332 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



To have good healthy apple trees they should be grown on ele- 

 vated land, where the range of temperature is not so great as on low 

 land, and on clay loam, where the wood will ripen early in the fall, 

 and on clay subsoil, that will retain moisture. The ground should be 

 plowed deeply and subsoiled in the fall ; then in the spring pulverize 

 thoroughly to the depth of ten inches or more and plant the grafts 

 six or eight inches apart, in rows four feet apart. 



Cultivation should begin as soon as planting is finished and 

 repeated at least once a week through the growing season, and as 

 much oftener as the ground gets in good condition to cultivate after 

 each rain. If very shallow surface cultivation is given during the 

 fall, so that the ground takes up and retains the fall rains and early 

 melting snows, it will probably prove a good protection against root- 

 killing — or late crops of oats or buckwheat may be grown to cover 

 the ground to protect from root-killing. 



The first year there will be no trimming required if all but the 

 strongest shoot is rubbed off when they start growth in the spring. 



Cultivation the second year should begin as early as the ground 

 will work and continue through the growing season, as before, 

 using more horse and less hand work as the trees get larger. 



Pruning the second year should be almost nothing, simply cut- 

 ting back any injured tips to perfectly sound wood and rubbing the 

 buds off the bodies from the ground up to where the top is to be 

 formed. 



At the close of the second season the trees will be in nice shape 

 for transplanting in the orchard, with a good top one year old, a 

 good body two years old and a fine root three years old, that can be 

 lifted out with almost the entire roots after the tree digger has 

 loosened the soil around them. The trees will stand from three to 

 six feet high, depending on the varieties, the season and the care. 



But if these trees are calculated for the market they will have 

 to be headed back in the spring and grown a year or two more, for 

 the average planter wants more timber in his trees. 



During this last year while you are engaged in tree culture you 

 should also be cultivating the acquaintance of a tree man to sell 

 them, and if you could hear him talk while doing his part of the 

 work you would probably feel well repaid, and it may be all you 

 will ever get for your four or five years of hard work growing and 

 packing them for him. 



Mr. J. S. Harris : Generally a nurseryman starts in with the 

 idea that by using our crab seeds for root-grafting stocks, it makes 

 the best stock to use for his purpose. I will just cite you one in- 

 stance. E. S. Wilcox, of Trempeleau, Wis., one of the best fruit 



