130 THE APPLE 



other system of culture. This is no doubt due to the certainty and 

 uniformity of the generous store of fertility right at hand — the 

 concentration of an abundance of plant food where it is most 

 available and the consequent presentation of conditions, beneath 

 the mulch of vegetable matter, especially favorable to a healthy, 

 unstinted, continuous nourishment of the trees. 



General advice. The only good advice that can be given the 

 orchardist is, " Learn for yourself." If the orchard is in sod, 

 plow part of it up and keep a record of each part. If the orchard 

 is under clean culture, seed some of it down and adopt the plan 

 of cutting the grass and allowing it to remain where it falls. Do 

 not remove and sell the grass or hay. That is soil robbery. It is 

 practically impossible to produce good apples and good hay at the 

 same time. Keep an honest record. Compare results for ten 

 years, all the time watching similar experiments being carried on 

 elsewhere and finding out the particulars in each case. If after a 

 fair test one method is shown to be more profitable in all respects 

 than the other, adopt that particular method. 



