254 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



get in return more than the cost, the satisfaction of feeling that you are 

 up with the times and well posted in these matters. 



In selecting a site for the orchard, high, rolling ground, well drained, is 

 preferable. This point of drainage should never be overlooked. Wet feet 

 will produce heart disease in the apple tree as certainly as the miasma of 

 the swamp produces ague in man; only it may take a little longer time. 

 Always remember that the better the conditions connected with the apple 

 orchard the greater the profits. This rule will work well all through, from 

 the planting of the trees to the packing of the fruit for market. The 

 ground should be thoroughly pulverized and cultivated during the first 

 season, as this keeps the ground moist, and crops of some sort may be 

 grown upon the ground during the first six weeks; in fact, the ground in 

 the orchard should be well cultivated until the orchard comes well into 

 bearing, after which the ground may be seeded to grass and pastured with 

 any stock that will not injure the trees, plowing or breaking up the sod 

 once in three or four years; and after thorough cultivation it may be 

 seeded down again and pastured. 



Trees should not be set less than two rods apart. I set my trees forty 

 feet and would prefer to increase the distance rather than make it less. 

 The tree should be set about two inches deeper than it stood in the nur- 

 sery row. The hole should be considerably larger, than the roots of the 

 tree require. Set the tree in its place, throw in some mellow dirt, then 

 with the hand straighten the roots out evenly, then raise part of the fine 

 roots above this dirt and firm the dirt around the roots below them, then 

 throw in more dirt and firm with the foot, covering all of the fine roots, 

 then fill the hole a little more than level, leveling the dirt loose on top. 

 Set the trees leaning toward the point from which the prevailing winds 

 come. The top should be cut back until spring, just about the time buds 

 should begin to swell. The time to commence the formation of the top is 

 the first season they are planted in the orchard. Fix in your mind a 

 model and then endeavor to make the trees conform to that model so far 

 as is possible. If you attend to the pruning in time, every limb can be cut 

 from the tree that is necessary, with a pocket pruning knife. 



The apple orchard will respond to good treatment and good feed as 

 readily as any other farm crop. The trees should be washed once in each 

 year with lye or strong soap suds; apply while hot if possible, using a,n 

 old broom. This prevents the borer from injuring the trees. 



If possible to prevent, never allow the trees to lean to the east or north- 

 east. Trees leaning in that direction have the trunk exposed to the rays 

 of the sun and the alternate thawing and freezing in winter injures the 

 sap vessels, on that side, and the borer puts in his work, and the whole 

 south side of the tree is ruined; decay and death follow in time. 



I think fruitgrowers have not pursued the wisest course in the past in 

 the manner of gathering, packing, and selling their apples. The common 

 practice has been to go into the orchard and gather all the winter apples 

 at about the same time, pack them, and sell all together in the fall 

 or at best in early winter. By observation you will learn that some 

 varieties ripen and drop from the trees much earlier in the season than 

 others. Such apples should be j)icked early before they drop. Some 

 varieties will only keep until early winter, such as King and Hubbardston. 

 Such apples should be sold in the fall, while the better keepers can be 

 held later and the long keepers should be reserved for the spring market. 

 A much better price will be realized for apples sold in this way. When 



