220 ANNTTAL RBPOET 



and modify the breezes. This I consider all the timber protection 

 that is needed. Still a wind-break of suitable timber planted 

 twenty or thirty rods away on the north and west I would not 

 consider an objection to the prosperity and usefulness of the 

 orchard. Next in order we will consider soil, which I con- 

 sider by far the most important point in the selection of the site, 

 not only for the success but for the longevity of the orchard. 

 First and best of all is a clay soil, underlaid with limestone. Such 

 soil is generally porous enough to afford good drainage. It is gen- 

 erally impregnated mith magnesia, and contains all the best 

 elements of tree growth, which is abundantly proven by heavy 

 and excessive fruiting. Mark, if you never have, the great differ- 

 ence in the yields of fruit on trees of the same varieties, same age 

 and size, the one on such soil as I have described and the other on 

 our common prairie soil. The former will produce double, other 

 things being equal, one soil producing fruit and the other being 

 adapted to the growth of wood. The difference in the quality 

 of the fruit is as great as in the quantity. This you will discover 

 if you examine the fruit on exhibition at your winter meetings and 

 at the fall fairs. Perhaps I am using more time in giving reasons 

 than I should, but my object is to make it plain, and you to judge 

 if my reasons are well founded. My second choice would be heavy 

 clay soil that formerly produced a growth of white and black oak 

 timber, underlaid or mixed with gravel or hard stones of the jflint, 

 boulder or shale formations. Next, my choice would be a 

 heavy clay soil, without stone; next, a light clay soil, and 

 my next choice would be our common prairie soil, and last 

 and poorest of all, a sandy soil with or without sand, 

 rock, always bearing in mind that the natural formation 

 is much better for the orchard than the deposit or allu- 

 vial soil. The great drawback with the last mentioned formation 

 being the excessive growth which continues late in the season, 

 causing the extremities of the limbs to start into winter in a tender 

 condition, it is in my opinion one of the finest and most particu- 

 lar points in managing an orchard in this climate, that there must 

 be sufficient enrichment and cultivation of the soil to cause a full 

 healthy growth of good wood, and care exercised to avoid excess, 

 thereby causing a growth of immature wood incapable of withstand- 

 ing the severities of the seasons. Good wood is necessary for the 

 production of full crops of good fruit, and such wood will be able 

 to endure our coldest winters and warmest springs and summers ; 

 and right here let me say if your location is such that you are com- 



