APPLES 



243 



Treatment of this kind injures the soil 

 both chemically and physically and can 

 never be classed as practical agriculture. 



The evil effect upon orchards planted 

 on shallow soil and treated in this man- 

 ner is still more perceptible to the trained 

 eye than upon most other crops. We have 

 learned that, by repeatedly cutting off 

 the surface roots of young bearing trees, 

 as is done by the cultivator on soil that 

 is underlaid with hardpan, we produce a 

 yellow starved growth commonly known 

 as winter dessication or fruit tree rosette. 



Clean, Early Tillage, with Cover Crops 

 Latei — Clean, early tillage, with cover 

 crops later is the type of tillage that we 

 hold out as the practical, progressive 

 tillage. It has all advantages of the clean 

 culture and the grass mulch systems and 

 none of the undesirable features. It con- 

 serves the early spring moisture at a 

 season when it is plentiful, prepares and 

 makes available the plant food when the 

 tree most needs it, causes early develop- 

 ment of leaf and fruit buds, thereby 

 hardening the tree for winter, and brings 

 the fruit to a good size early in the 

 season in order that it raav have a longer 

 time to color and put on the finish. Many 

 of our orchardists do not start culture 

 early enough in the spring, thereby caus- 

 ing a check in the growth of the fruit 

 or twigs when there should be no check. 

 The growing period of most bearing trees 

 is decidedly short as compared with an- 

 nual plants, and recognition of this fact 

 should be taken into consideration in 

 the working out of our culture scheme. 



The thorough tillage of the early spring 

 and summer months should cease as soon 

 as the fruit has attained sufficient size 

 to insure good, marketable specimens by 

 fall. The exact time cannot be stated, 

 but it varies from the first of August to 

 the first of September. At this time some 

 form of a cover crop should be sown at 

 least three years out of five. The nature 

 of this crop will be governed entirely 

 by the condition of the trees. On soil 

 where trees are vigorous and have dark 

 green foliage a non-nitrogen gathering 

 crop, such as fall rye or wheat, may be 

 used, while on soil where the trees are 

 less vigorous and the foliage more or 



less yellow, a nitrogen-storing crop, such 

 as Canada peas, vetch or clover, should 

 be used. 



Too much emphasis cannot be laid 

 upon the use of cover crops in our or- 

 chards. They will do more toward keep- 

 ing the orchard up to a high standard 

 than any other single thing that we can 

 use. I consider the use of cover crops 

 in orchards the highest type of orchard 

 tillage for the Pacific Northwest. This 

 is good agriculture, and will never wear 

 out a soil, and when those growers who 

 practice it are through using their land 

 the soil will be better physically, chemi- 

 cally, and in every way than it was when 

 they started, even though they have taken 

 a big crop off every year. 



The practical questions of when and 

 how to till can best be solved upon each 

 farm. However, the same general scheme 

 can profitably be carried out in all dis- 

 tricts. 



Just as soon as the surface of the soil 

 is dry enough to work without slicking 

 or sticking, the disc or cut-away harrow 

 should be run over the surface to pre- 

 vent crusting and heavy loss of moisture. 

 This can be followed by deeper discing or 

 plowing, as the case may be, but under 

 no circumstances should the surface be 

 permitted to crust and bake. 



Where no cover crop is used, fall plow- 

 ing may be practiced to advantage, pro- 

 viding the plowing is shallow close to 

 the trees and deep between them, and 

 the soil is left rough to winter-catch and 

 hold as much snow and rain as possible. 

 It will require a minimum amount of 

 labor in spring to put this soil in first- 

 class condition and keep it that way dur- 

 ing the year. 



The time to plow that part of the or- 

 chard seeded to cover crop must be gov- 

 erned almost entirely by the amount of 

 moisture obtainable after the first of May 

 of each year. If there is an abundance 

 to be depended upon, permit the crop to 

 grow as tall as possible without becom- 

 ing woody, and then turn it under. If 

 there is danger, as there is in all non- 

 irrigated sections, of a shortage, leave 

 as late as consistent with safety and then 

 plow. In either case, the plowing must 



