EIGHTEENTH AXNU.IE MEETING. 129 



Webster says a weed is a plant out of place. \\\\ idea is that 

 after mid-summer anythino- that will grow will answer the 

 purpose of a cover crop in an orchard ; therefore, if weeds 

 grow and cover the ground and act as a cover crop, they are 

 not (Uit of place. Of course we prefer vetch or crimson clo- 

 ver, but if we cannot have those, then weeds or pigeon grass 

 will answer that purpose. They will act as humus to turn 

 under next spring. I spent two or three weeks in the winter 

 in Michigan through the peach section. They have burned 

 out the vegetable matter in the soil by continuous cultivation 

 without cover crops, and as a result they have none of it left 

 in their orchards and they are badly troubled with the scale 

 and yellows and little peach, because there is not enough vi- 

 tality in the soil to resist the ravages of these enemies. While 

 there I saw more clearly than before the necessity of keeping 

 this humus in our soil. I welcome anything green growing 

 in the orchard, unless it is some of our worst weeds. You 

 cannot lay down any iron-clad rule in horticulture regarding 

 pruning. We have all sorts of different ideas. I like to 

 keep my trees thin enough to let in the sunlight. I think 

 extensive and severe pruning of any tree is the means of 

 delaying fruiting. For a number of years I have been prac- 

 ticing planting two-years-old apple trees and top-working 

 them with scions from my own bearing trees. I don't know 

 how much there is in this theory, but I do this to be sure of 

 my varieties, as many times I do not get varieties true to 

 name when I order them from nurserymen. Some advise 

 to let the trees grow one year before top-working. I top- 

 work immediately. If your trees are received early in the 

 spring or in the fall before and have started to grow, so the 

 sap will circulate in the trees, you can put in the scion with 

 almost absolute certainty of having a good growth. 



If your trees are a little slow or a little dry, you will have 

 trouble in getting your graft to grow. We cut them down 

 pretty low and put the scions in, and nearly always they grow 

 nicely and we are absolutely sure of the varieties we have 

 growing in our orchards. I think there is a probability of 

 getting the trees in bearing earlier that wav, too. I have an 



