ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 51 



rather in the form of a sokition, and hence the importance of a 

 continual supply of moisture in the soil. That means from 

 spring until fall there must be a continual supply of moisture. 

 Of course, an excess of water in the soil, as Mr. Powell said, 

 is to be avoided, as well as a deficiency, and what we want to 

 know is, how can we best maintain a proper amount of moisture 

 so as to get the best growing conditions to the trees. 



Now my friends are saying to put on a cover crop in the fall 

 and stop cultivation, and that is where I claim it is a mistake. 

 It allows the ground to dry up, because the cover crop takes 

 the moisture out of the soil that your trees need. The growth 

 of the cover crop takes this moisture that your trees need. The 

 fruit buds in the orchard for next year are formed during the 

 fall, and at that time you want your moisture that is in the 

 ground in your food for the trees. You do not want to subtract 

 without the Lord will guarantee you enough ahead. 



Two years ago we had a drought in the fall, a serious 

 drought. What was the result? When you were trying to 

 grow your cover crops your moisture got away through capilliary 

 attractions, and the result of it was, there was no strength 

 furnished to the trees to make a good set of fruit, and in the 

 spring, while some of the trees blossomed out good, there was 

 not the fruit there ought to have been. Some thought it was 

 the rain that caused the blasting of the young fruit, but in my 

 orchard we had just as much rain as my neighbors had, and I 

 had the most perfect crop of fruit I ever had. Now what was 

 the reason of that? I simply had mowed my grass during the 

 spring. They say, you should cultivate in the spring so as to 

 furnish plant food so the trees will grow. I say that is wrong. 

 I say that you want to^ retard that growth. You want to take 

 some of the excess moisture out in the spring with your grass 

 and then cut it. I cut it and place it around the trees, where 

 it acts as a mulch and assists the bacterial action in the soil, 

 which is necessary, and which was so plainly described by the 

 speaker before me, and so also to assist in holding the moisture 

 in the fall. If you have barren ground there is a constant 

 evaporation going on, and with the evaporation, it is gradually 

 using up the humus in the soil which you want to keep. If 

 you have this mulch on the ground the moisture will stay there 

 for weeks and you can get the advantage of it. It helps to keep 



