18 BULLETIN 614, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



an average yield of only 21 boxes more per acre under clean-cultural 

 than under mulch-crop management in the Yakima district, while 

 in the Zillah district there would be an average yield of 42.1 boxes 

 more per acre under clean-cultural management. 



A few years ago all men in the valley practiced clean cultivation. 

 Of late years many of the orchards have been sown to alfalfa or 

 clover. (See fig. 3.) In many cases the orchards which were clean 

 cultivated showed the effect of too intensive cultivation and the 

 need of humus. There seems to be a tendency on the part of some 

 growers, after orchards have been sown to a mulch crop, to neglect 

 the orchard in different ways. These seemingly small oversights 

 have their effect on the physical condition of the trees, and thus 











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Fig. 3. — An 8-year old Esopus and Winesap orchard in the Zillah section. The Esopus trees are badly 

 affected by blight. Note the dense mulch crop of alfalfa. 



upon the yield. This is especially noticeable in the Zillah district, 

 where men are using their mulch-crop orchards for pasturing hogs. 

 On the whole, these orchards are not managed so carefully and thor- 

 oughly as those under clean cultivation. Great care must be taken 

 with the Yakima Valley orchards in a mulch crop until the practice 

 has been in vogue for a sufficient time to enable the growers to become 

 familiar with the details and results of mulch-crop management. 

 Not alone in the Northwest does there seem to be this tendency to 

 neglect orchards in mulch crop, but in some of the larger commercial 

 apple-producing sections of the East a similar tendency is apparent, 

 especially when the price of apples does not seem to warrant scru- 

 pulous care. 



