74 FRUIT-GROWING 



entirely practical under the conditions existing 

 in the particular orchard where the experiment 

 is conducted. The clean culture plot has shown 

 a tendency to wash badly and while no serious 

 damage has as yet been done it is perfectly evi- 

 dent that the soil is gradually getting away 

 from that particular plot. The results with a 

 heavy mulch of straw have been comparable to 

 those secured by cultivation, but this orchard 

 is located in a county where no great amount 

 of straw is produced — and this is true of many 

 orchard sections. As a result baled straw has 

 been imported and used around the trees at a 

 cost which would be prohibitive to the average 

 commercial grower. "What then," you may 

 ask, "is the answer?" 



As I see it the answer is to cultivate a young 

 orchard as long as is possible without too much 

 loss of soil from washing and then to seed it to 

 grass or clover and try to grow your mulching 

 material in the orchard. This opinion is borne 

 out by Mr. Joseph Oskamp, who has had charge 

 of the actual working out of this experiment. 



"Straw mulch," said Mr. Oskamp, "gives 

 excellent results, but the stumbling-block is the 

 cost of the straw. Of course you do not have 

 to use straw — shredded corn fodder will be 

 equally as good if you can get it, or you may 

 use any other similar material. If you are so 

 situated that you can not get such material to 



