NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 27, 1902 
*1 PER YEAR 
THE HITCHINGS APPLE ORCHARD. 
WHAT DOES THE MULCHING ACCOMPLISH ? 
Bacterial Hired Men Under Ground. 
A FAIR DISCUSSION OF ALL SIDES. 
Part I. 
While at the New York State Fair I went to South 
Onondaga to see the orchard which Grant G. Hitch- 
ings has frequently described in The R. N.-Y. J. H 
Hale and other advocates of constant and thorough 
cultivation say that Mr. Hitchings makes the best 
argument that has yet been made for the plan of 
keeping orchards in sod. While 
they do not agree that his 
method is best for general prac¬ 
tice they respect his views, be¬ 
cause they know that he has the 
orchard and the fruit, and that 
his theory has been well tested 
and analyzed. When a man con¬ 
tinues to win prizes at fruit ex¬ 
hibitions, and can show a big 
Pan-American gold medal, we 
are all forced to admit that he 
knows how to raise fruit. When, 
in explaining his success, he 
stoutly advocates a system that 
is directly opposed to the teach¬ 
ings of most horticultural au¬ 
thorities—what is the common 
man to do? Should one follow 
his advice blindly or reject it ut¬ 
terly because it is laughed at by 
scientific and successful men? I 
think there is danger in either 
course. No human can be said 
to know all there is to know 
about the life and habits of a 
tree. The tendency is to follow 
success recklessly. Already I 
hear of people who think ot 
rushing into the Hitchings 
method of orcharding without 
really understanding its prin¬ 
ciples or limitations. We regard 
it as about the worst crime in 
agricultural journalism for a 
paper to start readers on a new 
trail without posting the clearest 
directions on the finger post. 
Dozens of people are beginning 
to talk “sod culture” and 
“Stringfellow method,” and I 
went to see the Hitchings or¬ 
chard so that I could have the 
exact conditions clearly in mind. 
Mr. Hitchings has no desire to 
set people wrong. I find that he 
has been very conservative in 
stating his results. Without the 
advantages of a scientific educa¬ 
tion he has thought and studied 
out his system with great care. 
It is no accident, but the result 
of years of observation and 
sound reasoning. We can all understand how a man 
who has gone through the fire of horticultural criti¬ 
cism becomes emphatic in his statements. He is 
really a heretic, and speaks about his personal suc¬ 
cess with a force which might be taken by the care¬ 
less for general advice. Let us see whether an out¬ 
sider can make the reasons given for this “mulch 
method” any clearer. 
The orchard stands at the base of a rather steep 
hill with a northern exposure. As you approach it 
from the north it is easy to see that the trees are not 
set at exact distances apart. The regular rows run 
east and west—along the hillside—but the trees are 
set at varying distances in the row. This breaks the 
force of the wind, and also gives the planter a chance 
to select the best places for tree planting. Of course 
this would not answer in a cultivated orchard, for 
there the rows must be straight and true, but here, 
where nothing but a mowing machine is used, exact 
distances in the row are not necessary. I have found 
in my own practice that a few feet may make con¬ 
siderable difference in the location for a tree. 
The trees are headed low—some of them barely 
two feet from the ground. In striking contrast are 
THE “GOOSEBERRY CURRANT.” Fig. 264. See Rubai.isms. Page 658 
the few remaining trees of the old orchard—some of 
them nearly 100 years old. They are headed high in 
the air, as was the old-fashioned way. When apples 
fall from these high limbs they are badly bruised— 
even when the ground is covered with such a thick 
mulch as Mr. Hitchings keeps up. On the iow-headed 
trees the apples have only a few feet to fall, and are 
not bruised when they strike the ground. A large 
share of the crop could be picked up as windfalls and 
sold as first-class fruit. The low trees make picking 
and spraying easier, and are not so likely to be 
shaken and swayed by winds as the high-headed trees. 
Another thing that the visitor will be sure to notice 
is the natural shape of the trees. They have more 
of the shape of seedlings than of trees that have been 
steadily pruned. Mr. Hitchings does as little pruning 
as possible, leaving the tree to grow in a natural way. 
He says that the cultivators stimulate the growth of 
the tree by cultivation and heavy fertilizing, and then 
find it necessary to cut off a good share of the wood 
growth thus produced. Under his system the tree is 
not stimulated, but receives a constant supply of 
plant food—just enough to keep it thrifty. There is 
not an excess of nitrogen, and the tendency of the 
tree is to make a slow and solid 
growth, and devote its energies 
to the production of fruit. 
The most surprising thing 
about the orchard is the mulcn. 
I understood the rest of the sys¬ 
tem from what Mr. Hitchings 
has written, but one must see 
that thick growth of grass in or¬ 
der to realize what it does. I 
undertook to mulch my own 
young trees this year, but was 
not prepared for the great piles 
of hay which had been heaped 
around these trees! Those who 
have seen a thick Blue-grass 
pasture in the Ohio Valley at its 
best will have some idea of the 
way the grass grew in the or¬ 
chards. The feet sank deep into 
the soft mass—it was like walk¬ 
ing through snow 18 inches 
deep. This heavy grass was cut 
in July, and this cutting had 
rotted on the ground where it 
lay—a black and pasty mass 
Through it another heavy 
growth had started, and had 
grown so vigorously that it was 
matting down in spots. Take 
your best meadow and cut the 
grass at its best, and let the en¬ 
tire crop rot on the ground, and 
let the second crop mat down on 
top of it. In September dig down 
into the soil beneath this 
“mulch” and you will get a good 
idea of the “root pasture” in 
which these trees feed. Mr. 
Hitchings dug, with his fingers, 
the soil beneath several trees, 
and showed how close the 
feeding roots are to the surface. 
They were spread out within a 
few inches of the top in some 
cases, actually running up into 
the damp mulch. I am satisfied 
that the man who has only a 
growth of weeds or scattered 
grasses in his orchard cannot 
hope to obtain the results which 
Mr. Hitchings reports unless he 
adds manure, straw or some 
other vegetable matter. Neither can a man touch 
these results when he cuts the grass and hauls it 
away as hay. He must bring both vegetable matter 
and plant food back to take the place of what he car¬ 
ried away. I will venture to say that there is not one 
farmer in 50 strong-willed enough to let that beau¬ 
tiful growth of grass rot on the ground. We have 
been taught that it is poor economy to lose the feed¬ 
ing value of any plant, yet here is a man—formerly a 
successful dairyman—who rejoices to see tons of the 
finest hay rot beneath the trees! One man might 
prove to his complete satisfaction that it would pay 
