on Dec 3, 1881: "If you have money to fool away, seed down your young orchard to clover and timothy, or sow a crop of wheat or oats. If you want the trees to thrive, cultivate well till they are seven or ten years old. Spread ashes, manue, or salt broadcast. Stop cultivating in August, weeds or no weeds; this allows the trees to ripen for winter. The question whether to cultivate old orchards or not must be answered by observing the trees. If the clover of the leaves is good and they grow well and bear fine fruit they are doing well enough even if in grass. But if the leaves are pale, the annual growth less than a foot on a twelve trees, and the fruit small and poor, something is the matter, and they are suffering for want of cultivation, or manure, or both. To judge of the condition of an apple is like judging of the condition of sheep in a pasture. Look at the sheep, and if they are plump and fat, they are all right." Death Beal was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing. See also Long-term experiment References External links Photo of W.J. Beal (circa 1920) William James Beal Society (for donors of at least $10,000,000 to Michigan State University) William J. Beal and the Botanical Garden Cowles House (home of W. J. Beal, now the MSU president's house) American botanists University of Michigan alumni Harvard University alumni University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty Michigan State University faculty East Lansing, Michigan 1833 births 1924 deaths People from Adrian, Michigan