frozen to greater relative depths than for the previous year. Corn made a much better growth and replaced rye in second place. Vetch made a similar growth and the soil froze only 4 inches deep, which is again the best showing for the year.

No one will gainsay that the differences here shown may frequently make all the difference between serious injury or perfect protection.

CONCLUSIONS.

There are some general conclusions that may be drawn in regard to the relative value of different crops for cover crop purposes.

(1). Any crop intended for this purpose must be sown early enough to make a heavy growth before killed by frosts, and, other things being equal, the heavier the growth the greater the check to the trees and the greater the protection during the winter.

(2). The value of a crop for this purpose depends on the season. One crop may be excellent one season and utterly worthless another.

(3). Some crops, as rape, cow peas and soy beans, are rapid growers, but after frosts come, have little mulching effect and consequently give little winter protection.

(4). Some crops hold snow, leaves, etc., better than others, and in so far as they do, give just that much more added protection. In some localities cover crops should be selected with this in mind.

(5). Crops living over winter should be plowed under as early as possible, in order to prevent loss of moisture.

(6). Some plants do one thing better than others. None seem to be best in every respect. Corn was superior to all others in its effect on moisture, while vetch was superior so far as its effect on temperature was concerned. These two crops came the nearest being ideal.

(7). The greater the vegetation produced the greater will be the amount to return to the soil for the formation of humus and the bettering of the physical condition of the soil, setting free plant food and increasing the waterholding capacity of the same.

(8).

We must carefully study our local conditions and select those crops that will best do those things of most importance for our own conIditions and locality.

The President: This matter is now open for discussion.

Mr. Gill: In view of those experiments, what would be the effect of clover which grows pretty well? I mean of course to grow it during the year, and then it would be cut and allowed to mulch during the summer?

Professor Davis: Last winter I began an experiment that ended disastrously in studying moisture conditions and the temperature conditions under mulch and compared with the sod in the same orchard

54-B. of A.

and the clean culture plot elsewhere, but very unfortunately my thermometers broke down after two or three readings and they cannot be replaced quickly, and the experiment stopped. So far as the temperature is concerned, under ordinary mulch, two or three inches of manure placed around the trees, as compared with the clean plot, the two or three readings we got, we got as much as five to seven degrees difference in temperature in favor of the mulch. I think there is opportunity for some good work to be done in the determination of the relative effect of moisture on the trees, and also on the temperature. So far as clover is concerned as a cover crop, I think if we could get a good stand of clover the results would compare favorably with a stand of rye, but the difficulty with that, is in getting a good stand of clover at that time of year for cover.

Mr. Gill: Would you say it should be plowed under in the spring instead of allowing it to grow and mow it for a summer cover? Which · would bring the better results?

Professor Davis: I do not know. I do not think I could say at the present time. If you did that you would be getting away from the cover crop and going over to the mulch idea. That is an entirely different problem, and I do not think I could discuss it this morning.

Mr. Roudebush: In the light of your experiments what would you say as to oats?

Professor Davis: It compared very favorably the first season when we got a good growth. It was second or third as far as the effect on the moisture was concerned, the corn and the oats being the same so far as its effects on temperature was concerned.

A Member: What time of the year would you sow the oats?

Professor Davis: It depends on the weather conditions. The first year we sowed any oats we got a good crop. We sowed them in August and got a good cover. The next year we sowed them the 19th of July, and did not get any cover to speak of. They were killed by the rust. A Member: They were sowed too early.

Professor Davis: Probably that, and the heavy rain made rust conditions very satisfactory.

A Member: What cover gave the best results?

Professor Davis: We made observations on that, and I think the rape gave us the best mechanical conditions, better than the rye.

A Member: Isn't rape very exhaustive on the land?
Professor Davis: I do not believe it was.

Mr. Shirer: What was the minimum temperature for 1904-1905? Professor Davis: For 1905, the winter of 1904-1905, it went down to zero, a little below zero once or twice. That was the year that gave us the deepest freezing. I remember that the average for some ten days in February was 2 degrees and a fraction.

Mr. Shirer: Does it follow that the more moisture there is in the soil the less it will freeze?

Professor Davis: Relatively so, yes.

A Member: If trees have been heavily mulched through the summer and the mulch is all removed during the fall to prevent damage from mice, will it have any particular effect upon the tree as to freezing?

Professor Davis: I should say probably it might, depending upon the severeness of the winter. Without any doubt the soil would freeze deeper without the mulch there than with it. The only question is would it freeze deeper than the roots of the tree?

A Member: The mulch has, a tendency to draw the root from the ground. There will be roots, large roots, on the top of the surface.

Professor Davis: Yes, but in a recent bulletin that was gotten out it was shown that while there was some roots next to the surface, there were also more roots in the soil. A great many of the food absorbing roots die each year and are renewed the following spring.

Mr. Pierce: Isn't it difficult to get cover crops to grow in an orchard of any size, in an old orchard?

Professor Davis: It is more difficult in this orchard.

Professor Davis: I think we might conclude from the results that other people have received that it affects the fertility. We have a growing crop on the soil, and a certain amount of plant food soluble, those crops will take it up. The nitrogen salts are easily washed out. Mr. McCowan: Does cultivation increase the blight? Professor Davis: I do not know. My own opinion is, not backed with very much experience, that it would tend to increase the blight. Professor Waid: Do you think that a combination of crops would be good to plant, say planting one first and then another later?

Professor Davis: Yes, that might be possible, and I think in some cases advantageous.

Mr.Shirer: To keep it from washing would it be advisable to sow what would you select? I mean asparagus four feet four, and in case you want to sow a cover crop?

