SOILS OP MASSACHUSETTS AND CONNECTICUT. 33 



the perimeter of the branches. In fact, the growth of grass just 

 beyond the tips of the branches of a tree a few years old, or older, 

 is far more serious than if near the trunk, where no feeding roots 

 occur. Only by such thoroughness can mulching conserve even ap- 

 proximately as much moisture for the tree's use as thorough culti- 

 vation affords. Plate II, figure 1, shows a fairly good mulching, 

 but even it should be a little heavier. Plate II, figure 2, shows there 

 is at least one man who can remove peach fillers in time. 



It must be admitted, however, that a large part of the aggregate 

 number of apple trees in both Massachusetts and Connecticut regu- 

 larly receive neither cultivation nor mulch. Of this great number of 

 small orchards and miscellaneous trees some receive more or less 

 cultivation when other crops are grown in the field where the trees 

 happen to be, and in some cases the welfare of the trees is an im- 

 portant consideration, but more frequently it is purely accidental. 

 Where the ground is well manured under the system of cropping 

 followed — usually corn, oats, and grass in a 5-year rotation — very 

 satisfactory results are secured. (See PI. III.) A single row of 

 apple trees along the fence or wall around fields (Pis. IV and V) 

 is characteristic of many sections of both States, and from such 

 trees very large quantities of fruit are produced, the aggregate be- 

 ing much larger in Massachusetts than in Connecticut. Many of 

 the roadside trees were seedlings from which surrounding brush 

 was cut away when the grafting was done. Often the grafting is not 

 done until the seedlings are so large the scions are set in the limbs 

 instead of in the trunk, with the result that the trees are usually 

 headed 5 to 6 feet from the ground. The Baldwin is the variety 

 almost universally used for this purpose. Most of the pasture trees 

 were grown in the same way, though some are grouped around the 

 cellar holes of former small farmsteads in the hills that do not now 

 constitute economic farm units and so have been thrown into pas- 

 ture. (See PL YI.) 



There are thousands upon thousands of seedling trees in these 

 States, with more annually springing up, that have not been propa- 

 gated to improved varieties, although this is still a common practice 

 in some sections, particularly in the Western Highlands. A large 

 number of trees also occur in pastures where no cultivation or 

 mulching is given. In this case the very close grazing of the grass 

 by animals makes evaporation somewhat less than where hay is cut, 

 and results are better than the careful orchardist would expect, but 

 the method is to be recommended only where better methods are 

 impracticable. This phase of orcharding also is somewhat more 

 extensive in Massachusetts than in Connecticut. When results so 



55570°— Bull. 140—15 3 



