202 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



should cry aloud and spare not." We must continue to preach the 

 gospel of tree planting and tree protection, "in season and out of 

 season," until the masses come to know and feel its importance, and 

 shall conform their practices thereto. 



The first step preparatory to setting out an orchard is to determine 

 how large it shall be, and right here let me advise you not to approach 

 this question in a mean, stingy, parsimonious spirit. You are for once, at 

 least, to do something for posterity as well as for yourself — let your 

 magnanimity of soul be equal to the occasion. After determining the 

 size of your orchard and its location, you should next in order set about 

 preparing your plat of ground to receive its treasure. If the land lays 

 high, is rich and under a good state of cultivation, there is not much to 

 be done. If, however, the soil is thin, the land low and flat, with a cold 

 clay or sub-soil, there is some work to be done in this case. You 

 must be liberal with your fertilizers and tiling. Plow deep and harrow 

 thoroughly until the ground is light and mellow, suited to a wheat or a 

 corn crop and then you can tend it. Having progressed thus far, it is 

 now proper that you should select and dig your trees, if you have not 

 already ordered them, from some responsible nurseryman. In making 

 your selection, choose thrifty trees not over three years old. As to va- 

 rieties, you must be governed by an intelligent knowledge of what 

 kinds succeed best in your locality, and for what purpose you are set- 

 ting your orchard, whether chiefly for home use, or for market purposes. 

 A few choice varieties giving a rotation of fruit in their season, is bet- 

 ter and more profitable than a multitude of varieties chosen at random. 

 Your trees are now ready to go to your grounds, and to be healed in at 

 one or more points adjacent to your proposed orchard, each variety kept 

 distinct from all others. 



The ground is now ready to receive the trees, and they are ready 

 to be set. How shall the work be done .'' There are several methods 

 of accomplishing this, all probably possessing more or less merit, but 

 I am here to tell how I do it, and with your indulgence, I will proceed 

 to do so. To make myself better understood, I will suppose that I have 

 set apart ten acres for orchard purposes. If my lot is square and I set 

 my trees thiity feet apart each way, I can set twenty one rows or 441 

 apple trees and have a border left of fifteen feet around the entire plat 

 to be occupied in time by the growing tops. I therefore set my first 

 row of stakes in line across one side of the plat 15 feet from the 

 outer line. This done, I follow in line of these stakes with a 12 or 14 inch 

 bar shin plow, cutting a furrow as straight and as deep as I can across 

 the plat of ground, returning (if the plow is right handed). I give the 



