Winter Meeting. ' 175 



PKEPAKATIO^", LAYING OUT, DISTANCE, PLANTING AND 



VAEIETIES OF APPLES. 



By J. P. Canaday, Bogard, Mo. 



Why, in arranging the program, our worthy secretary should as- 

 sign to me this subject, I do not know, for there are many members here 

 much better qualified to write upon this subject. However if I am able 

 to present a few ideas and bring out a discussion, it may be more profit- 

 able than to have only the ideas and plans of one man. 



The method of preparing land for planting should vary according 

 to the condition of the land to begin Avith, but whatever the condition 

 of the land to begin with may be, never plant an orchard until jonv 

 ground is carefull}^ prepared. Many people will take great pains to pre- 

 pare a field in which they intend to sow wheat or for the planting of 

 corn or potatoes, then go and plant their orchard in a tough timothy 

 sod or in fresh cleared, unbroken land, then wonder why it is that they 

 can not succeed in growing an orchard like some of their neighbors. 



A field intended to be planted to wheat is often plowed a month or 

 two in advance, then plowed again just before seeding time, and thor- 

 oughly worked down with harrow and roller; this forms an ideal seed 

 bed in which the seed readily takes root, even in a season of severe 

 drouth. De we ever see land prepared in this way for the planting of 

 apj)le trees ? No, not often. The reason is that the majority of the 

 people have less experience in the matter of tree planting and have not 

 learned the necessity of careful preparation of the soil. 



Much of the loss incurred in planting trees is owing to the fact 

 that the land has been poorly prepared, or as is sometimes the case, no 

 preparation at all. Often nothing is done toward preparing the land 

 until the trees are on the ground ready to plant. Then the land is 

 poorly prepared and left with numerous air spaces which cause the 

 ground to dry out rapidly, leaving the trees to perish. Especially is 

 this the case when an attempt is made to plant an orchard on sod land, 

 the same spring that it is plowed. The sod should be plowed imder in 

 the spring and planted to corn or potatoes, which will leave the soil in 

 fine condition for planting of the orchard in the fall or the next spring. 



