6 



being rather a precarious crop to handle, although its beauty in color commands for 

 it the top prices on the market. 



Nursery Stock. — The nursery stock planted the last few years has been of 

 '•nther poor quality, with crooked and ill-shaped trunks and poorly formed heads, 

 and a great percentage of them three or four year old trees. But that has been the 

 least of its faults. Much bitter reproach has been hurled at the nursery stock 

 peddlers who sold trees for standard varieties, and when they came into bearing 

 they turned out to be anything but what was ordered, and invariably were common, 

 worthless trash of no commercial value • whatever. The orchard business has lost 

 many good supporters on this account, who, through lack of knowledge of reliable 

 firms and of details with regard to the purchase of nursery stock, have become dis- 

 gusted and neglected their opportunities in apple-growing. 



A few farmers should act together to buy nursery-stock. They should make 

 investigations as to the best and most reliable firms, and then send a man to the 

 nursery to inspect the stock he is buying and make a bargain for a large quantity ; 

 thus the farmers will be sure of getting good trees and in good condition. By buy- 

 ing co-operatively, a cheaper rate will be secured, the freight will be comparatively 

 less, and with large shipments packing will be done better and delivery will be more 

 prompt. But most important of all, they will be able to rely upon the trees being 

 true to name. 



Strong unbranehed. whips are the best trees to plant, but they must have dili- 

 gent and intelligent care, because they are young and almost invisible, one might 

 say, after they are planted in the field, and will suffer more from neglect than other 

 trees. Two year old trees are very good, but older trees should not be bought, as they 

 are frequently culls and left-over stock of a nursery. Good nursery stock should 

 be healthy, well-grown, free from all insects or insect injury and disease. The 

 straight whip should be five or six feet in height with a good, well-branched root 

 system, and a large percentage of small fibrous roots. The two year old tree should 

 have a well branched and evenly balanced head, formed between two and three feet 

 above the roots, so thait when it is planted the head will be one and a half to two and 

 a half feet above the ground, and it should have the same character of root system 

 as the unbranehed whip. 



Distance Apart por Planting. 



The greatest objection to the old orchards throughout this section is that they 

 were planted too closely together, the distance varying from 15 x 15 to 20 x 24, with 

 a few exceptions where the trees were planted 30 x 30. Th result of this close plant- 

 ing has been to force the trees up, making the operations of picking, spraying and 

 pruning more expensive and inadequate, and at the same time lessening the pro- 

 duction of marketable fruit. The trees in an apple orchard should be set far enough 

 apart to allow the full development of the tree without crowding, and in no case 

 s'hould standard long lived trees be planted less than 35 feet apart both ways. 

 Varieties which are slow growing and do not attain such a growth as the Mcintosh, 

 and are more like the Wealthy and Duchess, may be planted at a lesser distance, and 

 even tben must be kept in hounds by means of pruning. 



Management of Young Orchards. 



Planting. — Over the portion of Dundas County covered by this survey there 

 has been a great revival of orchard planting in the past year^or two, and at the 

 present time there is a large number of young trees sold for next year's planting. 



