Orchard Tillage 41 



variably the rule, and the soil is often cultivated continu- 

 ously year after year until every trace of humus has been 

 consumed and the soil bakes after each irrigation so hard 

 that it takes a good sharp pick to make a hole in it. In 

 the Eastern states, where rainfall is abundant, it is a com- 

 mon practice to sow the orchard down to grass, and allow 

 it to remain in sod for a number of years. Either prac- 

 tice alone is not the ideal which the modern orchardist 

 should follow. 



The excessive cultivation as practiced in the irrigated 

 sections burns the humus out of the soil, making it very 

 difficult to work in the course of a few years. Under the 

 cloudless skies and burning sun of those regions the trees 

 are in a continual glare of light, and the reflected light 

 from the soil has a tendency to cause more or less sun 

 scalding on the trunks and lower limbs of the trees. The 

 continual cultivation not only wears out the soil, but wears 

 out the trees as well. The tendency of trees in the irri- 

 gated sections of the West is to overbear, and the con- 

 tinuous cultivation stimulates this condition. 



On the other hand, the sod mulch, or as too many times 

 happens, the weed mulch, of the rainy sections, harbors 

 a multitude of orchard pests that sooner or later bring de- 

 struction to the trees, unless means are taken to prevent 

 their depredations. The ideal system of cultivation for 

 any orchard, either East or West, is to combine the tillage 

 with a cover crop. Stirring the soil is a necessity, not 

 only for the purpose of improving the physical condition 

 of the soil, but for liberating the fertility. In soils that 

 are plowed early in the spring air is admitted and the soil 

 warmed up and drained of excess moisture through evap- 

 oration. In summer the plowed layer serves as a means 

 of preventing the evaporation of moisture that is deeper 

 down in the soil, by breaking the capilarity. It also in- 

 creases the water holding capacity of the soil. By increas- 

 ing the moisture in the soil decomposition of the organic 

 materials is hastened, and their fertility made available 

 for the use of the plants. 



The exact manner of cultivation in an orchard will be 

 governed largely by the kind of trees and the location. 



