218 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TREE-GROWING, ESPECIALLY THE APPLE. 



A. R. HUMPHREY, LEBANON, MO. 



There is but little difference, if any, on either the fruitfulness or 

 longevity of a tree whether they be grafted or budded. When a cion 

 is grafted or a bud budded on a 3-16 of an inch stock, either whole or 

 piece root, and grown in moderately rich soil, without stimulating 

 fertilizers, and that cion or bud makes a growth of three feet the first 

 season, all the conditions necessary for the perfect development of that 

 tree have been complied with. 



The age of trees to plant in the orchard is a question about which 

 there is a wide difference of opinion. One-year-old trees, with good 

 care and cultivation, are better than any other age. They cost less 

 than half to transport or plant than two-year-old trees. They start out 

 their heads evenly balanced because they have plenty of room, which 

 is not the case with trees in crowded nursery rows. I admit that two, 

 three and four-year-old trees taken up and transplanted with great care 

 and cut back properly do very well, but it is difficult to get a four-year-old 

 tree taken up without injuring many of its roots. Care should be 

 taken to keep the roots from getting dry after being taken from the 

 nursery. Fall planting is the best in this part of the State ; if the fol- 

 lowing season be dry, they will be much less affected than those planted 

 in the spring. Trees should not be planted deeper than they stood in 

 the nursery. The holes should be dug large enough to admit the roots 

 in their natural position, placing the larger roots toward the south- 

 west, cover the roots with good, loose surface-soil and tramp down 

 firmly. Raise the soil in fall planting in a cone shape around the tree 

 to hold it firmly and turn the water from it. The soil for the apple 

 should be moderately rich — not retain water on the surface — and the 

 subsoil should be what is commonly known as red clay. Cut back 

 yearlings to 2 or 2 1-2 feet, larger trees in proportion to the injury the 

 roots received in taking up: that is, if the roots are much injured cut 

 off most of the branches. Have low-header trees ; plant on a north 

 slope if you can ; mulch the first year after planting; cultivate often in 

 order to retain all the moisture possible around the tree, which is the 

 secret of getting a satisfactory growth each year. On thin soil exposed 

 to high winds plant twenty or twenty-four feet apart; on rich soil well 

 sheltered, twenty-eight to thirty-five feet. The care or neglect of an 

 orchard for the first four or five years after planting in a great meas- 



