43 
November, 1916 
MAKING THE FARMING BUSINESS PAY 
This is the second chapter of a modern fanning experiment; the first instalment appeared last month 
and told of the investigation of dairying possibilities. Here are the theory and practice of open 
cultivation in the orchard, and the effects of soil erosion. The third and concluding chapter of the 
experience will appear in the December number.—Editor 
FLORA LEWIS MARBLE 
A FTER the dairy plans were given up 
we turned our attention to a general 
review of the way other people cultivated 
apple trees. Four methods seem to be 
practiced. These we tabulated, with their 
various dangers, and general effects, as 
noted by orchardists of experience. Then 
we decided to try one after the other of 
these plans until we found the right one for 
our special conditions. 
Flow we tried these methods of culture 
and how well they worked, or how sadly 
they failed, is what I shall endeavor to set 
down here. Every plot of ground is a 
problem by itself, to be treated in some 
particular way. What that way is, only ex¬ 
perimenting will tell; but another man’s 
success or failure with a method, and his 
reasons for or against it, are often of value. 
The Authorities’ Opinions 
Bailey, in “The Principles of Fruit Grow¬ 
ing,” says: “Any land which is fit for grow¬ 
ing crops will maintain a fruit plantation 
throughout its existence without the addi¬ 
tion of plant food, and enable the trees to 
produce at the same time a normal quantity 
and quality of fruit. But the profit in fruit 
growing lies in securing the extra normal 
or superior quantity and quality, and this 
result demands fertilization of the land 
and every other good care.” 
The Pennsylvania State College Bulletin 
No. 106 says: “The best cultural method 
for most situations is tillage with a legumi¬ 
nous cover-crop while the trees are young. 
If the winter crops chosen interfere with 
the planting of the ordinary leguminous 
cover-crops, rye, or rye and vetch can be 
used as late as the close of September. The 
plowing under of the cover-crops should be 
completed not later than the middle of 
July, when normally the leguminous cover, 
such as hairy vetch or crimson, mammoth 
or medium red clover, should be sown. 
Where washing is bad, it may largely be 
prevented by tilling alternate interspaces 
every other year, thus giving each tree an¬ 
nual cultivation over half its roots.” 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Farmer’s Bulletin No. 113, “The Apple 
and How to Grow It,” says: “Thorough and 
oft-repeated stirring of the soil is absolutely 
essential to success. Such culture as is 
needed to produce a 
first-class crop of corn 
or potatoes will keep an 
orchard in good health 
and vigor, provided the 
ground itself is suffici¬ 
ently fertile. 
“The ground having 
been properly prepared 
before planting, a two- 
horse cultivator fre¬ 
quently run between the 
rows will keep it in good 
condition during the 
growing season. Each 
spring the surface 
should be well stirred 
with a two-horse plow. 
The hillside gullies worn by the rain were 
filled with stone which will eventually 
catch and hold the soil 
using a short single tree next to the row 
of trees to avoid danger of bruising the 
trunks of the trees. In plowing, the fur¬ 
rows should be alternately turned toward 
and from the trees. Such culture should 
be continued from year to year at least until 
the trees come into full fruiting, and even 
then it is questionable whether it should be 
discontinued- or not.” 
How It Worked Out 
With all this matter well in mind we de¬ 
cided to experiment on our own small plots, 
and find out what was the best under our 
conditions. A gently sloping hillside plot 
of twenty acres was kept for open cultiva¬ 
tion. To hold the soil during the winter, 
and also to provide humus, a cover-crop 
was to be sown in August. Northern Spy 
and Baldwin trees for permanent bearers, 
with Wagner and Wealthy trees for fillers, 
were set in April; then, as soon as the land 
was dry enough, cultivation began. A dust 
mulch was kept over the ground until the 
middle of August, when a cover-crop of 
rye and vetch was sown. The rye and 
vetch were planted three parts rye to one 
of vetch. The seed cost $80, and sowing 
it cost $23.43, being an outlay of $103.43, 
making an extra cost per acre of $5.42. 
Effects of Erosion 
Winter brought the test. Parts of the 
hillside had already been washed severely 
by heavy summer showers. On these spots 
the cover-crop was slow to catch, and much 
of the fine soil had been removed. While 
the cover-crop was tall and vigorous over 
most of the ground by the time the cold 
weather came, on the hillside where it was 
needed most the growth was feeble. The 
January thaws made huge gullies in the land 
between the little trees. When the spring 
break-up came it completed the devastation. 
Many gullies 2' deep could be traced down 
the hillside which was washed to a bed of 
stone. Each of the gullies was filled with 
stone picked from the bare ground, and 
these stone ditches were left to accumulate 
earth as time filters it down. Eventually 
they will be covered again, but, in our clim¬ 
ate of freshets and thunder storms, the 
trouble is liable to recur at any time with 
open cultivation prevailing. 
Mr. Davis, Scientist in Laboratory In¬ 
vestigation, Bureau of Soils, in the Year¬ 
book of 1913 of the Washington Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, has an exhaustive and 
well-illustrated article on “The Economic 
Waste from Soil Erosion.” In it he says: 
“Some idea of the extent of our loss from 
soil erosion may he gained from the fact 
that the National Conservation Conference 
in 1909 reported nearly eleven million acres 
of abandoned farm land in the United 
States, most of it damaged and over one- 
third or about four million acres actually 
destroyed by erosion. The United States 
is suffering annually the loss of seventy-five 
to one hundred million dollars through 
the agency of erosion. The problem is 
then put up to each individual owner of 
land.” He then stated a case where “a 
farm was badly eroded, with several gul¬ 
lies 2' to 12' deep. The gullies were filled 
with debris and • back-furrowed until no 
sign of them was left on the fields. Then 
200 loads of stable man¬ 
ure were applied to the 
field of thirty-eight acres 
and a rotation of rye, 
peas, corn and wheat 
was adopted and the 
land was redeemed.” 
About the time we 
read this came along an¬ 
other article on the same 
subject. This was bv 
Professor Samuel J. 
Record: “You Can’t 
Stop the Rain, But You 
Can Prevent Soil Ero¬ 
sion.” He says: “With 
your own eyes you may 
(Continued on page 58) 
Methods of 
Growing 
Apples 
Necessary- Labor and 
Material 
Returns 
Dangers of 
Method 
Effect on Trees 
Open cultiva- 
Constant working of the soil 
and fertilization during 
growing season. Seed and 
labor for cover-crops. 
Washing of soil. 
Good growth, if mois¬ 
ture conditions &re 
favorable. 
fruit. 
Intercrops . .. 
Material and labor for inter¬ 
crops. Seed and labor for 
cover-crops. 
Possible re¬ 
turns from 
intercrops. 
Washing of soil. In¬ 
terference of inter¬ 
crops with growth 
of trees. Failure 
of intercrops. 
Same as open culti¬ 
vation if intercrops 
do not interfere 
with growth of 
trees. 
Sod . 
None, once sod is established. 
Trees do not grow 
fast or bear well. 
Arrested development 
of trees. 
cattle, or 
hay. 
Sod mulch.... 
Preparing seed bed and seed¬ 
ing, mowing and returning 
grass as mulch about trees. 
None, until 
fruit. 
Not having mulch 
enough to make up 
for lack of other 
fertilization. 
Good growth because 
moisture is pre¬ 
served in soil. 
