68 THE AMERICAN PEACH ORCHARD 



though there has been some disposition in influential 

 quarters during the last few years to deny the neces- 

 sity of cultivation as a regular orchard practice, the 

 great majority of opinions still stand in favor of 

 tillage. Moreover, the leading insurgents against 

 the tillage program have hardly dared to recom- 

 mend a system of mulching or no-tillage for peach 

 trees. The necessity of thorough annual cultivation 

 for peach orchards is still almost universally recog- 

 nized. 



THE SPADING HARROW 



In the old view of cultivation the work was done 

 wholly for the purpose of killing weeds. Accord- 

 ing to the modern view there are many other and 

 more important purposes to be served. In the first 

 place, good tillage deepens the available soil in 

 which the trees may profitably forage. This not only 

 opens up a larger area for the action of the roots and 

 a larger amount of plant food is made available, 

 but the water-holding reservoirs are deepened and 

 enlarged. This is of the utmost consequence, since 



