338 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



very complicated, as for example, the respective value of culti- 

 vation versus sod, beneficial effects derived from the use of 

 manures and injurious effects produced by animals. Such ques- 

 tions can only be answered accurately by carefully controlled 

 experiments covering a period of many years. If, however, one 

 person could have visited all of the orchardists and orchards and 

 many more in the same sections, his judgment of the respective 

 merits of the different treatments should be of greater value 

 than the summation of numerous opinions. This method was, 

 of course, impossible without funds, and therefore the data is 

 simply given as received. In consequence of their having been 

 obtained from 154 reports, they undoubtedly furnish a reliable 

 index to the methods practiced in Minnesota orchards. 



From a total of thirty-seven replies in the southeastern 

 section in regard to the use of tillage and sod, thirty-two or- 

 chardists reported that they had practiced cultivation, but only 

 seven of these had not seeded down their orchards. In other 

 words, there were only seven truly tillage orchards, five truly 

 sod and twenty-five both tillage and sod. It can be stated that 

 as a general rule the orchards are cultivated until they come 

 into bearing and then they are seeded down to grass. Twenty- 

 five of the orchardists reported the using of small fruits and 

 vegetables as an intercrop, and only one of them noted any 

 injury to his trees. The injury noted was caused by raspberries 

 and blackberries grown for a period of eight years. Of the 

 small fruits, strawberries and raspberries were the most com- 

 monly used, but gooseberries, currants, blackberries and even 

 grapes were mentioned. 



Most of growers agreed that the growth and vigor of their 

 trees were increased by cultivation, but a few were skeptical as 

 to its beneficial influence on health and productiveness. Some 

 of the growers thought that the rank growth produced by culti- 

 vation was conducive to blight, while others reported that no 

 blight injury had been noted in their cultivated orchards. An- 

 other point of interest is that no winter injury was caused by 

 tillage. 



Cover crops, that is, crops grown between the trees with 

 the object of ultimately plowing them under in order to enrich 

 the soil, to ripen the wood in the fall, to prevent soil from wash- 

 ing, and to protect the roots from winter injury, are little used. 

 At least only one grower stated that he used such a crop, and his 

 results were satisfactory. 



