51 



Taking up now some of these fundamental orchard operations, 

 we perhaps may ask first of ah: Shall we cultivate or shall \\'e not 

 cultivate? That is a very important C|uestion. Its correct answer 

 all depends upon conditions. The man who believes in tillage says 

 "cultivate." The advocate of the sod mulch method says ''No culti- 

 vation" and there you are I Both may be right, both may be 

 wrong : each one may be right and each one wrong part of the time. 

 It all depends I It f recjuently is the case, however, that neither one 

 knows just what he is accomplishing in terms of actual and ulti- 

 mate results by the particular method he has adopted or is advo- 

 cating. If he happens to be giving thorough cultivation, this is 

 about what he is accomplishing by the operation : ( i ) improving 

 the physical condition of the land: (2) conserving the soil moisture; 

 ( 3 ) increasing the chemical activities of the soil. 



The influence of tillage has been very adecj[uately set forth by 

 Prof. Bailey. I cannot do better than to quote him in this con- 

 nection 



Tillage improves the physical condition of the land. 



(a) By fining the soil, and thereby presenting greater feeding sur- 



face to the roots ; 



(b) By increasing the depth of the soil, and thereby giving a great- 



er foraging and root-hold area to the plant ; 



(c) By warming and drying the soil in spring. 



(d) By reducing the extremes of temperature and moisture. 



2. Tillage ma}- save moisture, 



(e) By increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil ; 



(f) B}- checking evaporation. 



3. Tillage may augment chemical activities, 



(g) By aiding in setting free plant-food; 



(h) By promoting nitrification; 



(i) By hastening the decomposition of organic matter; 



(j) By extending these agencies ( g, h, i ) to greater depths of the 

 soil."' 



To these effects of tillage there may also be added a secondary 

 influence, namely the maintenance of the surface of the' soil in such 

 condition that it will readily absorb the water that falls on it as 

 rain, thus redticing the "rtm-oft"'' or surface drainage to a minimum. 



It is probably within conservative bounds to say that the vast 

 majority of orchards require, in the average season, for maximum 

 restflts, all the benefits enumerated that can be supplied or enhanced 

 by tillage. 



But I stippose the advocate of the sod mulch system claims that 

 he is accomplishing the same thing by his methods. It should be 

 observed, however, thus early in the discussion that a great many 

 who claim to practice the sod mulch system are doing nothing of 

 the kind. They are simply not cultivating. They may even be 

 harvesting a crop of hay from their orchards. But because it is 

 in sod and they are not cultivating it — that to them is the sod mulch 

 method. The sod mulch method implies a mulch — not a crop of 

 hay. Of course there may be both but more often one of these 

 things is at the expense of the other. You cannot use the grass 



* Principles of Fruit Growing, p. 139. 



