126 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
and at home. It is a promising tree and good fruit. At Mr. Barnes’ re- 
quest, I took five trees from his place and planted them while there to test 
the practicability of fall planting in that soil and climate. I find the new own- 
er of the farm, Hon. A. L. Kreutzer, to be very much interested in the or- 
chard, and he is quite anxious that we hold the summer meeting of 1900 at 
Wausau, and promises not only to our members but to the visitors. that: 
come from Marathon county free entertainment at the orchard. 
LOCATING, LAYING OUT AND PLANTING A PLUM 
ORCHARD. 
DEWAIN COOK, WINDOM. 
In my opinion most any location will do for a plum orchard provided it 
is well drained and holds moisture reasonably well, but I consider an ideal 
location to be one that has a sunny exposure and is well sheltered by trees, 
and if convenient to the chicken house and pig pen so much the better, 
In laying out a plum orchard the main thing, if not the only thing, to be 
considered is the convenience in caring for the trees during the life of the 
orchard, therefore they should be planted in rows, about twenty feet apart, 
and the trees planted ten or twelve feet apart in the row. 
As to the planting of a plum orchard it is best to intermingle the varie- 
ties; beyond this, if the trees have been worked upon hardy native stocks 
they will require no more care in the planting than the box elder or the 
soft maple, and this paper would be at an end. But unfortunately the plum 
trees of commerce have been worked either on the Marianna plum, which is 
less hardy than the peach and is wholly unfit for northern planting, or else 
they are grafted upon French plum seedlings, which are only about as hardy 
as the peach and are not suitable for our needs: Hardy roots on any plum 
trees are the exception, and tender roots the rule; it is, then, well to plant the 
trees somewhat as follows: 
After the land has been properly prepared by deep plowing, etc., and the 
land laid out by having deep dead furrows where the rows of trees are to 
be, then dig a hole about one foot square in the center of the dead furrow, 
where each tree is to stand, the hole being in the hard earth about one foot 
below the bottom of the dead furrow. The roots of the trees should be cut 
pretty close—four or five inches is enough, to leave less is just as well. 
Then set the roots in the bottom of the hole, fill in with earth and tramp 
solid. The dead furrow should be leveled next to the trees, and when fin- 
ished the bottom of the roots should be from twenty-four to thirty inches be- 
low the surface of the ground. © 
‘Mr. Penning: JI amin harmony with Mr. Cook’s idea of giving 
hogs and chickens free access to the plum orchard—chickens es- 
pecially all the time and hogs sometimes. That is a very important 
matter. 
Mr. Jewett: I would like to ask Mr. Cook whether he advises 
filling up those holes entirely, or would he leave a little depression 
to catch the moisture? 
Mr. Cook: TI fill the hole up entirely. The object is to get the 
roots down so they will not freeze; and in two years the tree will 
have lots of roots, and it will be just as hardy as any. In our sec- 
