GENERAL FRUITS. 39 
solitary tree in that row came out dead the next spring while the 
next row of ordinary varieties are standing yet. Those trees that 
were put down so deep did not get ripened up enough and the winter 
laid them out. 
Mr. Brackett: You do not think it was the lack of moisture? 
Mr: Harris: No, it was not the lack of moisture. 
Mr. Kimball: In reference to planting in new ground,I wish to 
say that in South Dakota, in 1883, I met agentleman who was setting 
out trees on the unbrok en prairie, and when I expressed a surprise 
at his trying to do so he assured me that he felt certain of success, 
and then he told me how he was doing it; and while I have never 
been able to visit that orchard, I have found upon inquiry that the © 
man has madea success. I think the orchard contained some fifty 
to sixty acres, and while the man has since died, he lived to reap 
large rewards for his trees. It was in Turner county, between the 
towns of Hurley and Parker. I have never had an opportunity to 
visit it, but I found out through other sources that he made a suc. 
cess of it. While I do not think it is the best way to set out an or- 
chard on wild prairie sod, yet I wish to mention it so that our people 
may not be discouraged from setting out an orchard on the prairie. 
Mr. Harris: Was his name Smith? 
Mr. Kimball: No, it was not Smith. I cannot recall his name 
just now. 
Mr. Harris: I would like to know how a man by the name of 
Smith succeeded with his orchard. He was situated somewhere 
about Madison, South Dakota. He set his trees out very deep and 
calculated to work down to where there was moisture. I would like 
to know if anybody has ever heard from him about it. 
Mr. Dartt: I would just as soon dissagree with my friend Harris 
as not. He said we must not forget to mulch—you must remember 
the mulch; and while I approve of mulch, yet in all my experience 
I have found that good cultivation has been fully equal to mulching. 
Mr. Harris: That isa mulch. 
Mr. Dartt: Well, if youagree with meitis no fight. No fight, no 
‘fun. (Laughter.) 
Mr. Richardson: I knew aman some five or six years ago who set 
out his trees in prairie sod, and I think he mulched them. I never 
saw his trees, but I have been told that his trees did first rate. He 
did not intend to set them in the sod, but he did not have the ground 
broken where he wanted to set his orchard. I know I have set ever- 
greens in sod, mulching twice a year, and I have had very. good 
success. 
Pres. Underwood: Mr. Somerville is a firm advocate of mulching. 
He mulches his whole orchard, I was surprised at the fineness of 
his mulch. He has talked about drawing the old straw stack onthe 
orchard, and I could see where there had been some three years ago. 
What we want to know is what are the disadvantages of mulching? 
Why do you say, do not mulch? Iama firm believer in mulching, 
but I have carried cultivation to excess, that is, deep cultivation. 
If you cultivate, do not cultivate too deep; thatwas my mistake. If 
there is any harm done by mulching I want to know why and how 
it is done. 
