CHAPTER XI 

 THE TILLAGE OF ORCHARDS 



CLEAN tillage has been practiced by the majority of 

 arid-country orchardists from the time the first trees were 

 planted. It would be difficult to explain just why this 

 plan has been followed, but it is probable that it was 

 copied from California. While a certain amount of 

 tillage is necessary, we wish to state emphatically that 

 we do not believe in any system by which the soil is ex- 

 posed to the action of arid sunshine during the heat of 

 summer. In fact, we hold that this practice has been 

 very much overdone and that the older orchards are in 

 some cases beginning to show the effects. We may well 

 profit by the experience of fruit-growers in other states, 

 and in this connection the following quotation should be 

 instructive : 



"For a quarter of a century great areas of vineyards 

 yielded thousands of tons of grapes. All these years, 

 under the stimulus of success, these same areas of land 

 received clean, annual, and (may we not truthfully add) 

 merciless cultivation. The natural fertility of the soil 

 was gradually reduced by enormous crops of fruit and its 

 physical condition lowered year by year, without the res- 

 toration of any considerable amount of plant-food or 

 vegetable matter. After the lapse of many years, from 

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