APPLES 
Treatment of this kind injures the soil 
poth chemically and physically and can 
never be classed as practical agriculture. 
The evil effect upon orchards planted 
on shallow soil and treated in this man- 
ner is still more perceptible to the trained 
eye than upon most other crops. We have 
learned that, by repeatedly cutting off 
the surface roots of young bearing trees, 
as is done by the cultivator on soil that 
is underlaid with hardpan, we produce a 
yellow starved growth commonly known 
as winter dessication or fruit tree rosette. 
Clean, Early Tillage, with Cover Crops 
Later—Clean, early tillage, with cover 
crops later is the type of tillage that we 
hold out as the practical, progressive 
tillage. It has all advantages of the clean 
culture and the grass mulch systems and 
none of the undesirable features It con- 
serves the early spring moisture at a 
season when it is plentiful, prepares and 
makes available the plant food when the 
tree most needs it, causes early develop- 
ment of leaf and fruit buds, thereby 
hardening the tree for winter, and brings 
the fruit to a good size early in the 
season in order that it mav have a longer 
time to color and put on the finish. Many 
of our orchardists do not start culture 
early enough in the spring, thereby caus- 
ing a check in the growth of the fruit 
or twigs when there should be no check. 
The growing period of most bearing trees 
is decidedly short as compared with an- 
nual plants, and recognition of this fact 
should be taken into consideration in 
the working out of our culture scheme. 
The thorough tillage of the early spring 
and summer months should cease as soon 
as the fruit has attained sufficient size 
to insure good, marketable specimens by 
fall. The exact time cannot be stated, 
but it varies from the first of August to 
the first of September. At this time some 
form of a cover crop should be sown at 
least three years out of five. The nature 
of this crop will be governed entirely 
by the condition of the trees. On soil 
where trees are vigorous and have dark 
green foliage a non-nitrogen gathering 
crop, such as fall rye or wheat, may be 
used, while on soil where the trees are 
less vigorous and the foliage more or 
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less yellow, a nitrogen-storing crop, such 
as Canada peas, vetch or clover, should 
be used. 
Too much emphasis cannot be laid 
upon the use of cover crops in our or- 
chards. They will do more toward keep- 
ing the orchard up to a high standard 
than any other single thing that we can 
use. I consider the use of cover crops 
in orchards the highest type of orchard 
tillage for the Pacific Northwest. This 
is good agriculture, and will never wear 
out a soil, and when those growers who 
practice it are through using their land 
the soil will be better physically, chemi- 
cally, and in every way than it was when 
they started, even though they have taken 
a big crop off every year 
The practical questions of when and 
how to till can best be solved upon each 
farm. However, the same general scheme 
can profitably be carried out in all dis- 
tricts. 
Just as soon as the surface of the soil 
is dry enough to work without slicking 
or sticking, the disc or cut-away harrow 
should be run over the surface to pre- 
vent crusting and heavy loss of moisture. 
This can be followed by deeper discing or 
plowing, as the case may be, but under 
no circumstances should the surface be 
permitted to crust and bake. 
Where no cover crop is used, fall plow- 
ing may be practiced to advantage, pro- 
viding the plowing is shallow close to 
the trees and deep between them, and 
the soil is left rough to winter-catch and 
hold as much snow and rain as possible. 
It will require a minimum amount of 
labor in spring to put this soil in first- 
class condition and keep it that way dur- 
ing the year. 
The time to plow that part of the or- 
chard seeded to cover crop must be gov- 
erned almost entirely by the amount of 
moisture obtainable after the first of May 
of each year. If there is an abundance 
to be depended upon, permit the crop to 
grow as tall as possible without becom- 
ing woody, and then turn it under. If 
there is danger, as there is in all non- 
irrigated sections, of a shortage, leave 
as late as consistent with safety and then 
plow. In either case, the plowing must 
