72 



brought back varieties of the different European fruits. Horticul- 

 ture had its beginning at that time. Steam navigation gave another 

 impetus. Before that time trees and fruits could be carried over 

 the ocean only with the greatest difficulty. With the advent of 

 steam navigation these difficulties were removed and many varieties 

 were introduced into America. At the same time the codling moth, 

 apple scab, wooly aphis and other pests which before that time could 

 not be carried across the ocean, were introduced. 



The third and chief impetus came after the Civil War. It came 

 with the better transportation facilities whereby fruits could be 

 transported from place to place. Until that time fruit had been 

 carried from the producer to the consumer only by horses, but now 

 railroads and steamboats came into use. Later developments have 

 been the use of refrigerator cars, cold storage plants and means of 

 evaporating and canning fruits. 



In the old days the fruits were wholly an adjunct to the farm. 

 The trees were planted near the house and along lanes and fences, 

 and in sod, and the orchards were pastured. The trees received 

 comparatively little care. There was but little money to be made 

 from fruit growing, but with the development of commercial fruit 

 interest it was found necessary to change, and men began to culti- 

 vate their orchards. It was found tliat the trees responded to good 

 care. Fifteen or twenty years ago practically all the Experiment 

 Stations were united in the belief that orchards were improved by 

 cultivation and tillage. There were some exceptions where or- 

 chards were planted on hillsides or wet land. Some of these excep- 

 tions were so remarkable that much attention was called to them. 

 One or two of our agricultural papers in particular, began to cite 

 these exceptional cases as best for all. This led to a controversy 

 as to the merits of sod and tillage. Our Experiment Station, at 

 Geneva, N. Y., felt that it was necessary to try the two methods side 

 by side. I want now to give you an account in some detail of one 

 of these experiments. 



My subject implies a controversy. The disputed question is, 

 Will an apple orchard thrive and fruit better under tillage or in 

 sod with the grass used as a mulch ? The Geneva Experiment Sta- 

 tion is conducting two experiments to settle this question. This 

 paper is largely a report on one of these trials of the two methods 

 of orchard management, the other not having been carried far 

 enough to warrant a report. In a controversy of any kind terms 

 must be defined, and to properly understand an experiment the con- 

 ditions under which it is undertaken must be considered and I 

 hasten to these tasks. 



Is it necessary to define tillage ? The definition is short and 

 clear. To till is to plow, cultivate or to hoe the soil. Tillage is an 

 humble word with its flavor of soil and its suggestiveness of sweat- 

 ing toil but it is an old word and should be an honored one. It has 

 rendered mankind untold and untellable service ; it is practiced 

 wherever there is agriculture in the world and nearly all of the 



