174 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



two-year-old top on a three-year-old root, the trees having been cut back 

 the first year to secure a better trunk and head. 



In planting an orchard always buy first-class trees. It never pays to 

 buy culls and inferior stock, even though you get these trees for the 

 asking. 



Choosing the Site. — There has been much discussion since the early 

 history of orchard planting in Nebraska, concerning the proper site for 

 an orchard. Perhaps each slope or aspect has its advocates. At one 

 time it was quite generally agreed among horticulturists that a north- 

 east slope was preferable for apple orchard, and volumes of argu- 

 ments have been produced to prove the advantages of the northern slope. 



The facts that have been borne out by experience in orchard planting 

 do not verify the conclusion that one slope has any advantage over 

 another. The things to be considered in planting an orchard on rolling 

 land, are, what will be the effect of the wind, the frost and the washing 

 of the soil? We have seen our buds freeze on northeast slopes as 

 rapidly as they do on southwest. Perhaps the northern aspect has an 

 advantage, when we consider the detrimental effects of hot winds from 

 the southwest, in July and August, but other things are of so much more 

 importance, that the slope need not concern us to any alarming degree. 



Preparation of Land. — If the orchard is to be planted in a field which 

 has been under cultivation for some time, and which has been cropped to 

 the ordinary grains grown upon the farm, the land should be prepared 

 similar to the preparation necessary for growing a crop of wheat. By 

 plowing deep in the fall of the year, and working the land down early 

 In the spring by the use of the disk, this method holds the moisture, 

 which is very essential in starting the trees early after planting. There 

 are certain crops after which it would not be advisable to plant an 

 orchard. Alfalfa would perhaps be the most striking example. Alfalfa 

 land should be broken and cropped to some grain crops for at least 

 one season before an orchard is planted. The chief reason for doing 

 this is to rid the ground of the alfalfa plants and provide for the storage 

 of moisture, which it is impossible to acquire while the alfalfa is growing 

 on the ground. As a rule the lands in eastern and southeastern Nebraska 

 are preferable for tree growing and commercial planting, because of the 

 nature of the soil. The limestone outcrop along the creeks indicates that 

 all this country is underlaid by this lime-stone formation. Much of the 

 soil above this lime-stone is clay, and above the clay comes the rich 

 black loam, which in many cases has been nearly all washed away. 



In selecting a plot of ground upon which the orchard is to be planted, 

 the grower should aim to plow every foot of this land, as though he was 

 preparing for corn. This refers to the average land. Many of the steep 

 hill sides in that portion of the state just referred to, would be better 

 adapted for fruit land than the rich bottoms where the loam soils 

 predominate. In preparing a hill side, it may not be advisable to plow 

 all of the land. It would perhaps be better to plow at right angles to 



