TILLAGE 89 



(1) Tillage. 



The object of the orchard in the first place is to produce 

 fruit. If we are to expect tree growth wheu the tree is young 

 and a sustaining productive growth when mature, we must ren- 

 der the conditions favorable for such results. Just how much 

 and often cultivation is needed, and the best means of obtaining 

 it, kinds of implements to use, etc., are open questions. 

 Results are what we are after. If one person can demonstrate 

 that his orchard is more productive than others, we should look 

 into his method of tillage and satisfy ourselves how closely it 

 can be applied to our conditions. The nature of the soil is of 

 great importance in considering this question. Our soil may 

 require constant cultivation or tillage in order to get desirable 

 tree growth; while another with comparatively little attention 

 may be very responsive. As a rule, however, it is an excep- 

 tional orchard that gives satisfactory results without receiving 

 occasional tillage. Some lands, in fact many in New England, 

 are too roiling for continuous tillage. This would result in the 

 washing or gullying out of the land and the loss of our best 

 surface soils, which should be prevented. Where the land is 

 level this is another matter and can be practised. On lands 

 only moderately rolling and on others where only certain por- 

 tions are liable to wash, a crop of some kind could be sown, 

 known as a cover crop, which answers well in keeping the soil 

 from washing throughout the fall and winter. On rolling land 

 washing can largely be prevented by cultivating the soil cross- 

 wise, with the contour of the hill. Where the wash is liable to 

 be heavy even if this is done, if a plowed<furrow is run along 

 the contour several rods apart, the distance depending upon the 

 steepness of the slope, this will largely overcome the trouble. 

 The benefits from cultivation will usually be large. A promi- 

 nent pomologist has written: " If tillage and timely effort are 

 good for corn, and peach trees, and blackberries, they ought also 

 to be good for apple trees." 



This whole subject of tillage, as I look at it, is to be settled 

 by one's good judgment. In order to have good judgment we 

 must first study the problems themselves. In the first place, 

 orchards need attention for results. The question of tillage can 

 be overdone as well as neglected. There is such a thing as rush- 

 ing tree growth. Too frequent tillage and carrying it too late 

 into the season are possible errors. There is little use of check* 



