STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 121 



that land under cultivation, — if I wanted to engage in poultry 

 growing as large as that. 



Now one thing more. I have thought about this matter of 

 orchard growing a great deal. We have got a good area of land 

 in this state that is not very valuable for agricultural purposes 

 ordinarily, under the old systems we used to discuss of clean 

 tillage and mulch. I would take a forty acre farm, and in the 

 spaces between those trees set two rods apart, I would put in the 

 plough and put that land into some crop that would grow me 

 something I could mulch with. I wouldn't grow potatoes or 

 corn. I would sim.ply plough those strips in the spring and plant 

 them to something that I might cut and pile around those trees 

 so as to completely mulch those trees. I believe in mulching 

 because it keeps the land under such conditions that we can get 



Caterpillar of yellow-edge butterfly. 



around a drought. The great difficulty is in getting mulching 

 sufficient to cover the ground with. If we grow it somewhere 

 else it is with considerable labor we bring it on ; if we buy it is 

 with considerable expense. If a man carries about forty acres 

 of land, you know that means a good many apple trees, it means 

 a business for that man. Make that land produce the mulch by 

 the moderate fertilizing of the strips between the trees. 



Now I think I have established the fact that I know something 

 about growing apple trees. 



I want to add one word to the words of Prof. Munson regard- 

 ing the value of planting shade and ornamental trees on this 

 campus. He has spoken about the advantages of beautifying 

 the grounds. Every man believes in it and every woman. I 

 will tell you one little incident that escaped him. Twenty-three 



