94 



Intermittent tillage is practiced in 9.86 per cent 

 of the bearing orchards; that means the grower tills one 

 year and then skips one or two or three or four or five years 

 and then tills again. As a rule, however, they till every 

 other year or every third year- The remainder of the time 

 the orchard is left in sod, sod mulch, or handled by the 

 mulch system. 



In 5.16 per cent of the orchards, partial tillage 

 is practiced. This is done in several ways. Some till a 

 strip of land on either side of the tree-row; this is done 

 to economize time and labor and expense. It is not as de- 

 sirable as complete tillage. There are many cases where 

 partial tillage is necessary; for example on very rough land, 

 where it is almost impassible to plow, the grower may dig 

 around bis trees with a hoe. 



In 15.49 per cent of the orchards tillage of the 

 apple trees is accomplished by growing between the trees 

 some kind of a catch-crop which requires surface cultivation 

 at a time when the orchard requires tillage. Thus the grow- 

 er "kills two birds with one stone". Catch-crops will be 

 considered in a subsequent paragraph. 



Young Orchards . - The following request was made: 

 "Describe briefly your system of cultivation for your young 

 orchard" . Two hundred and eleven described their systems 