Professor Davis: To answer your question indirectly, I certainly would not want to use any cover crop with good asparagus up to the first of June. Those plants have to make an enormous growth during the remainder of the season which is all too short, to store up plant food in the root, and we do not want to plant anything on that soil that will rob the soil of that food. It would be better to clean them out and make a dust mulch.

Mr. Shirer: To keep it from washing would it be advisable to sow oats, to keep it from fall washing?

Professor Davis: I do not know very much about that. Perhaps Professor Shaw can tell you more about it.

Professor Shaw: In certain varieties, take the peach, the late varieties, you would want to use care in the cover crop, and you shouldn't dare to use one that would take too much moisture out of the soil before the crop was harvested.

A Member: Have there been experiments made looking to the use of alfalfa?

Professor Davis: I would say that since the experiments that were made we have sowed a pear orchard in crimson clover and alfalfa. The alfalfa was not good, but the clover was quite good. So far as the general effect on the orchard was concerned it seems quite good. I know of no reason why alfalfa would not make a cover crop if you can get a good crop in the fall of the year. That is the difficulty with clover and alfalfa.

A Member: What would be the condition in the following spring? Professor Davis: If you wish to continue the cover crop system you will plow them up and continue it over again. Sow your cover crops the latter part of the season so they will make a growth.

A Member. Did you ever use salt to prevent blight on pears?
Professor Davis: No.

The President: Our next paper is "Horticulture of Ohio."

HORTICULTURE IN OHIO.

PROFFESSOR WILLIAM R. LAZENBY.

Fortunate in geographical position, blessed with a naturally fertile soil and a good topography; with a varied and productive climate, it is not surprising that Ohio ranks high in natural resources and in the diversity and extent of her industries.

In the semblance of a square, about 200 miles on a side, between parallels 38° and 42° north latitude, having the Great Lakes on the north and the Ohio river on the south, the highway of nearly all the great railroad systems in the country, her facilities for transportation are excellent and the great com. mercial centers and markets of the nation are near at hand.

Ohio is equally fortunate in the distribution of her population. With five cities of over 150,000 each and about 40 cities with populations of 10,000 or over, a large majority of her people live in small towns and rural districts. It is a state of small farms. According to the census of 1900 there were 276,719 farms in Ohio, the average size of which is 88 1-2 acres. Only 164 farms contain 1,000 acres or over.

Judged by her mineral and timber resources, Ohio ranks among the richest of the Union and her manufacturers and commerce are varied and extensive. Yet the foundation of Ohio's prosperity are her agriculture and horticulture.

Other industries are useful and necessary and many pursue them with advantage to themselves and others. But many of those industries are less permanent in character, and some of them may yet be entirely dispensed with, while agriculture and horticulture never can be. They are the first and most essential of human pursuits, and it is to everyone's interest that they should

be honored and prosperous. Happy is that state or community where they are pursued with satisfaction and profit.

Ohio is noted for her diversified rather than speciailzed horticultural industries. Some states raise more apples and pears, others more peaches and plums, and still others more market garden vegetables; but few states rank higher in the production of all the standard horticultural crops grown in the north temperate zone. The statistics of the twelfth census show that for the year 1899 the total value of all crops in Ohio was $151,226,461. Of this amount, the crops usually classed as horticultural contributed something over 19 per cent., or $28,827,869. Of this amount nearly one-half came from vegetables and onethird from fruits. One striking feature of the horticulture of certain states, notably California and Florida, is its seggregation or specialization. This, together with the fact that the horticultural interests of these states are not overshadowed by the agricultural, makes them characterisically horticultural states. For fruit production alone, California now holds an undisputed claim to first rank, but when we include all the divisions of horticulture, certain states of the East and great Middle West outdistance California. In small fruit culture, market gardening or trucking, vegetable growing under glass, floriculture, the nursery business and seed growing, Ohio takes a high rank. While there are few single areas of great extent devoted to any one of these lines of horticulture, the aggregate. of small holdings and the total yield therefrom make an excellent showing.

Magnitude has for many a peculiar fascination. The owner of five acres of orchard often has ravishing dreams of the joy and satisfaction inherent in a great Western fruit farm with its hundreds of acres of fruit trees. As the young captain who can scarcely manage his company in battle would like to command a great army, so many a man with little or no experience in horticulture thinks he can manage a great orchard. I would not, if I could, disparage a great enterprise. There is such a thing as raising fruit on a large scale, and it is good business for those who are qualified for it and have all the means it requires. It is attractive and inspiring to see horticulture successfully practiced on a large area. Some orchard fruits, as well as grapes, are grown on a large scale, with profit. But the great bulk of our apples, pears,. peaches, plums, cherries, as well as our small fruits, are grown by the owners of small farms or gardens, and are not likely to be soon grown otherwise in Ohio. One reason for this is that these crops need at particular seasons a personal attention and vigilance that can seldom or never be accorded by the owners or renters of large farms.

Let us rejoice then that there is scope and encouragement for the humble worker in fruit culture; the worker who can achieve large crops and generous profits from small areas and take just pride in that neatness and perfection of culture attainable only in the management of small areas.

Of this, the horticulture of Ohio is a good illustration and it is not likely that large horticultural operations, whether by individuals or corporations, will ever absorb or enable us to dispense with the smaller ones.

Ohio ranks well to the front as an apple producing state. The United States census of 1890 gave her first place, with a crop of over 13 3-4 millions of bushels for the year 1889 and the census of 1900 gave her third place, with a crop of over 20 1-2 millions of bushels for 1899. From the data at my command a conservative estimate of the apple production of Ohio for the ten years from 1895 to 1905, is 120 million bushels, or an average of 12 million bushels a year. Only once during this decade (1899) did the yield fall below five million bushels, while for three times (1895, 1896, 1899) it reached the high mark of