Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1870 [PAGE 356]

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342 GALUSHA—Does Judge Knapp think blight arises from that cause ? K N A P P — I think that starvation is a partial cause. Protection by mulch has succeeded in some cases. Water was wanted. FITCH, of Eockford—Mulching I have found very good. I planted 30 years ago Ehode Island Greening, Baldwin, etc. Got fine apples, but short-lived trees. Small grain is one of the worst things in an orchard. A young tree will not thrive well after an old one. [But, in Madison county, I have about 300 apple trees planted after trees that had stood 40 years, growing well. Large holes were dug, and the limbs of the old tree burnt in the hole. Secretary.1 Grass hurts an orchard in my experience. PROF. STUART—I was surprised to find a large quantity of manganese in the ash of oak leaves, also of lime. The ash of apple tree leaves had no manganese, but a large amount of lime and potash, and probably of soda. I am inclined to think that potash, soda, phosphorus and silicic acid are necessary ingredients. W e want all the ingredients, and also moisture and heat. These organic elements are wanted. We must be careful in our conclusions. There are conditions and causes not well understood, just as there are in Texas fever and hog cholera. Moss, of Belvidere—I believe in mulching, whether with the plow, cultivator, leaves or straw. The first is best in wet seasons, the latter in dry. The drier the season, the more and deeper the sun draws. In 1858 and 1859 we had excessive drouths. I ex~ pected good crops in 1860, and we had them, because the sun had drawn deeper into the earth and drawn up nutriment. The trees about my residence were planted from the brush after 1836. They are now thirty years old, and ten inches through. The last five or six years they have begun to die. They die in June and July. I suppose it is because they came from old roots. D R . GREGORY—I think a borer may have been at work. FLAGG—Drouth has been said to be useful simply as effecting linderdrainage, particularly for the following season. EjsrAPi*—I think a good deal of the theory of the sun drawing up salts. In New Mexico, after rain falls, efflorescence took place on the surface, and went up the spires of grass. STUART—Were there crystals on the leaves ? KNAPP—On the whole plant. Cattle in that region refused salt. Adjourned.