THE HITCHINGS METHOD 91 



they do, however, hold the snow in winter and by rotting on 

 the ground, or plowing under, they improve the physical condi- 

 tion of the soil. Too much nitrogen in an orchard is considered 

 detrimental, as it gives growth instead of fruitfulness. Young 

 orchards need plenty of growth, and leguminous crops are 

 valuable for growing in them. 



Our method of renovating old orchards, resulting from exper- 

 iments, has been to break up the soil in the spring, and then 

 after preparing it well, plant dwarf peas or bush beans in rows. 

 This allows frequent cultivation, and the pods pay well for the 

 labor. When the crops are picked the vines are plowed under, 

 .and the land is sown to some cover crop. These come off early 

 so that the cover crop has time to get well established. This 

 same treatment can again be followed the next year, or until 

 the orchard is in good condition. Photographs shown in 

 figures 2 and 3 illustrate this method. 



The Hitchings Method. (Mulching System.) 



In discussing methods of tillage we desire to call attention to 

 the care of orchards, particularly the apple orchard, by the 

 .above-named method. The writer visited the estates of the late 

 Mr. W. H. White, at Pittsfield and Gilmanton, where about ten 

 thousand (10,000) apple trees have been set during the past two 

 seasons. Mr. White spent some time looking into the business 

 of apple growing, and not only visited the various fruit sections 

 of the country, especially western New York, but engaged 

 many noted growers to come to his farms to suggest methods of 

 handling his orchards. He became deeply interested in Mr. 

 Hitchings of western New York, whose system of orchard cul- 

 ture has of late years received much attention. After visiting 

 the Hitchings orchards and having Mr. Hitchings come to New 

 Hampshire to examine his soils personally, Mr. White became 

 .convinced that this was the system best adapted to New 

 England. 



This system is carried out as follows: The land for orchards 

 is selected as usual, and the trees are mulched with the grass or 

 vegetation that is cut in the orchard. Beginning when the 

 trees are young by mulching only as far as the root growth 

 naturally extends, and increasing the radius as the tree grows 

 larger, in this way the soil has nothing taken from it other than 

 -tree growth, as the vegetation decays and remains above the 



