Aj'Pendix. 211 



ticultui'ist is to determine what varieties are best adapted to his locality, 

 considering soil, climate and market conditions. Before you plant an 

 apple orchard, you should know just what varieties will reach the 

 highest excellency in your district, and return to growers the greatest 

 profit. Don't make the common mistake of planting too many varieties 

 in a commercial orchard. One variety, if it is a self-pollenizer, may be 

 more profitable than a half dozen mixed varieties. Under no circum- 

 stances would I advise the planting of more than two or thi*ee varieties 

 in any commercial apple orchard. In my orchards I have just two vari- 

 eties, the Esopus Spitzenberg and Yellow Newtown. 



There are several systems for laying out and planting an apple or- 

 chard, but I prefer the hexagonal, for several reasons, among which I 

 will mention but the two most important. First, it gives a more equal 

 distribution of trees over the ground. Second, it gives a better oppor- 

 tunity for thorough cultivation and spraying. It has been truly said 

 that you can not dig a tree hole too deep or too broad. Twenty inches 

 deep and thirty-six inches across is about the average size of holes dug 

 before planting the apple tree in our valley. 



When you plant an apple tree, be sure to set it so the main roots 

 •will be at least six inches below the top of soil. Go into any old orchard 

 and you will find many trees were set entirely too shallow. The roots 

 near the trees are either bare or so shallow that the cultivating instru- 

 ments are constantly damaging them. 



My experience has taught me that if soil is in good condition during 

 late fall or early winter, then is the best time to set a tree. The first 

 season's growth of a tree set in the fall will be far greater than when 

 set in the spring. The distance apart to set trees varies with local 

 conditions. In our valley they should be set at least twenty-eight to 

 thirty feet apart; while in the Willamette Valley they should not te 

 less than thirty-five to forty feet apart. The lower altitude, their 

 longer growing season and extreme moisture produce a much heavier 

 wood growth, and I might add, a later bearing tree. I believe in deep 

 and thorough cultivation. You can not plow your orchards too deep 

 while trees are young. I have plowed my orchards twice, when trees 

 were small, to a depth of sixteen inches, by using a sub-soil plow, and I 

 have every reason to believe it was a paying investment of both labor 

 and money. Fellow fruit gi-owers, I am ready to defend this assertion, 

 that any apple orchard, in any country, and under any climatic condi- 

 tions, should have clean and thorough cultivation during the summer 

 months. Cover crops are very beneficial and almost indispensable; but 

 during the fall and spring is the only time to grow them. 



Give the trees the benefit of all nutrition and moisture contained in 

 the soil while the fruit is growing. 



It has been said that cleanliness is next to godliness. So it is with 

 the apple orchard. Cleanliness will do much good toward retarding th? 

 growth of fungi, the spread of insect pests, or the encroachment of 

 many orchard diseases. Old dead weeds around the trees, props left 



