Summer Meeting. 45 



some another. I think it is best to have not over half a dozen varieties, 

 but neither should we have all Ben Davis nor all Jonathan, nor too many 

 of one sort. Some varieties are not adapted to all soils, so we must 

 know our soils, and what use they are suited for before planting. 



My first choice is Ben Davis, and then Gano and the standard 

 varieties. 



We must not plant too close together. I made that mistake at first. 

 Twenty-seven feet is too close, the trees ought to be thirty-five feet apart. 

 Missouri Pippin can be planted close. Every man has and should have 

 his own way of planting. 



Care. — There are many ways in which we can take care of our or- 

 chards. We work the land with corn as long as possible in order to 

 cultivate the trees and have the land clean. We are not bothered with 

 rabbits where there is no grass or weeds. While it may take a great 

 deal of substance of the land away to grow corn, we can put the rich- 

 ness back with clover. A mulch is splendid but we must not leave food 

 for the mice. If the corn is cut, we can not mulch as the corn remains 

 as feed and harbor for the mice. You should go over the orchard be- 

 fore cold weather and pull the mulch away, and clean twelve inches or 

 further from the tree. 



Rabbits. — We have been successful against rabbits with a wash of 

 lime, carbolic acid and sulphur and some copper, mixed together. It 

 will scale off if it is not rightly mixed*. Put the carbolic acid and soap 

 in a barrel, add a little water and add rock lime, which slacks and mixes 

 the other ingredients. Get the sulphur in before the slacking is finished. 

 This stays on the trees two or three times as long as whitewash. 



Tobacco dust is good around the roots and trunks of small trees, and 

 if put where it is hard to get a tree to live, you can then replant. 



Replants. — I hate to have vacant spots in my orchard. Put in young 

 trees, and they will grow if well cared for. Take care to get the hole 

 well prepared. Empty the hole by dynamite, this loosens the ground 

 better than plowing. Prepare in the fall and set in the spring. 



If the land is rich, you can rake the clover for hay, otherwise let it 

 stay on the ground. Do not have any small grain in the orchard. 



Priming. — Head the trees low, after two years you can get the head 

 the way you want it, two feet from the ground, or as low as you can. 

 Take off the water sprouts in May or June, or while they are soft and 

 can be rubbed off with the glove. Of course we must cut off the dead 

 limbs and broken ones. 



Spray. — ^We shall keep on spraying as we are until we find some- 

 thing better. We can not tell the exact effects. 



