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ORCHARD CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT. 



Old, or Bearing Orchards . - The bearing orchards are 

 handled in various ways by different growers. In order to 

 find out the most common methods in vogue the following re- 

 quest was made: "Describe briefly your system of cultivation 

 for your old orchards" . This request brought forth a varied 

 series of replies. Very few growers handle their orchards 

 in exactly the same manner. However the 213 answers' given 

 may be grouped in systems as set forth in the table which 

 follows: 



System No. of Orchards Per cent 



Sod 



Sold Mulch 



Clean tillage followed by cover crop 

 Clean tillage alone 

 Clean tillage for a period of years, 



then sod 

 Intermittent tillage with cover crop 

 Partial tillage 

 Tillage with a catch crop 



From this data it may be seen that there are three 

 main systems of management practiced in the bearing orchards, 

 namely, sod, sod mulch, and tillage. These, together with 

 their various modifications will be discussed briefly. 



1. Sod. - In the orchard sod the surface soil is 



* In some cases a grower might handle part of his orchard 

 by one system and part by another- 



