INDIANA IIOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 371 



pay him for It; but tlie orchardists claim tliat it costs too much. If you 

 want to breed good hogs or cattle or horses you always hunt for the best 

 stock in the country and pay the fees; but when you want to start an 

 orchard you hunt for the nurseryman that will give you the largest num- 

 ber of trees for the least money, regardless of the stock. Local conditions, 

 local handling, climatic conditions, cultivation, and other things have most 

 to do with the results of the tree fruiting; but there is a great deal in the 

 blood of a bearing tree that is in the habit of fruiting. I have peach trees 

 in my orchard that year in and year out give magnificent crops of fruit, 

 and there are trees of the same kind in the same row that do not bear 

 nearly so well. I think a gi-eat deal of this is due to the pedigree of the 

 trees, and I am sure I am safe in propagating from the best trees. 



The distance apart at which the trees are planted is another impor- 

 tant thing in the growing of an orchard. I do not believe in planting the 

 whole orchard at the final distance I intend to have the ti-ees remain. 

 If I have decided on forty-five feet as the coiTect distance, then I want 

 to plant at half that distance twice as many trees, with the understanding 

 that when they have come to touch one another the surplus trees are to 

 come out. There is where crops out a very common weakness in human 

 nature. We can not quite decide the time when that thinning out process 

 should begin. If we have a magnificent crop of apples this year, even 

 though the trees are touching, the Devil will say, "Just let them grow for 

 another year and you may get one more good crop." So yon let them 

 grow another year, and then you have only a fair crop, but you hope you 

 will get another good crop the following year, and decide to let them 

 stand just one more year. That is a mistake. The only way to get a 

 successful orchard is to plant two or three times as many trees to the acre 

 as you wish to have finally. Then give a mortgage on the orchard to some 

 fellow in town whom you detest, he to foreclose that mortgage as soon as 

 those trees begin to touch. Then I think you will be safe. 



By good culture and pruning this orchard comes into bearing in a 

 reasonable number of years, and for four or five years you may get four 

 times as many apples to the acre as if the trees were planted the distance 

 apart you intend to have them remain. Some orchardists plant them in 

 the first place the distance they are to remain, and then plant other crops 

 on the ground until they are large enough to bear. That is a mistake. 

 You can not do two things well. You can not afford to do this. Some of 

 you old bald heads remember in your early days when you were sweet 

 on the girls and had one girl in this village and one in another, and you 

 had to be very careful not to let one know of the existence of the other. 

 But after a while one of the girls always caught on and they both threw 

 you over. Now, we of the younger generation know better than that. 

 "We get one good girl and stick to her. Don't plant any other ci'op in your 

 orchard if it is apples you want. Plant the trees by double planting, give 

 them the best culture possible during the early growing months of the 



