ORCHARD CULTIVATION 49 



Hitchings of New York state. This method consists 

 in seeding the orchard down to clover and grasses, in 

 mowing this herbage several times each summer and 

 leaving it mulched around the trees. Mr. Hitchings 

 himself claims the following advantages for his 

 method : 



1. Less cost of maintenance. 



2. Earlier, better colored fruit. 



3. Better keeping qualities. 



4. Wood matures better and earlier. 



5. The trees can be headed lower. 



6. The sod mulch favors bacterial action. 



7. Leaves more time for other work. 



8. Prevents deep freezing of the soil. 



9. Easier driving through orchard for spraying, 

 etc. 



10. Soil improves each year. 



Some of these claims are unquestionably well found- 

 ed; others are fanciful. Some of the strongest of 

 these claims are fully offset by other advantages be- 

 longing to the more orthodox methods of cultivation. 

 These advantages will be explained more fully in the 

 following paragraphs. 



One of the most serious practical objections to the 

 Hitchings system is that very few men will carry it 

 out properly. When not fully carried out it is dan- 

 gerous and bad ; whereas almost any sort of tillage 

 is beneficial, and only in the most exceptional cases 

 can tillage be harmful. 



Thus we may lay it down as a rule, subject to minor 

 exceptions only, that the commercial orchard is al- 

 ways to be cultivated. We are concerned, then, simply 

 with the objects, the methods and the means of 

 culture. 



