78 



ORCHARD CULTURE 



tion is out of the question and where sod culture must be adopted 

 because it is the only rational method that will fit the circum- 

 stances. The great difficulty is that this method, to be most 

 successful, requires not only peculiar soil conditions but still 

 more a peculiar type of man, and it is rare that one finds both 

 the man and the conditions on the same farm. 



However, the question is not by any means settled, and 

 therefore it is important to sum up the points in favor of each 

 of these methods as advanced by their advocates. 



Fig. 34. — Clean cultivation in an old renovator! orchard . With most men and under most 

 conditions cultivation will gh e the best results. 



Sod Culture. — For sod culture the principal arguments 

 advanced are : 



1. It is not so expensive a method of caring for the soil. This 

 is certainly correct, as the only expense is the cutting of the 

 grass in the orchard once or twice a year (Fig. 35). But unless 

 it can be shown that with this less expense the grower gets the 

 same or nearly the same net returns this is not a very strong 

 argument. 



2. The fruit will keep longer. This would apply to apples 

 and pears in particular, and is probably also true. The fruit 



