LAYING OUT THE COMMERCIAL ORCHARD. 1 37 



The President: That is something like my old friend McEwen 

 when some one told him he ought to put something under his hay- 

 stack. "Why," he said, "I never put up a haystack that I do not 

 put a ton of hay right on the bottom." (Laughter.) 



Mr. Perry: At Excelsior our orchards are planted close. Mr. 

 Stellar has a large orchard, on Murray Hill, that is bearing a crop 

 every year, where the trees are set 12x15 ft., and they are a perfect 

 success without any care. I am setting my new orchard of 2,000 

 trees 15x20 ft. north and south, fifteen feet between the rows. I 

 do not believe our trees are going to last forever. I expect to see 

 them die. I plant my trees close together. 



Air. Jewett : I would like to ask my friend whether that is the 

 way he would plant an orchard of Lyman's Prolific? We are going 

 to have longer lived trees, we are going to have hardier trees, and 

 we will need more room for them. 



Mr. Perry : I am going to plant one hundred of the Lyman 

 Prolific and plant them on the outside of the orchard so as to give 

 them plenty of room. 



Mr. Busse: I think in planting thirty feet apart each way there 

 is a great deal of space that is not occupied that might as well be. 

 I set out a good many trees at different times, I don't know just 

 how many, but I have upwards of fifteen hundred apple trees and 

 others, and I set my trees 16x16 ft, the Virginia crab and the Hi- 

 bernal about twenty feet apart on the outside for a windbreak. That 

 is the tree for a windbreak. I don't know anything about the Ly- 

 man Prolific, but the Virginia will spread forty feet. That is ample 

 space. Thirty-five feet I think is too much for such as the Wealthy, 

 Duchess and Longfield. They will not touch each other for years 

 to come, for their habit is to grow a straight and upright tree. I 

 also set my gooseberries and currants so there is five feet between 

 them each way. I think there is too much land used; usually you 

 can get a good many more trees upon an acre. 



Mr. Lord: Probably no five men in our country have taken as 

 much pains and sell as many apples as Mr. Blair, and I would like 

 to know what he recommends in regard to distance. 



Mr. C. L. Blair: I would say that I believe twenty-one feet is 

 about the distance, and while the orchard is young you can grow 

 corn between the trees and cultivate while the trees are young. That 

 will make your apple trees come in every sixth row, if your corn 

 is planted three and a half feet apart. I have never tried planting 

 the rows thirty-three feet apart and setting the trees ten feet apart 

 in the row. In my first orchard, of several hundred trees, which 

 were all killed in the winter of 1884-5, I set the trees sixteen and 

 one-half feet apart each way. I found they were too thick for trees 

 that are long lived like the Duchess, for instance, and I have now 

 adopted the plan of setting twenty-one feet apart. That may be a 

 little too close for some purposes, but I like that plan as well as 

 any I have tried. I like to have natural grove protection, which 

 many of you people do not have, so as to keep off the southwest 

 and the west winds. I think a grove for protection on the east is 

 not so necessary, although I like protection on all sides. 



