APPLES. 99 



Mr. Harris: I oug'ht not to talk on this question, perhaps, but if I 

 ever become as old as Mr. Dartt, perhaps I will change niy views. 

 In all my observation I have found that the end tree of the row was 

 worth more than any three trees in the orchard. There is one tree 

 in my son's orchard that bears twenty-five bushels of apples, and 

 that one tree bears more apples than any other three trees, but the 

 others join each other and are crowded. That tree bears first class 

 fruit every year; it is free from insects, and most all of it is mer- 

 chantable. I want room between the rows for a good circulation of 

 air, and I want to get through with the team to haul in fertilizers, 

 and the roots also want plenty of room. At one time I adopted the 

 theory of the men around Minnetonka. If I were to set an orchard 

 now, I would set the rows forty feet apart anyway. 



Mr. Wm. Toole being- called for, made the following remarks: 



Mr. Chairman: I am very much interested in the discussion, and 

 I cannot gainsay a man's plain statement of facts. I am not an ad- 

 vocate of extremely close planting, and I do not know of any experi- 

 ence coming under my observation where I have seen an orchard 

 that has survived that kind of planting. The growth, perhaps, was 

 luxuriant enough, but I have never seen an orchard of that kind 

 after a number of years that was fruitful. The ti^es seein to require 

 a reasonable amount of room and air in order to do their best, and 

 I have never yet found in planting closely and expecting the trees 

 to die out, that they would die out in any reasonably fair order. I 

 would much rather plant at a fair distance apart and replant if they 

 die out. 



Mr. Dartt: How close would j^ou plant? 



Mr. Toole: In Wisconsin we regard an orchard as verj^ valuable, 

 and I doubt if any one would feel like planting closer than twenty- 

 five feet, twenty -five feet to two rods apart. 



Mr. C. Wedge: I would like to hear what the experience of others 

 has been in in this matter. 



Mr. C. G. Patten (Iowa): I am somewhat like Mr. Toole. It 

 seems to me we have had some positive statements here showing 

 great success in both close planting and in planting a great dis- 

 tance apart, and it would seem to hinge a good deal upon the vari- 

 eties in the first place, and in the care the trees received afterwards. 

 Mr. Somerville gives an experience of close planting and the great 

 care he expends on that orchard. Mr. Dartt has also planted 

 closely, and he is successful, while other men have planted at 

 greater distances and been equally successful. Of course, the dis- 

 cussion here is in reference to Minnesota, but I do not live very far 

 from Minnesota. Our experience would, perhaps, not be very differ- 

 ent, and our conditions would not be very different. In planting 

 Duchess, my first experience was planting a portion of the orchard 

 fourteen feet in the row. The other varieties were killed in 1884 and 

 1885. Were I to plant again, I would not plant the Duchess fourteen 

 feet in the row. There are two objections to this close planting. 

 Trees that have endured for quite a number of years like the 

 Duchess, in a very dry season, when the trees become from fifteen 

 to sixteen years of age, they exhaust all of the moisture in the soil, 

 and they require more than they can get, unless they are very highly 



