River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1906-05-31
ORCHARD CULTIVATION.
The practices of Manure Mulching
Compared with Other Methods
of II satment.

Z. Z. Spradling, Graham county,
KAN, writes for Information concern
ing the setting out of fruit trees. He
will set out some trees about a half
mile from home and wishes to Know IL
he can mulch them with Stable
manure so as to avoid cultivation. He
intended to do this until he saw an
article by the writer on cherry grow
ing, asserting chat mulching caused
the roots to grow too close to the top
of the ground. He wants to know II
apple, pear and apricot trees will %
affected the same way.
The position that roots take in tho
soil whether near the surface or
deeper down depends to a consider
able extent on the region, says the
Prairie Farmer. Under shallow cul-
,tivation the oxygen of the air pene-
.trates the soil. Oxygenation sets free
latent plant food. at just the point
IN the soil where air and moisture
come together to the best degree.
there the feeding roots are more free
ly developed. A heavy mulch of straw
shuts the air out of the soil. brings
moisture to the surface and develops
feeding rootlets on the surface. This
happens when we mulch with straw
to the depth of IL to 20 inches. IL
it was fine straw and pretty we'll com.
pacted lesser depth would produce
the same result.
Under such conditions the writer
has seen tree roots as large as your
finger on the surface Of the ground.
AS long as the heavy mulch was kept
up no harm resulted from this surface
roofing. When howeve" the strawy
litter rots away exposing this root
system, then the tree suffers. Where
the soil can be cultivated once week
or oftener if crusted by rainfall, then
soil mulch is the best of all be-
cause aeration of the soil and the de-
velopment of latent plant food can go
forward while conserving moisture.
A mulch of two or three inches of
stable litter loose upon the surface
would not be likely to bring the root
system to the surface in one season.
An occasional working of the disk
or cultivator running through this
mulch would combine the best fea-
lures of both methods.
AS the trees get larger with spread
of branches Of six to eight feet or
more it becomes more difficult to cul-
tiYate close to the trunk Of the tree.
We have secured excellent results by
mulching the row of fruit trees to the
width of six to eight feet from end
to end one way and keep the remain
ing portion Of the orchard open with
pillow, disk, harrow or cultiyator. We
have had most excellent results in or
chards with this method. The mulch
ing of stable litter conserved some
degree of moisture, increased the fer
tility of the soil and kept the weeds
down on the ground that could not
be easily reached with pillow or culti-
vator. Our most successful cherry or
chard was handled in this manner
We would very much prefer to uso
stable litter for this combined pur.
pose of mulching and culture than to
use straw. To certain extent bright,
fresh straw reflects the sun against
the trunk of the tree and II inches
of straw is no more effective than two
or three inches Of stable litter.
In further answer to your CORE
spondent, we suggest that where the
trees are planted half mile from
home and apt to be neglected would
use the combined method OF narrow
mulching aud cultivation.