NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 185 



will get more benefit by a good deal from it. I had an 

 orchard of about three thousand trees, — Elbertas. I 

 bought the land the 15th of April, and set them out that 

 month, before the first day of May, and the land was 

 absolutely worthless in the condition in which I bought it. 

 It was simply pasture land and nothing else, and mighty 

 poor for that purpose. An animal could not get a living 

 from it, and yet it was good land for an orchard. It had 

 been neglected for so long it had grown up with moss. We 

 planted those trees, and they made a superb growth at the 

 expense of one cent for fertilizer per tree. Mind you, that 

 land was turned over the last of April. 



O. What did you do? 



Mr. Lyman : I put on acid phosphate, and I think 

 it was saltpeter that went with it. It cost a cent to the 

 tree. They were a fine looking lot of trees. Of course, I 

 gave it cultivation. I am a believer in clean culture. By 

 that you understand that young trees have got to be culti- 

 vated enough. The other vegetation must be kept away 

 from them so the trees will get the full benefit of that 

 growth the first year or two. After the roots have pretty 

 much covered the ground, look out and not get too close 

 to the tree. It was careless and shiftless farming that 

 taught me that lesson. 



O. I understand that Mr. Lyman does not object to 

 some weeds growing under his peach trees. 



Mr. Lyman : Weeds have come into play on my 

 place mighty well sometimes. This last season was a case 

 where it was up to us to keep the moisture in the ground. 

 There wasn't a soaking rain during the whole summer. I 

 mean by that, there was no rain that went down six or 

 eight inches, on some of our orchards, from March until 

 the fruit ripened. We had to keep the moisture in the 

 ground, we did not dare to do anything to dry up the soil. 

 We were mighty glad to see some weeds come in to pro- 



