ote MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
and to heavy rains, and you will find it will not hold water; it will 
wash all to pieces. In Mr. Gibbs’ condition in South Dakota, it 
would work all right until the humus is worked out of the soil. We 
have not got the loose loam in this part of the state as they have 
itin Iowa. On this kind of land I believe it is absolutely necessary 
to grow something to furnish humus, and I do not know of 
any crop that is better than clover. The roots grow deep into 
the soil and bring about a better condition of the soil; they loosen 
up the ground. Anybody who has had any experience knows that 
' there is no land that gets into much poorer condition than land on 
which nursery stock is grown. You have taken out every single 
thing there is in the land, and the result is that the soil gets to be a 
kind of mineral soil, without any organic matter init. I think with 
new soil it would take all right for a while, but the time will come 
and has come on poor soil, when we shall have to grow something 
to furnish humus to the soil. What has been said about cultivation 
for the purpose of retaining moisture is perfectly true, but that is 
not the only thing to be taken into consideration in the successful 
life of an orchard. 
Mr. Somerville: I think I have raised apples in Minnesota about 
as long as anybody in the state except Mr. Lord. About the first 
apples that were shown at our state fairwere grown by me, and the 
tree I grew them on is there today in a block of fifty, and I have not 
put a cultivator into them for twenty-five years My method was to 
cultivate them thoroughly until they came into bearing, and I have 
practiced that ever since. As soon as they come into bearing I seed 
the orchard down to clover, and then I make a pig pasture of that 
orchard, and my trees are mulched every year. I draw out the 
mulch during the time we have snow every winter and retain all the 
moisture in the ground I can through the summer, and then I put 
my hogs in there. I havea tight fence around the orchard, sur- 
rounded by an evergreen hedge, and I make that my hog pasture 
exclusively. I put rings into the noses of the large pigs so they 
cannot dig out the roots, and then the little fellows cultivate so 
much cheaper and better than I can do it that I give them the job 
every time—and that plan has been very successful. Inthe block I 
set out in 1862, there were fifty trees, and forty-nine of them are living 
and bearing fruit. I have got fruit for thirty-two years without 
losing a crop. 
Mr. Burnap (Iowa): How many years have you been turning 
those hogs into that orchard ?. 
Mr. Somerville: For twenty years. 
Mr. Burnap: Have you ever experienced any bad results? 
Mr. Somerville: I never have. The results have always been 
good. I leave them in there and do not take them out until after the 
windfalls—the hogs devour them; then I turn them in after fruit 
time, and they are not educated to spit out the worms. 
Mr. Burnap: Iam doing the same thing in half of my orchard. 
Mr. Dartt: I am not satisfied to leave this thing asitis. The 
grass men have had the advantage, they have had the last shot. 1 
want justa minute, and then I want my Iowa friends to have an 
opportunity. I want to speak just for the good of the orchardist. I 
