18 
AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
country as a whole. In 1870, in my boyhood days of farm cultivation, a 
new field was broken up to be planted with a couple of acres of sweet corn. 
That bit of oorn happened to be infested with quack grass, the tormenting 
stuff 'that has its roots pointed in every direction and which' almost goes! 
through stone and stone walls. It is a terrible pest. It took possession of that 
field and almost drowned out the corn. In an attempt to kill that grass, but 
with no idea of the value of culture in dry times, my brother and I worked 
that field over and over again with an old horse and a very poor old cultiva- 
tor. I rode the horse until I was sore, and the recollection of it makes me say 
that I almost feel that I am sore yet from the effects of that riding up and 
down and across those ruts. The result was that through incessant daily 
and hourly cultivation of that field, over and over again, to kill the grass, 
the corn grew. It grew in spite of us, and it was the only corn in the neighbor- 
hood that came to maturity that season. It was a perfect corn crop and it 
sold in the market instead of going to the pigs. It laid the foundation for 
a good commercial market garden business; and it also laid the foundation 
of a knowledge that stirring the soil would bring about that result in dry 
times. That knowledge has been exceedingly useful to me, in subsequent 
years, in the cultivation of orchards and in the cultivation of every field 
crop. 
My own practice and observation in the fields of others, where thorough 
and incessant cultivation is being given, shows that even on very thin soils, 
without the application of any plant food whatever, vigorous, healthy and 
productive plants and trees can be maintained, even better than on richer 
soils where more plant food is supplied, but there is a lack of thorough 
tillage. 
I believe today that the same thing can be accomplished with a majority 
of the so called “worn out” soils of the South, that by the most thorough cul- 
tivation, at least twice a week thoroughly all over the field, you may grow 
crops for years and produce magnificent tree and plant growth without the 
expense of a dollar for fertilizers. I would, however, grow some leguminous 
crop each year. Just what it should be would depend upon season and meth- 
ods of culture. I am thoroughly convinced that thorough cultivation gives 
greater strength and vigor to your trees than will be had by using more 
plant food and less cultivation. 
A most important lesson in cultivation has come to me in the last year, in 
connection with my peach orchard in Georgia. You know all of the great 
freeze that came South last February, when trees and plants were in the full 
vigor of strong growth, and when our peaches and plums were in full blossom. 
We had a temperature of 80° F., and in a very short time the mercury went to 
beiow zero, there being a drop of 84°. Forest trees were killed and many 
trees of great vigor were apparently killed. The result of that freeze in the 
peach orchard w\as the killing of the tips of the branches, but the main 
branches were uninjured. All around the body of the tree, for two-thirds to 
three-fourths of the way. around there was only an inch of live bark on the 
northeast side. Nine-tenths of it was dead and only one-tenth, on the north- 
east. side, was alive. We went to work by quickly cutting the tips of the trees 
away down to the main branches, leaving just stubs; then getting the brash 
out of the way, ploughing the ground, cross ploughing, harrowing and re-har- 
rowing it; constantly shaking up the soil, week in and week out; (my instruc- 
tions to the Superintendent being to keep the ground well stirred all the time); 
putting in the implements of culture and constantly shaking up that soil. 
