ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 55 



orchards? They had been plowing under leguminous crops all 

 the while to secure nitrogen. The nitrogen stimulated the wood 

 growth. That is what happened in the orchard. The orchard 

 was so stimulated with nitrogen that they could not get good 

 colored fruit from those trees. That is a condition of things 

 we do not want. 



Now I never have any trouble to get the finest kind of color 

 and to get it every year. If we can get that color by that 

 system, why not have it? Our friend Hale would get that 

 color if the color could be gotten in any way, but as good a 

 grower as he is, I don't believe that he can show as fine color 

 as I have seen obtained under this system. And some of us 

 are not so strenuous as he is. Some of us like to take it a little 

 slower, and so I have been trying to adopt a plan whereby I 

 can get the result without so much labor and expense. And 

 so this plan that I am describing applies, particularly, to those 

 engaged in farming who want to make some money out of their 

 farm work. There are other ways of doing these things, but 

 they are too expensive for us fellows who want to- make some 

 money out of our farms. I am not talking to men who do all 

 these fancy things. We want to make some money. That is 

 what we are in the business for. There is no use in having 

 to do three or four things and go through a lot of hard work 

 to get a result when one will do it. We want to save labor 

 and expense if we can. 



Now these bacteria in our soil; how do they work? What 

 do they need to work on? Those are questions we want to 

 find out. Let me give you an illustration. If you will take 

 a few boards and put them into a pile and let them lay through 

 the summer, and in the fall you take up the boards direct from 

 the ground, you will find that it is all wet and damp under- 

 neath. Now if you plant that spot you will find that you can 

 see where those boards lay all summer just as far as you can 

 see. Now there was something under there that did that. What 

 was it? All you did was to favor bacterial action just at the 

 time, perhaps, when it is needed. Now what do you do when 

 you mulch your trees or put that grass around during July or 

 August? In doing that you favor bacterial action just at the 

 time when the fruit buds are forming, just when they need 

 what is in the soil to make them strone and vigorous. 



