APPLES 
It has been about as clearly demon- 
strated that alfalfa and clover are not 
good for peaches, as that it is good for 
apples and pears. Just why this is true 
is not with certainty decided. Some sug- 
gest that it is because they furnish the 
soil with too much nitrogen. Others 
that it is because of the different root- 
ing habits of peaches, the roots being 
nearer the surface and tending to grow 
laterally. Whatever may be the reasons, 
it seems sure that peaches do not do 
well in orchards sown to alfalfa. 
GRANVILLE LOWTIICR 
CULTURE VERSUS SOD MULCH 
West Virginia View Point 
There are strong advocates of both 
cultivation and mulching as methods of 
orchard management, and strong argu- 
ments may be advanced in favor of each. 
As a result of personal observation, ex- 
tending over a period of more than ten 
years, the writer would favor cultiva- 
tion upon those lands which are sus- 
ceptible of culture, without unnecessary 
expense, and mulching upon all other 
lands. What that cultivation shall be, 
and what that mulch shall be will of 
course be determined by local conditions. 
By the advocates of “‘sod-culture” it is 
claimed that, by setting free too much 
nitrogen, cultivation renders the wood 
spongy and the fruit soft. It is also 
claimed, and not without apparent rea- 
son, that certain varieties, like Alexan- 
der and Yellow Transparent, which are 
subject to blight, exhibit a marked in- 
crease of this blight tendency under cul- 
tivation. This condition is supported by 
Mr. George T. Powell, himself an advo- 
cate of high culture. 
There is no doubt that fruit from trees 
not under cultivation is of higher color, 
and usually of firmer texture That it 
will always keep better in storage, how- 
ever, has not been fully proved.* 
The general principles involved in the 
two methods are very simple. In the 
*See Bulletin 122, Maine Agricultural Bx- 
periment Station, p. 200. 1905. 
237 
mulching, the aim is to accumulate all 
of the vegetable matter possible in the 
soil, thus not only feeding the plant, 
but holding the moisture as well. Under 
cultivation, the organic matter is used as 
rapidly as possible and more is added in 
the way of cover crops and green manures. 
W. M. Munson, 
Morgantown, W Ya. 
TILLAGE VERSUS SOD MULCH 
New York View Point 
Early in the history of orcharding in 
New York it had been the custom dur- 
ing the first six or eight years to grow 
crops with tillage between the trees, after 
which the orchard was seeded down to 
grass and used for pasture or hay. The 
orchards were in many cases unproduc- 
tive and, the owners despairing of the 
method, a reaction set in toward “tillage 
and cover crops ’ During the last decade, 
however, some excellent results in “sod 
mulch” orchards led to a second reaction 
to the latter method with a wide dis- 
cussion of the problems involved. 
The New York State Agricultural Hx- 
periment Station at Geneva secured in 
1904 the use of an avple orchard at South 
Greece, near Rochester, in order to throw 
some light upon this question and to dem- 
onstrate the comparative value of the two 
methods under the conditions existing in 
those places, and to discover, if possible, the 
reasons for the results that might appear. 
The experiment was to run for 10 years 
in order to secure fair average results. 
Five years have now passed and it may 
be of interest to note the progress of the 
work to the present time (1910). 
The orchard at fouth Greece, seven 
miles west of Rochester, is owned by Mr. 
W. D. Auchter. It consists of nine and 
one-half acres of Baldwins set in 1877, the 
trees standing 40 feet apart each way. 
The surface soil is a medium heavy clay 
loam. The subsoil is of heavier loam 
yet containing enough sand or gravel to 
make it porous so that the trees do not 
suffer from lack of under-drainage. The 
surface is nearly level. This orchard is 
typical of many of the commercial or- 
