J2 



and crop are less likely to suffer from violent winds, and in northern 

 localities the trees with short trunks and low spreading branches are 

 much less subject to injury from sunscald, the most serious 

 tree trouble of the north. At the Algoma Fruit Experiment 



Station it has been found advisable to start the head not 

 more than a couple of feet from the ground, while in the 

 more favored sections the custom is to have at least four feet of 

 trunk. This is the height at which the head is usually started on two 

 or three year old trees as obtained from the nursery, and for this reason 

 it is better for the northern planter to get two year old, rather than three 

 or four year old, trees, so that he can start the head at whatever height 

 he wishes. In this connection it may be stated that tree trunks do not 

 lengthen, except by pruning off the lower branches, so that at whatever 

 distance from the ground the lower branches are left, that will be the 

 permanent length of the trunk. 



Three branches are enough to leave to form the main limbs or frame- 

 work of the tree top. These should be evenly spaced around the trunk 

 to give a well balanced and symmetrical top, and they should also be 

 placed on the trunk so as to distribute evenly the weight of the top and 

 avoid bad crotches which are liable to split down with weight of crop. 

 It is particularly important at this stage that great care should be taken 

 to train the young tree in the way it should go, and much can be done in 

 training and directing growth by heading back to buds pointing in the 

 direction we wish the new branch to take. 



Cropping and Interplanting. 



In a newly-planted orchard the trees occupy but a small portion of 

 the land, and they cannot be expected to give any returns for at least 

 five or six years. It is advisable, therefore, that some other crop be 

 grown in the orchard which will pay for the labor spent upon it till the 

 apple trees come into bearing and require all the space. It is by inj,udi- 

 cious cropping, however, that young orchards are often most seriously 

 injured. It should not be forgotten that the apple trees are the first 

 consideration, and that whatever cropping is done in the orchard must 

 not interfere with them in the least. 



In some cases the spaces between the trees may be planted with 

 small fruits, such as raspberries, currants, or gooseberries, but these 

 should not be planted within nine or ten feet of the trees, nor should 

 they occupy ground more than six or seven years. 



Hoe crops, such as corn, roots, potatoes, etc., have generally been 

 recommended as the best to grow in the orchard, because of the oppor- 

 tunity they afford for cultivation. This may be all right as far as it 

 goes, but these crops draw heavily upon the plant food in the soil and 

 return very little in the way of roots or plant residue. If such crops 

 are successively grown for several years, they are almjst sure to seriously 

 deplete the soil of fertility, unless ext'-a care is tako.i to rraintain it by 

 the application of manure or fertilizers. Probablv on the whole the 



