Vermont State Horticultural Society. 11 



In the first place, I would not advise any one who is going 

 to plant an orchard to do so without preparation, the same, or 

 nearly the same, as for almost any other crop. It may not need 

 so fine a preparation as for seeding down for grass, but it cer- 

 tainly does need plowing and harrowing to subdue the grass 

 and weeds to some extent, especially the grass which is a serious 

 drawback to the growth, of any tree. 



This done,, the next step is to lay out the orchard, having 

 determined first the distance apart you want your trees. This, 

 of course, depends upon the individual taste of the owner of the 

 orchard. I have set them 33 feet apart in direct lines each way ; 

 this takes 40 trees to the acre. To do this, I measured around 

 the field on the four sides, the field is nearly rectangular in 

 form,, and set a stake back next to the fence or wall back of 

 the end of each row, thus marking it in both directions, north 

 and south, east and wiest ; then set a center stake in each row in 

 each direction. You can readily see that by standing where you 

 can sight the lines of stakes at right angles, you are standing 

 where a tree will stand. 



Then the holes are to be dug for the trees,, and my ex- 

 perience is that the cheapest and best way is to employ a stout 

 pair of horses, a sidehill plough, and a good driver who will drive 

 exactly in this line, and of course he will rip up the center stake. 

 It takes about three trips with a plough to turn out a good deep 

 furrow and loosen up the subsoil to some extent. Then the mid- 

 dle stake in each row is to be re-sighted and re-set. 



Now;, you are ready to get at the planting. Right here it 

 may be a good plan to speak of the care of the trees previous 

 to the planting. 



We hear a great many times that the nurseryman sefit poor 

 stock ; the trees didn't arrive in good condition, and almost al- 

 ways the fault is laid to the nurseryman. I never saw any trees 

 received from the hands of a nurseryman that were not in good 

 condition. The fault is very apt to be at your door. You didn't 

 take care of the trees after you received them, between that time 

 and the time you planted them. It is absolutely necessary to keep 

 them from currents of air, and to keep them moist and away from 

 the air, and that means the sunshine, especially. If you do this, 

 the chances will be very much more in favor of success. 



The trees should be parceled out,, the number that is re- 

 quired for each row ; these should be placed at the end of each 

 row and the roots lightly covered, then they can be pruned and 

 dropped nearly where they are to be planted. The roots of the 

 trees should be pruned only so far as they are bruised and appear 

 to be long enough to be in the way. I don't care for the roots 

 to be any longer than 6 or 8 inches ; but if any are mutilated they 



