STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 51 



$5 net profit ; in the second there is $75. It costs money to 

 plow and cultivate and till an orchard. Is it a paying invest- 

 ment? The object of this paper is to point out what tillage 

 costs and what it brings back. 



There are at least two ways of determining the value of any 

 proposal that involves the outlay of any money. One is to rea- 

 son out the matter as best we can ; the other is to actually try it. 



Suppose we first reason out this question of orchard tillage 

 in the light of what modern science and agriculture have taught 

 us about the cultivation of the soil. In the first place cultiva- 

 tion loosens up the top 3 or 4 inches of soil and largely prevents 

 the escape of the moisture beneath. This moisture is needed 

 for the growth of the trees and their fruit. The amount of 

 tree growth and the relative size of the fruit are almost di- 

 rectly dependent upon moisture supply. When trees are in sod 

 the grass roots remove large quantities of this water from the 

 soil and evaporate it through their leaves. This robs the trees 

 of their rightful supply and seriously checks the development 

 of their fruit. 



The excellence of western fruit is a matter of common knowl- 

 edge. It sells because of its color, freedom from blemishes, 

 uniform large size, and the way in which it is packed, it is 

 often imagined that its size is in most cages due to irrigation. 

 In some sections it is true that irrigation is practiced ; yet in 

 some of the best regions where irrigation is available and Hiere 

 is a moderate rainfall, irrigation is not practiced, continuous cul- 

 tivation being preferred. 



Cultivation not only conserves moisture but it sets free plant 

 food in the soil. When the soil is stirred it is aerated and the 

 bacteria and other organisms have a much better chance to mul- 

 tiply and act upon insoluble plant food and make it soluble. I 

 do not mean to say that cultivation will entirely take the place 

 of fertilizers for many of our orchard soils are deficient, but 

 there is much unlocked, unavailable food in nearlv all of them. 

 Cultivation is the key which unlocks it. W^hat little plant food 

 becomes available in sod covered land is largely absorbed by the 

 grass roots and the tree gets only a small proportion. 



Not only does sod in the orchard rob the fruit tree of its 

 food supply and its water but recent investigations tepd to 

 show that grass roots secrete substances which are actually 

 poisonous to tree growth. 



