268 ANNUAL REPORT 



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a nursery, tenderly cared for in infancy, trained by skillful hands, 

 fed with the most approved food, do you think it in accordance with 

 the laws of nature that it should do well if transplanted from its 

 home, where every condition necessary for its growth was at hand 

 into a wild uncultivated prairie? No, indeed. It is of too tender 

 blood. It must be set on land that has been subdued by cropping 

 and made mellow with the plow, for this is the requirement of its 

 cultivated nature. 



THE SITE FOR AN ORCHARD. 



It is nice to have your orchard adjoin your house. In our New 

 England homes this was almost always the case, and to go out ot 

 the back door in leafy May or June and step in among the apple 

 blossoms was not only eminently picturesque but very nice. But 

 out here there is an objection which cannot be overcome without 

 much trouble. We have days in winter that are so warm that the 

 sap often starts in the middle of the day in places on the trunk, to 

 again freeze at night, and the result is that on the south side of 

 the trees appear in the spring a great black streak of dead bark. 

 And not always the length ot the tree, bub in blotches here and 

 there. Now if the orchard were on the north side of a slope, tHis 

 would not have happened. What then? Why if your ground is 

 rolling anywhere towards the north, choose this for your orchard, 

 and put your vmeyard on the southern slope. But what shall 

 I do on a dead level? There is only one plan to be pursued in this 

 case. Back furrow your land until you have it well raised in 

 ridges about sixteen feet from center to center and on these set 

 your frees. They must have drainage, for they are too tender to 

 bear wet and cold feet and will be short lived if they are long kept 

 in this condition. But supposing I live in the timber? Well, 

 cut out the trees as much as possible around where your orchard is 

 to be set, so that they can have the air. Set no groves^around 

 them to break the force of the winds, but let the pure air of heaven 

 blow through them, for they breathe as much as we, and the purer 

 the atmosphere the healthier their growth. I have in mind 

 an orchard in Iowa, where the owner set a thick hedge about it of 

 forest trees. It grew to be so tight that the wind hardly could get 

 a chance through it. The result was that the last time I saw it, 

 the orchard looked as if an attack of cholera had gone through it. 

 Blight and disease had done their work, and I d(m't believe there is 

 a tree left there to-day. 



