nd should be stirred in young orchards.
Shallow cultivation is all that is necessary after the first plowing. A
weeder or light harrow will do the work. This shallow cultivation will
preserve a dust mulch, a couple of inches or so in depth, and the loss
of soil moisture by capillary action and evaporation will thereby be
prevented; more moisture will be retained in the soil and the trees will
be benefited accordingly.

Whether the orchard is planted in a crop or not, cultivation should
begin about the time growth starts in spring. The ground should be
plowed and leveled with a cultivator. After that, frequent shallow
cultivation should be given with a light harrow or weeder. Once every
week or ten days, if the weather is dry, will result in much good to the
trees. If a shower should fall during one of these dry periods, the
ground should be cultivated just as soon as it can be worked. A light
harrow, which will break up the surface crust formed by the rain and
leave instead a shallow mulch of pulverized soil, will go a long way
toward conserving and holding the water which has been added by the
recent rainfall.

The cultivation of old orchards may vary somewhat from that given
younger ones. Some recommend that the old orchard be seeded to grass
(Bermuda or Johnson grass) and used as a pasture. This may answer in
some cases, particularly on very rich, alluvial soils, but, in general,
it will not do as a definite policy year in and year out. Those orchards
planted in grass which the author has had an opportunity to examine,
have usually shown a large percentage of trees with branches dead at the
tips, "stagheaded," with yellow leaves and a general appearance of
unthriftiness. It may have been that these orchards were planted in
grass while the trees were too young. The better treatment, and the
safer one to follow in old orchards, is to cultivate the ground in
spring and sow down in cowpeas or some other legume. Beggarweed, velvet
beans or soja beans will answer well in many localities. Allow these to
make what growth they will, and, when dead and dry, plow them back into
the soil. It may seem strange to cultivate a forest tree, but it is the
plan to follow to get results. Good results could doubtless be secured
by seeding the pecan orchard in alfalfa and using it for a hog pasture
up to the ripening season.

Cultivation should not be prolonged too late. If it be, the trees will
continue to grow later than they should.