METHOD OF CULTIVATION 83 



there is always danger of accidents. There are sections where 

 mice are never troublesome, and in these localities the argument 

 would not hold. 



6. The cultivated orchard yields more fruit. This is a diffi- 

 cult point to prove and probably never will be proved to the 

 satisfaction of the best sod-culture advocates. General observa- 

 tion and still more orchard surveys have shown that, with the 

 rank and file, cultivation gives far better yields. After all it is 

 the average that counts. A system may be ever so good with the 

 exceptional man and if it falls down with the average man it is 

 better not to attempt it, for most of us are " average." 



7. Cultivated orchards yield larger and better apples. This 

 is another point w^hich will never be admitted by the sod culturist 

 and doubtless is not always true. But as in No. 6 it certainly is 

 true with the rank and file of orchard men. 



Removal of Hay Crop. — There is another argument on this 

 question of " cultivation vs. sod culture," which seems very im- 

 portant and yet which is used by both sides to support their 

 contentions. This is the fact that most men will not leave the 

 hay in the orchard. The sod men say: " We are not talking 

 about the man who mows the grass and puts it in his bam but 

 about the man who cuts the grass and lets it lie in the orchard." 

 The advocates of cultivation say: " We admit that sod culture 

 gives good results when properly carried out, but what is the use 

 of discussing a method which only a very few men will carry out, 

 but in which the vast majority are doomed to failure." This 

 argument is the strongest one in the whole list and it is the one 

 which makes many good orchardists very strong believers in 

 cultivation. It must be admitted without argument that some 

 of the men who use sod in their orchards are among the most 

 successful growers. But for the rank and file of orchard men, 

 and particularly for that great section of the fruit growing 

 fraternity who also keep some stock, it seems much better to 

 " remove temptation " and not to grow any hay in the orchard. 



Method of Cultivation. — If, then, we are to practise cultiva- 

 tion in the orchard, what methods shall we use? Stated briefly 

 the method most generally satisfactory is to plow the land, or 



