246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



for working orchards we can usually work close to the tree, and so this 

 objection is done away with. 



After the trees have been procured, the matter of distance will have 

 to be considered; that is, after the ground has been prepared for planting. 

 And I should say a word in regard to the preparation of the soil before 

 speaking of distance. The soil should be carefully prepared. To begin 

 with, if there is a hard subsoil it should be broken up. In the section from 

 which I come very little preparation in that respect is necessary, because 

 it is usually loose so the roots can readily make their way down into 

 it; but where there is a hard subsoil it is always better to break it up; 

 it is better to have the gi-ound in condition before the trees are planted. 

 You should have the ground in as good condition as you would like to have 

 it for a crop of corn. 



We are more liable, in planting, to plant too close together than too 

 far apart. You can see, all over the country, orchards that have been 

 planted too close together; the branches interlock and make it difficult 

 to spray the trees and to prune them, and the ti'ees can not get enough 

 sunlight and air. By setting them a greater distance apart we obviate 

 this difficulty. I know of the same difficulty of close planting in Cheboy- 

 gan county. Several, one of which must have been planted within the 

 last four years, were planted twenty or twenty-two feet apart, I am not 

 sure which. I have to have a grower to prune those trees each year, and 

 this keeps them within bounds; but those who have to prune apple trees 

 and apple orchards will appreciate that this means a task. He has, at 

 the present time, 16,000 trees; he is a doctor and can not look after the 

 orchard very closely himself, and has to rely upon help, and so we see 

 there is likely to be an objection. It may be that these trees will meet 

 and interfere with each other; at least, the indications point that way, I 

 believe we really should give the trees greater distance— say a distance of 

 forty feet apart. 



Mr. Swaim: Do you not think that the planting of trees so closely 

 will shorten the life of the tree? 



I am not sure as to that. I know in the pruning of peach trees that 

 some claim if you prune them each year it will shorten their lives; yet, I 

 believe usually it is the contrary or the reverse. Of course, this might not 

 hold true of the apple. In pruning a tree, we thin the tree at the same 

 time. If the trees are not pruned, they bear out on the large branches 

 and break down; that would more likely be the case, and it would be diffi- 

 cult in high trees to look after them properly and yet leave the large 

 branches on, and it is always detrimental to a tree to have the large 

 branches removed. 



In regard to the pear, the distance for planting the standard pear, as 

 a rule, should be from twenty to twenty-four feet apart, depending some 

 upon the variety. For the dwarf pear, the distance usually recommended 



