1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1257 



MULCHING FRUIT-TREES, ETC. 



The Rural New-Yorker especially, and 

 other agricultural papers, have been discuss- 

 ing for the past two years the mulching of 

 fruit-trees instead of cultivation. Our Ohio 

 Experiment Station has made some experi- 

 ments, and they report very favorably re- 

 garding the mulch — that is, where there is 

 sufficient to keep down weeds and keep the 

 ground moist. When I visited the station in 

 June I saw a heavy stand of clover cut and 

 put around young fruit-trees. They report- 

 ed great benefit, especially in winter. 

 Mulched trees passed the severe winter ap- 

 parently without injury, while those where 

 the ground was left bare, and cultivated 

 clear up to the time of freezing, were either 

 killed outright or badly crippled. Well, I 

 have been managing my peach- orchard in 

 Northern Michigan on the mulched plan. 

 One of my neighbors one day suggested that, 

 if we should have a dry time, and fire should 

 get into my orchard, the mulch I had around 

 the trees would kill every one of them. 

 Some time afterward I was burning a stump 

 that had been in my way. It was during a 

 dry spell in September. A heavy wind came 

 up, and the sparks were blowing quite live- 

 ly. Mrs. Root was in the hammock, a few 

 rods away, and she said she would keep 

 watch. She fell asleep, however, and was 

 awakened by a crackling noise. Sure 

 enough, the sparks had got into the mulch 

 around one of my choicest early cherry- 

 trees. In fact, in was the handsomest and 

 most thrifty-growing tree on the place. I 

 had often admired it and pronounced it a 

 model tree in every respect. Mrs. Root at 

 once jumped out of the hammock in double 

 quick, and got a pail of water from the 

 kitchen; but one pailful did very little good. 

 By the time she got back the second time 

 the big pile of dry mulch was going almost 

 as before, and about the same with the third 

 pailful. Just as she had exhausted all the 

 water around the house she got the fire out, 

 but she was so out of breath she said she 

 could hardly stand up. Some of the lower 

 branches of the tree shriveled up, but we 

 are in hopes it will come out all right in the 

 spring. 



I have related the above as a caution. A 

 mulch of almost any sort of stuff that will 

 keep down weeds and keep the ground moist 

 is a splendid thing, but you want enough of 

 it to go out as far as the outermost branches 

 of the tree. Those Hale's Early peach-trees 

 near the door were in a heavy sod of June 

 grass; but the generous mulch I piled around 

 them killed the grass entirely, and kept the 

 soil moist, even during the drouth. My 

 peach-trees are only a rod apart, and plant- 

 ed like the cells of a honey-comb. If fire 

 should get into the orchard, and get well 



agoing, I presume it would probably kill ev- 

 ery tree. 



Trials at the different experiment stations 

 seem to be rather in favor of cultivating the 

 ground, especially around young trees, where 

 it is done often enough; and as no cultiva- 

 tion is needed rafter July, under some cir- 

 cumstances this might be less trouble in an 

 orchard than the mulch plan. When it 

 comes to wintering, however, I think the 

 mulch will generally be found ahead. But 

 before you go into it, it may be well to con- 

 sider the chances of fire getting in when no- 

 body is around. 



The above was prompted by the following, 

 which I clip from the Rural New- Yorker: 



The worst danger in a mulched orchard is fire. 



SUN BATHS, AIR BATHS, AFTER-DINNER NAPS, 

 ETC. 



Dear Mr. Root:— I have been a silent reader of your 

 Home and Health papers for some time. I do not wish 

 to take any exception to the general trend of your ideas, 

 nor to question in any serious degree the correctness of 

 your instructions; but I have wondered a number of 

 times if you meant them for such as I. I am a member 

 of that large and useful company, the wage-earners 

 My capital consists of hands and brain, and my 

 resources the time during which I can put them to use. 

 The chief difference between you and me is that I must 

 regulate my hours, habits, and private affairs to con- 

 form to my work, while you can make any division of 

 your time you wish. The most serious fault I can find 

 with your writings is that you apparently wish to help 

 the common people; but. very few can follow your 

 teachings under the conditions they must maintain 



You will agree with me that it would be ridiculous for 

 the men in your institution to take an after-dinner nap, 

 a sun-bath, and many other equally nice treatments you 

 have recommended. Of course, you did not mean to be 

 taken that way; but really I do not know just how you 

 do want to be understood. Would you be kind enough 

 to outline a program for me allowing for my work from 

 6 A.M. to 5:15 P.M.? I must sleep, eat, give the necessary 

 attention to rry family and myself. Of the many things 

 you have mentioned as essentials to a successful life, 

 which do you recommend to me, and show in your pro- 

 gram how I am to avail myself of them ? Please do not 

 forget that I am an employee, and the law of every 

 really faithful employee is, " Seek ye first efficiency for 

 your employer, and his approval, and all else shall be 

 added unto you." This often means, besides so many 

 hours a day, the devotion of spare hours to the interests 

 intrusted to me. 



I am not writing this as a dissatisfied unhappy slave 

 to circumstances, for I enjoy living and working as 

 much as you do; but out of sympathy for those who are 

 even less foi-tunate than I, and who welcome assistance 

 to a higher plane of living. B. E. Eckard. 



Medina, Ohio, Oct. 28, 1905. 



Before answering the above I wish to ex- 

 plain to our readers that it comes from our 

 chief engineer of steam, electricity, etc. —a 

 man of talent, judgment, and education. 

 In answering him I shall have to say that 

 my suggestions are mainly in line for elderly 

 people, or for anybody who feels that his 

 health is failing. One who is in the prime 

 of life and in good health, and who is requir- 

 ed to put in the number of hours friend Eck- 

 ard does, can well be excused from many 

 of the things I would recommend for an in- 

 valid. I would, however, recommend every- 



