BULLETIN 144. Jtxne, 1905. 



Ontario Agricultural College and Experimental Farm, 



APPLE CULTURE. 



By H. L. Hutt, Professor of Horticulture. 



One of our leading nurserymen has observed that the demand for 

 nursery stock of any particular kind of fruit depends largely upon the 

 crop and the prices realized for that fruit the peceding season. If, for 

 instance, apples are a good crop and bring good prices, the next year 

 there will be a great demand for apple trees, but if the crop happens to 

 be a failure or prices are unsatisfactory, many are then ready to tear 

 out their newly planted apple trees and plant whatever fruit seems to 

 be paying best at the time. The folly of such a shortsighted policy need 

 hardly been commented upon. The planting of an apple orchard is an 

 investment which lasts for more than a life time. It is wise, therefore, 

 at the beginning to take a broad outlook and determine upon some defi- 

 nite line of work, and then adhere to it steadily. We can point to 

 numerous apple growers throughout the Province who have made money 

 out of their orchards, but these men did not lose faith, nor neglect their 

 trees, when the crop was a failure or the prices low. 



No doubt many growers have been discouraged by the low prices 

 obtained for the fruit in some seasons, yet in most cases it might have 

 been found that this was. due largely to the unbusiness-like methods em- 

 ployed in handling and marketing the crop. The outlook for the apple 

 grower never was brighter than at the present. With the reliable infor- 

 mation we now have regarding varieties ; more rational methods of car- 

 ing for the trees ; improved methods of handling the crop ; and local and 

 national co-operation in marketing it, there is no doubt that the apple 

 crop will prove to be one of the paying crops of the future. There is a 

 constant demand for first-class fruit in the best markets of Europe. 

 Then if we realize for a moment the rapidity with which the great North- 

 west is being settled, and consider that in all likelihood the apple will 

 never be successfully grow^n in that latitude, we may safely count upon 

 the North-west as one of the promising, and ever-increasing markets. 

 In view of these facts, we believe that the Ontario farmer and fruit- 

 grower, who is favorably located for the production of apples, can make 

 no mistake in planting apple trees, — to what extent being determined 

 mainly by the amount of care and attention he is certain of being able to 

 give them. 



Apart from the commercial side of apple culture, there is still need 

 for the planting of small orchards on farms throughout me country for 

 home use. It is surprising to find even in good fruit growing districts, 

 such as we have in the greater part of Ontario, that there are yet thous- 



NoTE. In the preparation of this bulletin Professor Hutt was assisted hy 'Mr. 

 H. S. Peart. B.B. A., Demonstrator in Hortic-ulture. The set;tion on " Insei-ts Injurious 

 to the Appie" was prepared by Professor W. Lochhead, Professor of Biology. 



