Vermont State Hokticultueal Society. 



men used to seed it down to grass and have a meadow, but one 

 day they found out they must take better care of the soil, and 

 stopped that. I saw a photograph the other day of one of the 

 finest orchards in New York State, planted 30 feet apart, now 

 standing 60 feet apart, and practically the ground is all occupied ; 

 about two-thirds of the trees have been cut out. I know people 

 who wouldn't cut out trees, but a reasonable man will do it. 

 In some places some men are undertaking the double planting 

 of their orchards, by putting in other trees such as peaches and 

 plums. On a little farm where I practice we have a nice orchard 

 of that kind, which is planted to apple trees 40 feet apart, and 

 rows between of peach trees, which bring the peaches and apples 

 20 feet apart. The peach trees have been in fruit 6 years — the 

 last two years have been too cold for a crop — but there have 

 been three crops of peaches, any one of which would pay for the 

 land for the entire time. That is a good deal for a man who is 

 trying to carry on this business successfully financially. Last 

 year some apples were sold, enough to pay for the care of the 

 land ; but up to the present time the thing was an expense if 

 it hadn't been for the peaches. The peach trees have not yet 

 hindered the apple trees in the least and it seems safe to leave 

 them there for four or five years longer. If they begin to injure 

 the apple trees' growth, then they will come out; we are there 

 to take them out when they are in the way. 



I was in an orchard in Maryland not very long ago, run by 

 a very practical man, who is planting orchards on a large scale, 

 and is making something out of it. He had put dwarf pear trees 

 between the rows. They come into fruit the second or third 

 year, and give him a revenue. 



There is a change in the matter of pruning. Now our 

 trees are subjected to more severe treatment. This has to be 

 done if a man has a large number of trees to an acre; he must 

 keep their growth in hand. If you go into Mr. Kinney's orchard 

 you will find he is pruning more severely than he used to; now 

 he keeps the trees — or tries to — from growing so large. I have 

 had the pleasure of visiting orchards of Hale, the peach grower, 

 especially his Georgia orchard. In that country they used to 

 say that peaches should be planted 30 feet apart. Hale went 

 down there and planted his 13 feet apart; he had an orchard of 

 1,000 acres of peach trees 13 feet apart. The trees left to them- 

 selves would swamp the whole field in a short time. You couldn't 

 get through it with a mule team. But Hale doesn't allow the trees 

 to grow that way; he cuts them back very closely every year. 

 There are many things gained by that. It is very much easier 

 to pick the fruit, and the trees are never climbed into; the fruit 

 is all picked from the ground, and that is a saving of expense. 



