32 BULLETIN 140, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
carried on by the general farmer when carefully done. The old time 
orchard must go, however, or be rejuvenated and given consistent 
care if it is to serve any purpose very useful in the economy of the 
farm. It must be admitted also that there are certain objections to 
the extremely large orchard. Many of the tender-fleshed and 
thin-skinned varieties which the best retail markets desire are not 
amenable to ordinary methods of handling. Skilled help can 
undoubtedly be secured in many cases, but it is exceedingly difficult 
through all the processes of care and attention to give all the 
orchard and all the fruit the personal attention which enables the 
individual grower of, say, 10 to 20 acres to secure the highest prices 
of special markets or of retail trade. 
Another excellent opportunity of the present time is to bring the 
old orchards into good bearing condition as soon as possible. In 
this way a few very profitable crops may be secured before the larger 
orchards of recent and present plantings bear much fruit. 
The diagram, figure 2, based upon estimates prepared by the State 
board of agriculture, so far as production is concerned, shows the 
relative importance of different parts of the State as apple-growing 
sections. In many of these towns important plantings have been 
made since the preparation of these estimates. Similar interest and 
activity in towns not included in these lists will bring them also 
above the 10,000-bushel minimum not many years hence. In the 
diagram (Fig. 2) the approximate location of these townships is 
represented by symbols. Surrounding areas — not townships — of rel- 
ative but not necessarily equal production are indicated by a system 
of lines. 
CULTURAL METHODS IN ORCHARDS. 
It is not the purpose of this report to discuss orchard cultural 
methods beyond calling attention to prevailing practices. 
The profitable peach orchards are almost always cultivated, and 
those most profitable are cultivated assiduously until midsummer, 
when an annual cover crop is grown. The crops used for this pur- 
pose are many — rye, buckwheat, rape, cow-horn turnips, crimson, 
red and alsike clovers, winter vetch, etc., being in common use. 
Rutabaga seed is often thickly broadcasted, the best roots being sold 
and the remainder left as a cover crop. 
The best of the commercial apple orchards are also cultivated to 
midsummer and then laid by with some of the cover crops named 
above. The sod-mulch system is also practiced tc some extent and 
gives very good results where the plan is consistently and thoroughly 
carried out. The most common difficulty with this method is the 
failure to apply sufficient mulch to prevent the growth of any grass 
or weeds within a circle which should extend for a few feet beyond 
