American Agriculturist, July 28,1923 
54 
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READ this question on. the editorial 
page of your July 7 issue and will 
attempt to answer it. First, I might 
state that I favor the sod mulch plan, 
first, last and all the time. I do not 
say that it is a practical method for 
all locations or for all men, even if 
those men were 
blessed with an 
ideal location for 
a sod mulch or¬ 
chard. 
There is ap¬ 
proximately one 
thousand acres of 
orchard being 
grown in sod in 
my immediate vi¬ 
cinity. About ____ 
two-thirds of this ——— - 
acreage is seeded 
to alfalfa, the rest to various other 
grasses. Some of the orchards have a 
very heavy stand of alfalfa, while 
others have a light stand. The trees 
growing in the alfalfa sod are from 
one to twenty-two years of age and the 
land has not been ploughed or re¬ 
seeded since the trees were planted ex¬ 
cept in a few instances where previous 
seeding of other grasses was not 
satisfactory. 
I do not think that alfalfa retards 
the growth of an apple tree; in fact, 
I know under conditions here that it 
promotes the 
growth to a very 
marked degree, al¬ 
though there might 
be instances where 
the alfalfa would 
retard the tree for 
a short period of its 
life, but later this 
would be more than 
made up by the in¬ 
creased available 
supply of nitrogen 
and humus. 
To be more ex¬ 
plicit, a young or¬ 
chard just planted 
in a heavy stand of 
alfalfa m a y not 
show as much 
growth for two or 
three years as a cor¬ 
responding area un¬ 
der cultivation, but 
as soon as the tyee 
attains a roothold 
the effect of the 
large supply of ni¬ 
trogen and humus 
from the rotted 
mulch will become 
apparent in the in¬ 
creased vigor of the tree. There are 
various reasons for this retarding ac¬ 
tion, all of which, to the writer’s notion, 
may be overcome by judicious manage¬ 
ment. To begin with, it is not desir¬ 
able to have a heavy stand of alfalfa, 
especially if the seeding closely sur¬ 
rounds the apple tree. A lighter stand 
gives the desired results for most loca¬ 
tions, and the light stand does not take 
up as much moisture from the soil and 
it does not bother so much in the 
regular operation of the orchard, such 
as mowing, spraying, thinning, and 
picking. 
Another matter which has a bearing 
Advocates Sod Mulch 
/ T'HE Hitchings Orchards are noted 
among fruit men throughout the 
East for their success with the sod 
mulch. You will be interested in this 
article, telling how alfalfa is used as 
the mulch.—The Editors. 
By H. R. HITCHINGS . 
on the judicious management of the or¬ 
chard is the time of cutting. For the 
best results, to the writer’s notion, the 
alfalfa should always be cut early 
(10th to 15th of June in Central New 
York) and for 
————i the first six or 
seven years raked 
and placed as a 
mulch around 
the trees. The 
second cutting 
should be cut and 
left in the swath. 
Placing the 
mulch around the 
__ tree will tend to 
— . smother out the 
alfalfa i m m e - 
diately above the young roots and 
this will enable the tree to start off at 
an early age in a very thrifty condi¬ 
tion. Four or five years of mulching 
will about finish the alfalfa under the 
branches, thus aiding in the mowing 
and the gathering of the apples. The 
alfalfa, used as a mulch, deteriorates 
very rapidly, and the extra nitrogen 
and humus become available in a short 
time. This takes the place of cultivation 
or a nitrogeneous fertilizer and allows 
the grower to bring up an orchard 
much cheaper than by other means. 
A view of one of the Hitchings Orchards—ten years old—consisting of 
Wealthy and Northern Spy varieties. This orchard has a sod mulch of 
a light stand of alfalfa. A Wealthy in the left of center of the picture 
is bending with the heavy load 
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If the alfalfa hay is removed from 
the orchard, or if the hay is allowed to 
stand uncut over a dry period, it will, 
no doubt, work a hardship on the trees, 
although there is a block of eight-year- 
old McIntosh trees on an adjoining 
farm that has had all of the hay re¬ 
moved since the trees were planted that 
are in a very thrifty condition and are 
fruiting well. This orchard is planted 
on an exceptionally deep rich soil and 
the trees are thriving without the 
added impetus of the alfalfa mulch. 
