9O THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



only find it necessary to take a back seat, especially on the 

 subject of cultivation, but will actually have to stand up." 

 So much for the New York experiment. About the same 

 time it was started, Mr. W. W. Durham, of Austin, Texas, 

 agreed also to plant one thousand fruit trees under my direc- 

 tion as a test of the New Horticulture in the South. The 

 conditions were identical with the former, being unbroken 

 natural sod, crowbar holes and close root-pruned trees, mulch- 

 ing each one, and mowing the middles several times during 

 the growing season. The orchard is now five years old, and 

 last August Mr. Durham wrote me as follows: "My sod 

 fruit is now all gone except a few September peaches. The 

 Elberta, Family Favorite, Sylphide, Bequett, Carman and 

 several others were the largest and highest colored by far 

 that came to the Austin market. A German friend, who has 

 grown peaches all his life, said he never saw Family Favorite 

 have such color before. The Driscoll Hotel let my peaches 

 turn down all the east Texas fruit, on account of fine size, 

 beautiful color and good flavor. There is an orchard just 

 across the Colorado River that has eight hundred trees in it, 

 and Mr. Weaver, the owner, told me they did not bear a 

 single peach this season, due to the late February freeze. 

 That orchard was thoroughly cultivated from early spring." 

 Here we have absolute proof that the destruction of the 

 fibrous surface-roots so weakened the eight hundred trees 

 that they shed all their blossoms ; to which cause is also due 

 the well-known "June drop" of cultivated peach trees all 

 over the country, for who ever heard of "June drop " from a 

 fence corner or a back-yard tree ? 



I will now close my demonstrative proof of the superiority 

 of non-cultivation, with a few words on my own sod orchard, 

 planted at the same time, in the same way, and treated just 

 as were the New York and Austin experiments ; except that 

 my trees were set in small, clean circles on Bermuda grass 

 sod, which has been kept well mowed ever since. From 

 these trees I shipped fruit to the World's Fair which the 

 superintendent of Texas exhibits, Mr. Samuel Dixon, and 

 Mr. E. W. Kirkpatrick, President of the National Associa- 



