Fruit-growing 259 



dirt should be mounded around the tree slightly, to give it a 

 chance to settle without forming a hollow in which water will 

 lodge. 



Clean cultivation and sod culture. The question of tillage 

 of fruit plantations is an important one. With bush-fruits, 

 cultivation, as a rule, should begin in the spring, be interrupted 

 for a time when the teams and implements would injure the 

 fruit, and be taken up again after the fruit has been harvested, 

 and continued until midsummer. 



Grapes require frequent and thorough cultivation from early 

 summer until after they blossom, when a cover-crop is planted 

 to be plowed under the following spring. Peach, plum, quince, 

 and sour cherry orchards are usually tilled from early spring until 

 midsummer, when a cover-crop is sown. In the case of sweet 

 cherries, too much cultivation may result in so much wood 

 growth that the trees will not yield well. If the grower finds 

 that clean cultivation results in smaller crops, he should keep 

 the land between the trees in a cover-crop for two or three years. 



Much difference of opinion exists in regard to the methods 

 of handling apple orchards. Growers agree that cultivation 

 is necessary for orchards until they reach the bearing age, but 

 many claim that after that time the ground need not be culti- 

 vated. What is called the sod-culture system is advocated. 

 This consists in seeding the ground to clover and some grass 

 or other sod crop, cutting the growth, and allowing it to remain 

 in the orchard. On certain soils and in certain climates, or- 

 chards maintained in this way have been profitable. Sod- 

 culture does not mean that grass is cut and hauled from the or- 

 chard and used for hay. Such practice robs the ground of 

 fertility and is not a good method to adopt. Opposed to those 

 that believe in sod-culture, many orchardists contend that 

 the clean cultivation of mature apple orchards is just as neces- 

 sary as it is for peaches and plums. This whole question is 

 one that is being investigated at the experiment stations, and 

 many bulletins are being published about it. 



