LETTERS FROM PROMINENT HORTICULTURISTS. 69 



fast. The "hogging" system was not so bad, but he got to the foot 

 of the hill when he adopted blue grass. Corn is the best crop to put 

 in an orchard. I have corn in my oldest orchard, and I raise a crop 

 there every year. I had one of my orchards in grass for eight years, 

 and found that the trees began to look sick, so I plowed it under. 

 While the orchard was in grass the fruit was scattering and not nearly 

 so large as it is when I cultivate a crop of corn between the rows of 

 trees. I scrape up and burn all the leaves I can find in"the orchard, 

 as this, to a certain extent, prevents scab. If I was to seed down an 

 orchard I would use timothy and clover, but never blue grass. The 

 only objection to corn is its inconvenience. 



Williams — It seems to me that corn would not pay the cost of 

 cultivation. I would cultivate, but put in no crop. 



Masters — Mr. Williams' trees are too close together. They should 

 be at least forty feet apart each way. 



Barnard — Masters is a thief. He steals from his apple trees with 

 corn. Instead of this he should feed his ground. Clover is the only 

 grass for an orchard. When you cut the first crop you carry out all 

 the insects that may be lodged in the grass. Cut the second crop and 

 let it lie on the ground, and it acts as a mulch during the winter. Cul- 

 tivate every four years and do not crop the ground. We take heavy 

 crops of apples from our orchards every year, and this should be suf- 

 ficient without burdening the soil with the addition of a corn crop. 

 Manure should never be applied close to the body of the tree. Keep 

 away at least four or five feet. 



Masters — I would like to reply to Mr. Barnard that I manure 

 my orchard with stable manure that costs me fifty cents per load. 



Shelton, Nebr., July 24, 1890. 



G. J. Carpenter, Fairbury, Nebr. : Dear Sir — As it will be impossi- 

 ble for me to be at the meeting at Crete this summer, on account of 

 sickness in my family, I thought it might be of some interest to the 

 members to know how we are prospering raising fruit in Buffalo 

 county. 



This is an off year with us. First — The peach, apricot, and Wild 

 Goose plum buds were all winter-killed. 



Second — There was a bug about the size of a small house fly that 

 stung the buds on all the crabs and early apples so that the buds 



