STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 8/ 



ground covered with crimson clover is reported as unfrozen 

 when the temperature of the air was 14 degrees F. In some 

 cases a cover may be injurious rather than beneficial to trees 

 and fruit, through the protection afforded to insects, mice, etc. 



To secure the best results with a cover crop that lives over 

 winter, it should be plowed under early in the spring, while it 

 is still succulent enough to decay rapidly. A crop plowed under 

 late in the spring, after it has become more or less woody, will 

 decay slowly, keep the soil too loose, and thereby serve to dry it 

 out rather than retain its moisture. In many regions the crop 

 may also do injury by the evaporation of moisture from its 

 leaves if allowed to grow too late in spring. 



[The speaker here mentioned in detail the work of numerous 

 experiment stations, demonstrating the points enumerated.] 



CULTIVATING VS. CROPPING ORCHARDS. 



Whether orchards shall be cropped or given clean cultivation, 

 how cultivation shall be done, whether it shall be continued 

 throughout the season and similar problems, depend very largely 

 on local conditions of soil, climate and the like. It is evident, 

 therefore, that no definite rules can be given for the cultivation 

 of orchards in all localities. The principles underlying success- 

 ful culture, however, are the same everywhere, and therefore 

 a knowledge of them will aid in deciding local questions. 



Various experiment stations have conducted experiments to 

 find out what methods give best results and why they do so. 

 At the New York Cornell Station, it was found that the roots 

 of trees only five or six years old have a greater spread than 

 the tops. For instance, the roots of an apple tree in rich, culti- 

 vated soil extended eight feet from the trunk, while the entire 

 top was not over eight feet across. Another apple tree in sod, 

 with a top only six feet across, had roots ten feet long. A 

 pear tree in poor soil had roots 21 feet long, while its entire top 

 measured only seven feet across. The roots of an apple tree 

 which had stood in sod since planting, were just beneath the sur- 

 face of the soil, while the roots of those in cultivated soil were 

 nowhere less than eight inches from the surface. These facts 

 show that if orchards are to be cultivated at all they must be 

 cultivated from the first, since otherwise the roots grow so near 



