piece of land and expose it to the sun and winds, 
