370 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. 



the acre, and a woman whom yon would not let vote got thirty-four • 

 bushels to the acre, because she kuew how to till her soil. That applies 

 to everj' branch of agriculture. It is just as necessary to prepare the 

 land for your apple trees before you put them in as it is to prepare the 

 laud for any other crop. 



Now comes the question of the trees. I have been growing orchards all 

 my life, and I have always been an advocate of a good, thrifty yearling 

 tree. Later observation has convinced me that if you want an orchard in 

 the quickest manner, if you can get the trees from a nurseryman at six* 

 years old, that have been two or three times transplanted, or you may 

 get them from him at one and two years old if you are not in such a 

 hurry, and ti*ansplant them in nursery rows for three or four years. At 

 our experimental station in Connecticut they planted a twelve acre test 

 orchard a few years ago. The main orchard was planted with trees that 

 were two years old; but in the experimental nursery of the college, where 

 the boys propagated the trees and transplanted and handled them, they 

 had all the varieties of trees that wei'e going into the orchard in six- 

 year-old trees that had been transplanted two or three times. They were 

 so large that usually we would think they were too large to be trans- 

 planted at all. But they took some of each variety for the orchard. The 

 man in charge put in a few of these larger trees in each row. They 

 had the same tillage and culture as the other trees, and they are now 

 full bearing, while there is not another tree in the orchard that is doing 

 that. I planted some orchards this past year, and I have planted them 

 very largely with the older trees. The trees cost more, but don't stop to 

 question the cost when you are planting an orchard. Get the type of tree 

 you want, get as good a tree as can be grown, and then pay the nursery- 

 man a fair price for it. One of the greatest curses in this orchard busi- 

 ness is the planting of cheap trees. We have ground the nurseryman 

 down and down and down until he has had to supply trees that will not 

 make good orchards. He is not to blame; he will furnish you good trees 

 if you are willing to pay for them. Don't blame him, for the planter has 

 encouraged him to cut across lots at every corner in his demand for lower 

 prices. Orchardists in this and other States will write to a half dozen 

 reputable nurserymen in the country and try to get the trees at the lowest 

 possible price. That is wrong. Get the best tree you can get regai-dless 

 of price. What is five or ten cents more on a tree? What does it amount 

 to on fifty trees to the acre? Two or three barrels of good apples will 

 pay the difference by and by. 



So I say, the foundation of your orchard lies in good trees. It lies 

 further in having trees propagated from good stock. This demand for 

 cheap trees has led to propagating in the easiest possible manner. I be- 

 lieve it is a mistake to propagate from the nursery row. I think we should 

 always propagate from beai-ing trees of known quality. Of course, that 

 costs moi-e. • Of course, the nurseryman will do it if the orchardists will 



