nature's aid in producing apples adapted to climate. 63 



V'alley, I remember a series of experiments conducted by a man 

 named Tripp in regard to shallow and deep planting of apple trees. 

 ]\Ir. Tripp planted his trees at various depths, and the result was 

 that after they had been planted ten or fifteen years those that had 

 been planted at a medium depth did the best. His soil was an al- 

 most impervious clay subsoil. I think deep planting can be general- 

 ly recommended, but it depends on the character of the soil whether 

 it is altogether successful. I believe I plant my trees deeper than 

 any man in the state. Those trees I got from Bloomington were 

 put in from fifteen to eighteen inches deep in sandy soil. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg: No wonder they died. (Laughter.; 



Mr. Lord : If they are planted too deep the roots at the bottom 

 will die. The trees that I got from Mr. Gould were planted in 

 exactly the same way. I have since that time planted a good many 

 trees, and planting a medium depth is the proper method on my soil. 



Mr. S. D. Richardson : Have you any idea how deep a tree 

 root will go? 



Mr. Richardson : I had some trees on a piece of ground for 

 three years, and then I had occasion to dig a ditch through that piece 

 of ground, and I found roots from those apple trees at a depth of 

 five feet. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke : I would like to make a remark or two on 

 the root system of trees. It is a certainty that the top will make 

 the root. It will influence the root for a number of years. You 

 can go into a nursery when the trees are three years old, and with 

 only a little experience you can tell the variety of trees which are 

 on their own roots. Yes, the top makes the root, and you can de- 

 pend on that every time. The soil has got a little to do with it, it 

 makes the roots fine and spreading. If the soil is sandy it will make 

 feeding roots, if it is dry they will go down to hunt water, but the 

 top produces the root system. 



GROWING CHERRIES IN MINNESOTA. 



W. S. WIDMOYER, DRESBACH. 



To grow cherries in Minnesota with any degree of success com- 

 mercially requires a very favorable location and a well drained but 

 not too dry soil of, at least, moderate fertility. The best cherry 

 orchards in this vicinity are on a black, sandy loam, with a clay sub- 

 soil that was at one time quite wet but which has been drained by 

 a deep railroad cut through it. 



Distance to plant : Some nurserymen and g"rowers recommend 

 twelve by twelve feet. This is entirely too close, as I have learned 

 by experience. They should be planted at least twenty by twenty 

 feet apart. 



Planting, cultivating and pruning : Plant as early in spring 

 as possible, the earlier the better providing the soil is in proper con- 

 dition to work. All my losses have been from late planting. 



Set the trees from four to six inches deeper than they grew in 

 the nursery, or just deep enough to cover the place where budded. 



