CULTIVATION AND MULCHING 



down as often as it seems worth while, beginning in the spring 

 as soon as the weather gets dry. Some orchardists who use 

 this system mow as often as the machine will catch the grass, 

 as with a lawn, and leave the grass where it falls. Others mow 

 less frequently, allowing the grass to get a foot or so high each 

 time. Sometimes two mowings a season are enough; again, 

 four will be needed. Cut in this way, the grass will not use 

 so much water, and will provide a continual shade that to a 

 certain extent has the same effect as a mulch of dust. 



No matter how often mowing is done, half or two-thirds 

 of the green hay ought to be raked up and spread under the 

 trees and over a few feet beyond branch tips. The vital point 

 in the success of sod- mulch orcharding is: Not a blade of grass 

 is to be removed from the orchard. If there is too much to go 

 under the trees, say more than enough to make a mulch eigh- 

 teen inches deep, the surplus may be left over the center spaces, 

 the layer getting thinner toward the middle. Some of the 

 largest and highest-colored apples and pears and plums seen 

 in the markets or shows come from sod-mulched orchards. 

 Peaches and dwarf pears almost invariably fail in sod mulch. 

 They must be cultivated. 



The sod-mulch system will produce wonderful results on 

 apples and pears in the hands of growers who will do it right, 

 where there is enough rainfall. Sod-mulched trees usually 

 do not make as much growth as those which are cultivated. 

 For this reason all young trees should be cultivated. Often 

 bearing trees are big enough, anyhow, and on them extra 

 growth simply means extra pruning and heading back to keep 

 them low enough. 



A net return of $38 more from a cultivated apple orchard 

 than from a sod-mulched orchard adjoining it was noted in 

 a thorough test in New York, where the conditions were iden- 

 tical; yet this proves nothing more than that in this case the 

 sod was not a good thing. In this experiment, the apples from 

 cultivated trees were not colored so well as those from trees 

 in sod; but they averaged larger, had a better flavor, and kept 

 better late in winter. 



Rocky soils sometimes are fine for fruit, but they cannot 

 be worked at all except with dynamite. On such places get a 

 good sod, mow it regularly at the right time, mulch the trees 

 with the hay, add some potash, and your orchard will be a 

 great success with little work. Steep places can be treated 

 in the same way; but terracing, or tearing up and leaving alter- 

 nate strips of sod every year, working half the ground each 

 season, often will produce bigger crops and still prevent wash- 

 ing. 



Do not pasture your orchard. Bearing trees will pay you 

 more than $250 to the acre if you allow them to, but they will 

 not if they are mistreated. Be satisfied with that return and 

 do not try to get another crop. Remember that the droppings 

 of animals will not return a tenth of what the animals take 

 from the soil. The same rule applies to the usually double 

 crop between trees. The yield of wool, mutton, beef, pork, 



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