1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 31 



I will mention a case which will give my idea. I knew a 

 small orchard that was set out some years ago which was 

 treated as a garden, with pretty high fertilization. Those 

 trees grew enormously. They grew too much and grew too 

 late, and at the end of about six or eight years that cul- 

 tivation ceased, and then the other extreme was taken up, 

 of cutting the hay and removing it. Well, the revulsion 

 was so great that those trees came to a stand, and very soon 

 began to decay. I presume if the cultivation had been kept 

 along, they would have continued fruitful perhaps for a 

 period of years. But it seems to me that excessive culture 

 is bad. What we want is a moderate, uniform growth, in 

 which the terminal buds shall l)e formed as early as August, 

 and no further extension of growth after that. Let the sap 

 be elaborated and the wood well ripened up. I have at 

 home specimens of peach trees that have failed prematurely, 

 and I find that those })each trees, during a period of two 

 years of their growth, made an enormous amount of wood, 

 and I think they suffered in consequence. 



In regard to the matter of mulching, I fully believe in 

 that. I have as little fear as Dr. Fisher has in regard to 

 the roots coming near the surface. I saw in one of the 

 papers some remarks of Professor Budd of Iowa, depre- 

 cating mulching on account of trees winter-killing ; and the 

 thought occurred to me that very likely cultivation might 

 have been given up and a revulsion occurred similar to that 

 of which I spoke in the orchard which was cultivated like a 

 garden. I think we should go along uniformly, not give 

 excessive culture ; and, if we stop culture, be sure to pro- 

 vide sustenance, so that the trees will not stop growing, but 

 continue right on. 



The Chairman. I have l)een requested to call upon Mr. 

 Hawkins of Lancaster to give his experience in the cultiva- 

 tion of the plum in the hen yard. 



Mr. A. C. Hawkixs of Lancaster. On this plum ques- 

 tion I must say I have been rather beaten this year on 

 account of the black-knot, which w^as discussed this fore- 

 noon. For eight years I have been quite successful in cul- 

 tivating this variety of fruit. The trees have been set in 

 hen yards, about fourteen feet apart, and the only fertilizers 



