240 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OP PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Average Yield in Bushels and lueonie Per Acre of Tilled and Sod Orchards 

 Orchards All Well Cared For Five-jear Arerage Per Acre 



Method of Treatment Bushels Income 



Tilled ten years or more 337 $189 



Tilled five years or more 296 148 



Tilled over half of preceding five years 234 121 



Sod over half of preceding five years 242 118 



Sod five years or more 258 134 



Sod ten years or more 232 117 



Cultivation from the Oregon View Point 



We must study this important subject 

 from the point of view of soil, season, 

 age of tree, general climatic conditions, 

 etc. The tools that are used also differ 

 according to conditions. Plow, corrugated 

 roller, float, disc harrow, Kimball weeders, 

 and many other tools all have their places. 

 Our particular object in the spring prep- 

 aration is to form a reservoir for mois- 

 ture, and make plant food available so as 

 to maintain a large root-feeding system 

 in order that we may develop strong 

 trees, with vigorous wood and abundance 

 of good sized fruit. With most of our 

 clay soils annual spring plowing will be 

 necessary; with the heavier soils harrow- 

 ing should follow close on the plowing, 

 as the heavy soils tend to become packed 

 and cloddy. They will need discing and 

 pulverizing and should be put into as 

 good condition as ijossible. The sticky 

 soils upon which many of the orchards 

 are planted are exceptionally hard to han- 

 dle. If they are plowed in the fall the 

 soil runs together during the winter and 

 they need replowing in the spring. These 

 soils will have to be watched closely to 

 catch them at just the right time. If an 

 attempt is made to plow while they are 

 too wet, they are so sticky as to be al- 

 most impossible to handle. If you attempt 

 to plow them when they are a little dry, 

 they plow up in large lumps and it is 

 almost impossible to do anything with 

 them. Occasionally these soils have been 

 simply disced and thoroughly harrowed 

 in place of plowing. 



The free soils and the sandy and silt 

 loams work up very nicely. On the lighter 

 of these soils, and especially with light 

 rainfall, the problem is not so much in 

 the spring to loosen these soils as it is 

 to compact them. They are often rolled 



and floated, a drag is used, and when 

 this is done, light shallow harrowing 

 should always follow. Our main object 

 in the spring is then to get the ground 

 into as good conditions for growth as pos- 

 sible. After the rains have ceased great 

 care must be taken to maintain as much 

 of the moisture as possible under the soil 

 conditions. This will mean frequent culti- 

 vations during the growing season. One 

 of the best tools to use in such cases is 

 the Kimball weeder; this stirs the soil 

 freely, will pulverize the top soil, and 

 prevents drying or packing. It forms a 

 dust mulch which aids in retaining the 

 moisture in the soil. 



The number of times one will cultivate 

 during the summer will vary with the 



§1 i 



Fig. :. 



Corrugated Roller. One of Best Tools 



to Use on Clay Loams. 



soil, type of fruit, season, and the age 

 of the trees. With young trees it is well 

 to practice deep, thorough preparation in 

 the spring so as to encourage the roots to 

 strike deeply. It is not only a problem 

 of holding the moisture but one of form- 

 ing deep rooted trees. As soon as suf- 

 ficient growth has been obtained the sum- 

 mer cultivation should cease: this, in 

 some regions, may be as early as July, 

 while in some locations it will be about 

 the first of August, hut rarely later than 

 the middle of August. The aim should 

 be to throw the young trees into dor- 

 mancy so that they will not be injured 



