PLANTING APPLE TREES. 443 



PLANTING APPLE TREES. 



S, D. RICHARDSON, WINNEBAGO CITY. 



(So. Minn. Hort. Society.) 



I would not discourage experiments along new lines in horticul- 

 ture, as raising new seedlings, etc., but think there is greater need 

 of our gathering up and putting into practical use what has al- 

 ready been done by persons widely scattered over our country. 



Any one who looked over the seedlings of our last winter meet- 

 ing in Minneapolis could hardly help coming to the conclusion that 

 we might have had plenty of good hardy winter apples years ago if 

 only some one had pushed them and got them where the general 

 public could have tried them. Think of a man fruiting an apple tree 

 for years and never trying it to see whether it would keep in the 

 winter or not? 



What I shall have to say about the planting and care of trees will 

 be largely from the experience of others, for I have found it more 

 pleasant and profitable to learn from what others have done than 

 from mistakes and trials of my o\yn. My experience and observa- 

 tion has been where we had a clay subsoil that would hold moisture, 

 such as is commonly found in southern Minnesota. I used to set out 

 fruit trees just a few inches deeper than they grew in the nursery, 

 but I learned from the testimony of others, and have since proved it 

 by experience, that a tree should be set from twelve to eighteen 

 inches deeper than it grew in the nursery if set on dry ground — and 

 do not think it pays to set apple trees on wet ground, but if I had to 

 would make a box five feet square and two feet deep, set it on top 

 of the ground, put in the tree, and haul in good soil and fill the box. 



On page twenty-six of the horticultural society's report of 1892, 

 I find the following from Wright County, Minn.: "S. Farrell re- 

 sides seven miles southeast of Montrose, has three large apple trees 

 set about twenty-six years ago, one is sixty-four inches in cir- 

 cumference and thirty feet in heighth. He set the trees three feet 

 deep, the roots in the subsoil, and filled in level with surface soil." 



We have found by experience that orchards are a success set in 

 holes two and a half feet deep, perhaps three feet in light soils, while 

 close by the shallow planted orchards were a failure, both in growing 

 and in bearing. 



Have had the best success in setting when the ground was dry 

 when trees were set. Clean out the loose dirt in bottom of hole, 

 trim bruised roots with sharp knife, set tree on the firm ground, fill 

 in close around the roots and pack very firm with surface soil after 

 filling the hole half full of dirt ; if ground is dry, fill the hole up with 



