Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Manual. 



65 



the orchard upon the college farm, with trees hanging full of fruit, the 

 other of an adjoining farm with neglected trees uncultivated bare of fruit 

 and almost minus of foliage, and the bulletin winds up by referring to the 

 two cuts in the following manner, to-wit: 



"The photographs were taken in September, 1 897. The tree in the 

 foreground of the college orchard, with its wealth of foliage and bending 

 under the weight of its load of fruit, tells its own story, a d stands forth 

 in marked contrast to the preceding picture, which is bare of fruit and 

 almost minus of foliage. From the contrast there can be but one conclu- 

 sion drawn, that while other things have greater or less effect upon an 

 orchard's health and condition, the prime requisite to successful orchard- 

 ing in Illinois is thorough and systematic cultivation." 



While the principles involved in the Illinois bulletin are important and 

 valuable in that state, they are vital with us in the semi-arid section. The 

 prevailing idea, and the idea usujilly drawn from most of our articles, is that 

 the work is too expensive to make orchard growing profitable in the more arid 

 portions of this country. This is quite an error, fully demonstrated by the 

 figures given on our own work on the orchard of the Pom^roy Model P^arm 

 in 1900. 



In cut No. 12 may be seen a peach tree grown on the Pomeroy Model 

 Farm orchard, from a photograph taken in the fall after the first year's 

 growth. These trees were all cut back to about three feet when they were 

 set, and all limbs cut back so as to leave about two buds on each. Cut 

 No, 13 illustrates one of the same trees August 23, 1901, on its second year's 

 growth. The contrast is so remarkable that it may be taken as sufficient 

 proof that trees may be grown in the more arid portions of Kansas without 

 irrigation, and what is true there is equally true in other portions of the 

 semi-arid belt. The body of the tree shown in cut No. 12, at the close of 

 the first year's growth, measured a little over one inch in diameter, while 

 the body of this tree as shown in cut No. 13 at the close of the second 

 year's growth measured 2% inches. As the man standing by the tree 

 measured 6 feet, 3 inches, to the top of his hat, the reader may get some 

 idea of the remarkable growth of these trees. There is no reason why they 

 should not have made this remarkable growth, for, although we experi- 

 enced a continuous dry period with the excessive heat of 100 degrees and 

 above for 43 days, from June 18 to August 1, entirely without rain; yet 

 during that entire time the ground was amply moist to make into balls 

 about the roots of the trees, and to a depth of over 10 feet. During this 

 entire time, owing to the manner of cultivation and the care taken to save 

 the moisture, this soil was practically as full of moisture about the roots 

 of the trees as it could hold, and had there been previous irrigation from a 

 ditch the soil could not have been more moist. 



In cut No. 14, is shown a white elm tree. Looking closely you can see 

 the man's hand about four feet from the ground, grasping the pole which 



