50 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 



to get at this plant food which is so abundant in our soil. We 

 must study and understand not only the plant food, but the ac- 

 tion of the water that is essential before the plant food can be 

 made available for the plant. I wish we could look into the 

 soil after a heavy rain has been sending the water down to 

 replenish the reservoirs, and see the action of the water. When 

 summer comes, there begins at once an upward movement of 

 moisture that will be more rapid as the temperature increases. 

 Tillage is one of the important means of controlling and holding 

 in check, this sub-soil supply which, if conserved, will carry most 

 cultivated crops through protracted drouths. Tillage makes 

 the surface soil loose, and gives no opportunity for the water 

 to pass off into the atmosphere, but holds it for the plant we are 

 cultivating. 



If I start in the spring-time with a soil full of moisture, I 

 care not if there is no further rainfall, provided I can control 

 the water already in the sub-soil. I have proved it year after 

 year, by growing large crops of apples, pears, and peaches in sea- 

 sons of drouth. So I have a new understanding of tillage in 

 dry seasons. 



In connection with orchard tillage, I have for several years 

 been using crimson clover, and I wish to give you, as rap- 

 idly as possible, the actual results that have been obtained by 

 the use of clover for seven consecutive years. I wish to give you 

 the result of building up vegetable matter and bringing to the 

 soil nitrogen, the most valuable food we have to supply. We, 

 in the East, are working under a disadvantage when we are 

 contemplating orchard planting on soil that, for upwards of 

 two centuries has been growing hay, corn, and potatoes, and 

 hence is not in the condition for fruit-growing that it should 

 be. We are at once confronted by this question, How can we 

 bring our soil to the most favorable condition for horticulture? 

 It is a serious matter for us, when we put our hands into our 

 pockets and buy commercial fertilizers. I have been trying to 

 build up the soil in the most economical manner. I once used 

 buckwheat, or rye, and plowed it in, but eight years ago I 

 began sowing crimson clover on my New York farm, and it 

 has brought good results. While speaking to fruit-growers of 

 the economical improvement of the soil, I was asked by a chem- 