For ordinary conditions the writer cer¬ 
tainly would not advise removing the 
hay, but, if one is contemplating inter¬ 
cropping, it would be better to grow 
alfalfa in the orchard and remove pos¬ 
sibly part of the crop for monetary re¬ 
turn. The orchard will receive some 
benefit from the nitrogen in the alfalfa, 
even if a large percentage of the hay 
is removed and the soil will be left in 
a better condition than as if under cul¬ 
tivation, as most anyone will agree who 
has ploughed up old alfalfa sod, and 
planted this area to field crops. The 
soil is looser and more friable and the 
crops seem to respond better. 
If any hay is to be removed, take 
the first cutting, and take it early, leav¬ 
ing enough to cover the ground around 
the trees for a mulch. 
To sum up in answering your ques¬ 
tion, “Does the alfalfa hurt the tree 
by taking away moisture?” I would 
say yes, if a heavy stand is allowed to 
remain immediately surrounding the 
tree through periods of drought. If 
this is cut and a mulch placed around 
the tree early in the season, I would 
say no, the alfalfa cannot harm the 
tree. 
I do not think you will find it neces¬ 
sary to use commercial fertilizer if the 
aforementioned method of cutting the 
hay and mulching is followed. Of 
course, I am speaking of conditions in 
Central New York where there is a 
limestone soil and alfalfa thrives. 
There are some seedings in this vicin¬ 
ity twenty years old that have quite 
a stand of alfalfa. We have not seen 
the necessity of applying fertilizer on 
our orchards seeded to alfalfa. Per¬ 
sonally, I believe that our orchards 
seeded to alfalfa are larger, more 
thrifty, and much more fruitful than 
they would have been under cultiva¬ 
tion ; and, the. cost of growing them up 
to bearing age is a small percentage 
of what it would have been under cul¬ 
tivation. Our Northern Spys start bear¬ 
ing commercial crops from eight . to 
twelve years of age in the alfalfa sod, 
other varieties accordingly. 
There are some drawbacks, however. 
Alfalfa forces wood growth similar to 
cultivation or the heavy application of 
nitrogeneous fertilizer, and it is some¬ 
times difficult to secure the proper re¬ 
lationship between sufficient stand of 
alfalfa and proper forcing of the tree 
to secure the largest quantity of well- 
colored fruit. There is ample opportu¬ 
nity for experimentation along this 
line. I have heard 
it said that alfalfa 
in the orchard in¬ 
creases the suscepti¬ 
bility of the tree to 
scab, but to date 
there has not been 
any special trouble 
encountered in con¬ 
trolling scab on the 
alfalfa-seeded or¬ 
chards. 
Alfalfa retards the 
ripening of the fruit 
—this being, at 
times, a distinct ad- 
vantage as the 
length of the pick¬ 
ing season may be 
prolonged. The ap¬ 
ples do not color as 
well if the stand of 
alfalfa is too heavy 
and the soil rich. 
As the trees attain 
age the stand of al¬ 
falfa usually be¬ 
comes lighter and 
the color of the ap¬ 
ples improves. In 
fact, much the same 
result is obtained by 
the use of the alfalfa-seeded sod 
mulch plan as by cultivation and 
there are many items beside the cost in 
its favor. The grower can handle a much 
larger orchard with the same amount 
of help, a very important item taken 
alone. The orchard can be planted on 
hillsides where cultivation would be im¬ 
practical. Having a larger area situ¬ 
ated over various locations as regards 
aspect and slope of the land insures 
a better chance of bringing through an 
annual crop. 
This is an eight-year-old McIntosh in 
an orchard having a heavy stand of 
alfalfa, which has been cut and prac¬ 
tically all removed since the trees 
were set. It has a fair set of fruit 
this year. 
Alfalfa As A Sod Mulch in the Orchard 
And Its Effect Upon the Development of Young Apple Trees 
