APPLES. 101 



spring-, if it ever spreads over this country those close planted 

 orchards are going to the brush pile; and it would be dangerous to 

 advise our farmers to set their orchards close. 



Mr. D. F. Aiken: I have a few trees I call an orchard, and I 

 want to say a few words on this subject of windbreak, since it is 

 called up. I believe in windbreaks, and I believe this windbreak 

 is especially essential on the east side of the orchard on account of 

 those east winds that do more harm than any west or northwest 

 wind. My orchard has a row of white willows about forty-five feet 

 hig-h around it and two rows on the east side, which are about four 

 rods apart. That does the best for my orchard, and it is open 

 entirely on the north and south, and it gets a free circulation from 

 the north wind and also from the south. 



Mr. Richardson: There is an old sajdng, "The proof of the pud- 

 ding is in the eating." I call to mind near Winnebago City three or 

 four orchards that are giving good returns. There is one that has 

 no care whatever, and a year ago I saw trees there with a body per- 

 haps twelve inches through, loaded down with apples until they 

 touched the ground. There is another large orchard that has a row 

 of evergreens on the north and west, and still another that is open 

 on the north and west, and I do not see but what they all fare alike. 

 There is another man who has his orchard seeded down, and he has 

 windbreaks on all sides except the east, and his trees are quite a 

 distance apart, and he mulches his ground about three inches deep 

 with long manure, and last year I saw Wealthy trees there that were 

 carrying all they could hold. He calculates he is going to have a 

 crop every year. One man near there made $800 out of his orchard 

 last year. He had a windbreak of evergreens on the north and west. 

 There is some advantage in having a windbreak, it does not allow 

 the wind to blow the apples off, otherwise, I cannot see much 

 advantage. 



Mr. Dartt: I think I oiight to saj' a word or two on the windbreak 

 question. In my extensive experience, to which inj- friend Brand 

 alluded, I have found out some things that I think I know. Now, a 

 windbreak offers protection only to a limited extent. Trees stand- 

 ing within one to three rods of a windbreak have done well in some 

 places, where the same variety on the same kind of ground six or 

 eight rods from the windbreak have killed out entirely. I refer to 

 the Duchess. I have such a place as that, and in my largest orchard 

 the rows standing within one to two rods of the windbreak have 

 done a great deal better than those standing further away from the 

 windbreak, so that the windbreak must be close by in order to afford 

 good protection. Now, as the kind of windbreak. I would not have 

 a dense windbreak; I would have trees enough to stop the force of 

 the wind, but at the same time I would secure a free circulation of 

 air; I would not shut off the air, but it should be just thick enough 

 to stop the force of the wind and hold the snow. Now, there is 

 another point; we Avant moisture in the orchard — that is what it 

 needs more than anything else in Minnesota. Now, if you have the 

 windbreak dense enough to stop the force of the wind and open 

 enough to allow a free circulation of air, the snow will drift into the 

 orchard, and when it thaws it will inake moisture and will help the 

 orchard. 



