INDIANA HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 245 



In planting a new orchard, one of the first things to be considered is 

 the location of the orchard. In this connection I believe the first consid- 

 eration should be the elevation— not necessarily high, but such a degree- 

 of elevation as will insure dramage. Drainage, above all other things, is 

 necessary. If the roots of the tree stand part of the year in free water, 

 the trees fail to do well; they decline and finally die out, or produce very 

 little good fruit. Of course, this can be somewhat remedied by drainage, 

 but the drainage should be done before the trees are planted. 



The character of the soil does not matter so much in the section from 

 which I come; I will not make that statement as to other sections, because 

 I am not posted as to how it is here. There are those here who will, no 

 doubt, tell us the best soil in this section upon which to grow apples. In 

 the section from whicli I come I have seen some very fine orchards on 

 light, sandy lands, but usually the sandy land is not considered good for 

 growing apples; but one of the best of our orchards, the best in the 

 vicinity, is on sandy land. It has been given a little better care than 

 some orchards on some clay land, so this may, in part, account for it. 

 The question of soil I will leave to be settled by some one who is better 

 posted as to the conditions as they exist here. 



A great deal is said at the present time as to a hardy class upon 

 which to top-work the weaker varieties. There are certainly a good many 

 varieties in this connection. The Spy has been quite largely recommended, 

 a two or three or four-year-old from the nursery. That tree makes a good 

 growth. Bud in the summer and graft in the spring. Some prefer to 

 graft and some prefer to bud and graft, too. There may be some objec- 

 tions to it we don't see now, but there are a number of advantages I 

 would like to mention. One advantage is that on the straighter, stronger, 

 more vigorous stock, often we can work some of the weaker growing varie- 

 ties. For instance, the Jonathan, which is not a very strong grower, may 

 be top-worked upon the Spy and a better body procured for it in that way. 



In procuring trees from the nurserymen there are sometimes mistakes 

 made as to the»name, and when the trees come into fruiting they are not 

 always absolutely first-class, or we may find that we have not the variety 

 that we ordered. When we top-work them, we can go to some tree we 

 have known for some time, and now produces good fruit, and procure 

 buds to do top-work with. It has been said, but I am not certain, that 

 trees can be brought to earlier bearing by getting wood for grafting, or 

 buds for budding, from trees now bearing. 



It may be better for forming the head, in some instances, that we look 

 out in this connection, and I want to say a word in favor of low heading of 

 apple trees. I believe the trees in a great many old orchards have been 

 headed too high;Jt'is more difficult to pick the fruit, to spray the trees, 

 and there are a number of disadvantages in having the trees headed too 

 high. The only disadvantage in low heading is that it is more difficult 

 to cultivate the trees, but with the tools that we have at the present time 



