390 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



it was necessary to clean the bark. He used soda wash for the 

 purpose. 



Mr. Carpenter said that if an orchard had been neglected for 

 many years the roots were near the surface for feed, and by try- 

 ing to renovate them by deep plowing, the trees would be 

 injured. He had seen orchards ruined in this way. If the land 

 had been plowed once every two or three years, the roots were 

 out of the way. In manuring young orchards he thought it bet- 

 ter to use barnyard manure notwithstanding its cost. He had 

 always had much success in pruning trees severely. 



Dr. Waterbury considered it a wrong idea that when a tree 

 was dying it could be saved by pruning. In transplanting, it 

 was necessary to cut the top a good deal. 



Mr. Gale said he was perhaps the strongest advocate in the 

 club for covering the ground, and he did not want to see the idea 

 cramped down to orchards. If this system of placing manures 

 upon the surface of the soil were adopted it would double the 

 value of agriculture in a few ye'ars. By this system the intense 

 heat of the sun is kept from the earth, and the moisture there is 

 not drawn away. The world does not know yet the value of 

 moisture in land. Manure should not be drawn but once, and 

 then out upon the land. In hot weather land is deteriorating 

 unless it is covered up. If a person has had a brush heap in his 

 field, in plowing the lot he can tell when he strikes that spot with 

 his eyes shut, it is so soft and moist. The speaker was convinced 

 that the more the thing was experimented upon, the more would 

 men become convinced of the policy of carting manure in the 

 first instance on the land where it is wanted. 



Mr. Pardee said that in these discussions the difficulty was 

 that people in advocating a theory pressed it too far. For 

 instance, Mr. R. L. Pell always urged that an orchard should 

 never have a crop upon it, and yet in visiting his place the 

 speaker had found that Mr. Pell was cultivating potatoes in his 

 very best orchard. There is no theory in reference to the man- 

 agement of a farm in which you do not come nearer the truth by 

 striking a balance. It is possible to almost ruin an orchard by 

 plowing it, yet no one doubts that plowing is often an advantage 

 to an orchard. A man should have some judgment before he 

 goes on to a farm, and should consider the peculiar circumstances 

 in the case in judging of the course of labor to pursue. It may 

 be that mulching will be better for an orchard ; but, taking^into 



