142 NUT GROWING 



by that time had towered far above its neglected 

 mates and its wealth of dark green foliage was some- 

 thing worth stopping to look at even when one was 

 in a hurry. 



Ideal cultivation for most of the nut trees would 

 undoubtedly be clean cultivation. That is expensive, 

 but always necessary for young trees, at least for a 

 limited area about each one. Next in order comes 

 sod culture for the older trees with a cleared space 

 kept hoed for a short distance around each trunk. 

 If grass and weeds beneath the tree are cut several 

 times during the season and allowed to remain and 

 decompose upon the surface they furnish food for 

 the roots underneath. One may add lime or other 

 fertilizers beside bringing more trash and weed tops 

 to be distributed over the ground beneath the sod 

 culture trees. This method of cultivation may be 

 applied with a high degree of success on rocky or 

 stony lands, and is to be given serious consideration 

 for all sorts of ground. Statistics upon the subject 

 have been collected in relation to apple trees, show- 

 ing that sod culture properly conducted has a high 

 value. It may not always be properly conducted. 

 A somewhat slack farmer who was looking at my 

 sod culture trees said that he always treated his 

 apple trees in that way excepting that he kept the 

 ground free from such a lot of trash beneath the 

 trees. That was the very point. The trash had been 

 put there purposely. My visitor was up to date on 

 sod culture very much as he perhaps was on the 

 subject of phonetic spelling. We cannot apply sod 



