The Southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1895-1909, 1902-07-15
SUCCESS IN FRUIT GROWING.
SU~B~B~G~U~B~
Ae IA

tne orchard begins to bear are plent.
OF moisture and food furnished iE a,
available form throughout the sca~o
30 that when the trees b. gin ;ogrow i,
the spring there will be no let up lni
the seasons growth is complete AN,
the new wood has been ripened 70
winter. This will, IL a vely grea
extent, prevent winter killing Of ire. =
and ] believe it has more to do will
the keeping qualities of the fruit tina
anything else. unless it be overbeal ing
This was very noticeable in the Co =
lege orchard last year. The land on
which the orchard stands is underlaid
ithgravel for a hundred feet or more
in depth, and coming within IS inches
or two feet of the surface.
The reservoir beneath the trees,
which should hold the surplus mois-
ture tor the use of the trees in cases Of
emergency, has no bottom, so in sea-
sons like that of 1901 the trees suffer-
ed very greatly from lack of moisture.
and much of the fruit dropped prema-
turely. Not only that but the annual
growth of the wood was not more than
half what it should have been. Under
such conditions there may be an album
dance Of the plant food in the soil, but
in the absence of moisture the trees
are unable to make use of it. Now,
the soil may losseits moisture in two
ways-by going down so far that the
roots are unable to reach it. or by
evaporating the surface of the soil. and
through the leaves and grow ing parts
of the plant.
II is well known that when soil is
left bare. and a hard crust is allowed
TO form on the surface, explorations
go on very rapidly. and unless this
loss is made good by frequent rains,
it is only question of time when the
soil will become dry and hard. 1t is
also we'll known to those who have
given the matter attention. that in parts
of plants exposed to air. water is con-
>tantly passing off by evaporation.
This is, of course much less in the old
err parts of Elephant than in the new.
especially from the leaves, which ex-
pose large surface tothe atmosphere.
In fact, this is the chief source Of evan.
GRAFTON from all of our higher cultivated
plants.
1t has been estimated that the evap-
citation from leaves is about one-third
that from an equal area Of water; or,
in other words, the evaporation from a
tree 20 feet high containing about 700.
900 leaves, during the gro wing season,
amounts to several times the rainfall
upon the area covered by it's branches.
Not only is this true. but large
amount of moisture is also given off by
the growing fruit. How necessary,
then, is it that this supply should be
kept up as far as possible during the
hot, dry months of summer. in order
that the fruit may continue to grow
until ripened up naturally.
There are two ways i'm which nature
may be resisted very materially in
conserving the surplus moisture which
has been stored up in the soil early in
the season, viz: la) by constant cultiva-
ton and tb) by mulching. These are
only different methods of accomplishing
the same results, and the one to b. re-
commended willdepend largely upon
the circumstances.
In many parts of central and north
ern Indiana and southern Michigan
many of the best fruit growers prac-
tice constant cultivation during the
growingseason as long as the trees
last, so As to f, RIM dust mulch. SOW
ing some kind of a cover crop late in
the season in order to prevent the loss
or plant food by washing during the
fall and winter. This undoubtedly is
the best method for that section. as IS
shown blythe crops produced. But in
southern Indiana where the land is
rolling, and,where the soil washes so
badly during very heavy rains, the
mulch system is the only practical one
to use. This is done by keeping the
soil constantly covered with some kind