No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 359 



With the already important and the increasing fruit interests 

 here in Adams count}', I believe there is a grand opportunity for 

 some very effective co-operation along the lines just mentioned. 

 If such is the case, and you make the most of the situation, to- 

 gether with your possibilities for the production of high grade fruit, 

 why cannot the reputation of the Grand Valley of Colorado, the 

 Hood Kiver section of Oregon, the Yakima Valley section of Wash- 

 ington, or of any other section be, in five years time and less, your 

 reputation ? 



SELECTING VARIETIES, PREPAEING THE LAND, AND 

 PLANTING A COMMERCIAL APPLE ORCHARD 



By .T. ANDREW COHILXi, Manager Tonoloway Orchard Co., Hancock, Maryland. 



Your corresponding secretary has requested me to talk upon "Se- 

 lecting Varieties, Preparing the Land, and Planting a Commercial 

 Apple Orchard," and as representative of the Tonoloway Orchards of 

 Hancock, Md., it affords me the greatest of pleasure to meet and 

 talk to so many enthusiastic fruit growers, and to find many among 

 you who have selected the same vocation as myself, namely; the 

 culture of the "Fruit of Eden," the apple. 



Apple culture is no longer a branch of agriculture where it so 

 long languished; it has become the most important branch of scien- 

 tific horticulture. As a rasult of the farmer's poor and neglectful 

 methods, it is predicted that a few more years will see the total 

 extinction of the small farm orchards as a business factor, and 

 the survival only of commercial orchards, conducted according to 

 modern horticultural methods. By this statement I mean only that 

 the fruit grower, be he large or small, must use business and scien- 

 tific methods in order to survive. 



It is a well-established fact that the greatest success of commer- 

 cial apple-growing depends upon proper selection and the planting 

 of a few varieties only, taking into consideration not merely the pres- 

 ent, but the future as well. This is the day of commercial orchards, 

 and the first important stop after you have selected your land is 

 to select your varieties. The selection of varieties has called forth 

 the most painstaking consideration of every feature of growing 

 and marketing by the best professional judgment of well qualified 

 authorities and a close observation of actual rasults. The Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Stations and horticultural authorities of the 

 various states, as well as the Pomological Division of the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture at Washington have for many years en- 

 gaged upon the highly important work of recording results obtain- 

 ed by different varieties of apples, in the various apple-growing 

 sections, to determine the varieties best adapted to each locality. 

 We made several mistakes in planting our orchards and I consider 

 the selection of varieties the most serious one we made. Do not 

 plant every variety of apples that your nursery may have in stock, 

 or that every Tom, Dick and Harry recommends, for you will 

 never have a commercial orchard if you do, but study and learn 



