TILLAGE 



W. H. CHANDLER 

 Professor of Research in Pomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Experimental evidence and practical ex- 

 perience point strongly to the conclusion 

 that under nearly all circumstances the 

 best method of handling an orchard soil is 

 by a combination of annual tillage with a 

 cover crop. There may be marked excep- 

 tions under special conditions, and results 

 of some brief experiments indicate that 

 other methods of handling the soil may 

 give equally good results ; but, until these 

 results are fortified by further experience, 

 it seems wise to advise the use of tillage 

 combined with a cover crop in nearly all cases. 



Concerning the methods of tillage and the seasons when tillage 

 gives best results, or when failure to cultivate would do the least 

 harm, and when the cover crop should be sown, there is less 

 positive evidence. Yet, from some practical experience and from 

 our knowledge of tree growth, it seems safe to advise that the 

 time of plowing the land in the spring and the time of sowing the 

 cover crop, should be earlier than is the common practice. If 

 any treatment that is expected to increase the vigor of the tree 

 is to have great influence during the current season, that treatment 

 must be given early, because tree growth takes place during the 

 early part of the season. It is certain that conditions for growth 

 during the first two or three months of the growing season deter- 

 mine the size of leaves on any but the very youngest trees. In 

 many cases, where a cover crop is plowed under, say in June, it 

 will be difficult to observe any good effect from that plowing upon 

 the current season's growth. This is particularly true in a soil 

 that is not retentive of moisture. 



If the soil is plowed very early in the spring, it is obvious that 

 there can be little spring growth of the cover crop. It will be 

 necessary, therefore, to sow the cover crop early enough that it 

 will make sufficient growth before winter. Then, in some cases, 



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