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WINTER MEETING.                  117
ent from yours here, you have more snow, but I want my ground
covered during the winter time with something, and even where
we put on corn, we like to sow something at the last cultivation
of the corn, so that there is something on the ground after the
corn is cut off. Of course we sometimes do not get very much
growth in amongst the corn, and I can see that this method
might vary on ground that was liable to wash, and in some
places it may not be practicable to do that. I have noticed in
the Rural New Yorker, some of Mr. Collinwood's experiments in
planting an orchard. He put around anything, hay, straw, weeds.
Now, that practice would not do at all with us, because of the
danger from mice in the winter time. We have to be very par-
ticular about that and whenever I put on a cove rcrop, I am
particular in the fall to have a clean space immediately around
the trees, but I want a cover crop as well, because, as has been
stated here before, I think you will destroy all the humus if you
practice clean cultivation without returning something to the
soil, something in the way of a cover crop, or a heavy coating of
stable manure.
A COMPARISON OF TILLAGE AND SOD MULCH IN AN
APPLE ORCHARD.
0. M. TAYLOR, Geneva, N. Y.
Among all the horticultural industries of the Empire State of
New York, the culture of the apple ranks first in importance. It
takes this position not only in the value of the fruit produced
but also in the value of the lands devoted to this crop. Apple-
growing as a business has come to receive special attention only
in recent years, and is yet comparatively young, dating back no
more than 50 or 60 years to the first great movement in the plant-
ing of apple orchards in New York.
In those earlier days, little, if any, careful systematic study
had been made regarding cultural methods. The subject itself
was new and there were no past experiences to serve as guides
in regard to selection of varieties, distance of planting, pruning,
enemies of the fruit and tree-both insect and fungi-or of the
proper treatment of the soil to secure best results. But as the
years passed experience was gained and now at the present time
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