480 State Horticultural Society. 



PHEPAKATIOIs" OF LA^td, LAYING OUT, PLANTING AND 



VAKIETIES. 



Bj J. H. Karnes, St. Joseph, Mo. ; Oakdale Fmit Farm. 



Mr. President : 



There seems to be so much work laid out for me in the above sub- 

 jects that it will be almost impossible for me to do justice to them in a 

 paper that must necessarily be brief. 



^'The last shall be first," saith the Scriptures. Therefore I will 

 reverse the positions of the parts of my subject and try, first, to dis- 

 cover what varieties to plant (that evidently being the most impor- 

 tant part of fruit growing at present) and then proceed with the opera- 

 tions pertaining to planting. 



To plant or not to plant, or rather what shall I plant for profit in a 

 family or commercial orchard, is a question beyond the ken of ordinary 

 intelligence not gifted with prophecy to determine. 



A short, retrospective view of apple growing in northwest ^lis- 

 souri will abundantly prove the above assertion and show conclusively 

 that the question, "What varieties shall T plant?" is as far from a satis- 

 factory answer to-day as it was ten or even twenty years ago. 



The mistakes our fathers and ancestors made were in planting too 

 manv varieties. Thirtv or more vears as'O the maximiuii innnber of 

 trees of one variety in a family orchard (there were no eominoreial 

 orchards in those days) was twelve. More frequently fewer than 

 twelve of one kind were planted. In those times you could find from 

 thirty to fifty varieties of grafted apples; also a nuuil>er of seedliugs 

 in almost every orchard. Every orchard plat was a genuine oxpcri- 

 ment station; superior in many respects to our govtM-niuLMit sta- 

 tions of to-dav, and as numerous as were the homes in the land of those 

 times. 



Trees were indeed ])lanted in virgin soil. ^Many varieties suc- 

 ceeded well for a time and developed whole crops of fruit that were the 

 very "pink of perfection" in all the essential points — size, cohir and 

 even quality. 



