2,6 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



conservative estimate of the returns from an acre of land in a 

 well cared for orchard, 30 trees to the acre, would be fully 100 

 barrels worth in any year at least $150. 



A short time ago I took occasion to note while on a trip cov- 

 ering about one hundred miles in a certain section of this state 

 how many apple trees were to be found on the farms I passed 

 and the condition of them. I saw place after place without a 

 single fruit tree, and very few having more than a ' dozen. 

 These I am sorry to say showed signs of the most utter neg- 

 lect, — were scraggly, uncared for, sick. Men otherwise thrifty, 

 neat, and who take pride in keeping good animals and these in 

 good shape, seem to think that a tree can shift for itself. Trees 

 respond quicker, and more easily to the touch of the pruning 

 knife, the cultivator, or to careful feeding at the hands of man 

 than any other object with which I have had to do. 



Technically speaking I do not pose as an Horticulturist, 

 although I shall have to confess to teaching, at one time, classes 

 in most subjects pertaining to this branch of agriculture, but 

 the subject of orchard culture, tilling and feeding the orchard, 

 is a subject in which I am most intensely interested at present. 



If you have been reading the leading agricultural and horti- 

 cultural papers you must have noticed that there is great differ- 

 ence in opinion as to which is the best of the three or four 

 principal orcharding methods to follow, and the question is 

 far from being settled as vet. We must realize that success- 

 ful orcharding depends on several things. 



1. Proper selection and preparation of the soil. 



2. Selection of proper varieties for the locality, climate, and 

 that soil. 



3. Proper care of the orchard throughout its growing period 

 — this includes pruning, fertilizing, spraying, etc. 



4. The marketing of the products when once produced. 



I am afraid that lack of attention to selection of soil, vane- 

 ties to plant, and the important fact that there is a certain 

 amount of individuality in varieties and even in single trees is 

 responsible for many failures. The proper preparation of the 

 soil before the land is set to trees cannot be too strongly 

 emphasized. Two, and better three, years before the trees are 

 set the land should be plowed deeply, drained if necessary, and 



