456 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



APPLE GROWING FOR HOME AND MARKET. 



BY PROF. L. R. TAFT. 



Report of Talk at the Lake Odessa Institute. 



I take it as an axiom that all farmers should grow their own fruit. 



Orchards often fail to pay interest from being on the wrong kind of 

 soil. A rich, sandy loam with a clay subsoil and properly drained is the 

 best. Apples do not do well with wet feet. If you ridge the soil of your 

 orchard for the sake of surface drainage, you should do it before setting out 

 the trees, so as not to bury their roots too deep. A hoed crop, to clean the 

 land of weeds before setting out an orchard, is a good thing. 



We have heard much said of late in favor of " grass culture " for orchards, 

 but I wish to emphatically warn you that with nine persons out of ten grass 

 culture would be a complete failure, because the grass robs the trees both 

 of food and drink. 



Of crops to grow in an orchard, corn is probably the best. If no row is 

 planted within four to six feet of the row of trees, and the ground is well 

 cultivated, little injury will result. 



With no crop on the ground, shallow cultivation is desirable to keep the 

 soil moist. Deep cultivation tends to dry out the soil. 



For one whose business is orcharding, the better policy is to grow no 

 other crop among the trees ; but ordinary farmers will probably take better 

 care of the trees if there is a crop between the rows. 



If the orchard is seeded down a wide mulch should be put around each 

 tree. If the limbs make an average growth of twelve inches over the tree 

 they are doing well enough. 



Manures for the orchard should be well rotted, as when put on raw they 

 cause too rank a growth. Hotted manure produces less wood and more 

 fruit. Commercial fertilizers are hardly profitable, but unleached wood 

 ashes, spread broadcast between the rows and not dumped against the trunk 

 of the tree, are very useful. The potash of the ash increases the sugar con- 

 tent of the fruit. 



The fall is, for most farmers, a more convenient time for setting out trees 

 than the spring, and the trees grow earlier and are less liable to injury from 

 drought ; but on wet soils they should only be set in the spring. 



Do not buy of agents. Go to the nursery yourself, if that is possible ; if 

 not, send to it direct without the aid of the agent. Agents charge from 

 two to twelve times as much for their trees as the nurseries do. 



For tender varieties, like the Baldwin, top working may be desirable. 



A small number of varieties is better than a large number. For family 

 use say two to three summer, four fall and six winter, and for market not 

 more than two to four kinds in all, unless it be for a small peddling 

 business. 



As to the selection of varieties : For market, choose the bright colored 

 jnes, and consult your neighbors as to what do best in your soil and 

 climate. 



Plant the trees in straight rows both ways, from 30 to 35 feet apart. Press 

 the soil firmly about the roots. Set the trunk straight up and down — not 

 slanted, as some persons unwisely advise — and place the strongest roots on 



