EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 249 



spring about ten days later than in southern Michigan and the blossoms 

 are less likely to be injured by the spring frosts, while the cold rains that 

 have for several years nearly destroyed the crop in the southern counties 

 by washing the pollen from the flowers and offering favorable conditions 

 for the development of fungi, have come before the flowers have opened 

 on the trees in the northern counties. 



The insects are less plentiful in that section and a crop can be expected 

 with considerable certainty on account of the easy transition from autumn 

 to winter and from winter to spring. 



SOIL AND LOCATION. 



For a commercial orchard it is of the utmost importance that the soil 

 and location should be well adapted to the growth of the trees. It can be 

 put down at the outset that apples will not thrive in a soil that is very dry 

 and sandy, or very heavy and wet. It is often said that apples will do well 

 on any high, strong, well-drained soil, that will grow good wheat or corn, 

 and this will generally be found to be true. 



While it will always be well to avoid either extreme, a moderately heavy 

 sandy loam or a light clay loam will generally prove satisfactory if suitably 

 located. 



The orchard should be considerably elevated above the land surrounding 

 it, not only because that may aid in securing good soil drainage, but, of 

 even more importance, because of its aid in giving proper air drainage, as 

 the cold air will flow down to the lower levels and thus lessen the danger 

 from extreme cold in winter and from spring frosts. Another advantage 

 not generally understood is that the scab and other fungi are more trouble- 

 some in hollows than upon hillsides. 



DRAINAGE. 



Few plants will make a satisfactory growth, if at any time during the 

 growing season their roots are in standing water, and the apple is no excep- 

 tion. While it is better to have the soil naturally drained, tile under- 

 drainage should be supplied in case the water does not drain off quickly 

 after a rain. If lines of two and one half or three inch drain tile are laid 

 at a depth of three and one half or four feet, midway between the rows of 

 trees, they will quickly rid the land of surplus water. 



The objection is often made that they will fill up, but this seldom hap- 

 pens except to suph lines as carry the water from a spring. In that case 

 there will generally be water in the tiles while the soil around may be dry, 

 and the roots will be very likely, under those conditions, to enter at the 

 joints of the tiles and fill them so completely as to stop the flow of the 

 water. When, however, the only duty of the tiles is to carry off the sur- 

 plus water in the soil, the roots will seldom enter, as there will be all the 

 moisture they care for in the soil so long as there is water in the tiles. 

 With our common fruits, there will seldom be an exception to this rule, 

 but the willow and elm sometimes completely fill tiles even when the soil 

 is very wet. 



It does not follow that a stiff, heavy soil, even though it be high and 

 rolling, can be brought into good condition for an apple orchard, even 

 though it be thoroughly tile drained, as at best it will be stiff and lumpy. 

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