126 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



prairie. The orchard protected by the windbreak, although icj', was 

 not hurt at all, while in the orchard away from the windbreak the 

 trees all died out. That is the effect of the windbreak we have heard 

 about. 



Mr. Harris: I do not think it is profitable for us to take a vote on 

 the motion that was made. The views and experiences of the mem- 

 bers will all come out in print anywaj"^, and as a societj" we do not 

 want to take a decided position either way. 



Mr. Dartt: I have not much to saj^, and I ain g-oing- to try to 

 talk very fast, but I want a windbreak for two reasons; to prevent 

 the effects of the sun, and to prevent the apples from being blown 

 off. Under some conditions the windbreak is absolutelj^ necessary- 

 If a windbreak is necessary on the broad prairie, it is necessarj- here; 

 we have winds here that are just as hard as those on the prairie. 



DISTANCE APART, ETC. 



Mr. Brackett: Do I understand that apple trees are short-lived in 

 this part of the country? In that case would it not be better to plant 

 them closer togother? 



Mr. Brand: I do not want that idea to go out that apple trees are 

 short-lived. If we plant the right varieties of trees and take care of 

 them they will live, and live long. We have trees in our count}' that 

 have been planted more than thirty years, that a year ago last sum- 

 mer produced more than fourteen bushels to a tree, and they are 

 without anj^ kind of windbreak and stand twent3'-five feet or more 

 apart. I do not think it is well to advise near planting with the idea 

 in view that our trees are going to die out, or, if not, that we are going 

 to cut them out. I have had a good deal of experience in cutting out 

 trees and I hate to do it. We leave it too long; we let it go until 

 the injurj^ is done. I planted my Duchess, a good many of them, pnly 

 twelve to fourteen feet apart, and some a little closer. They bore 

 when they were seven to eight years old, and I thought like this, 

 perhaps next year they will do better, and I put it off another year, 

 and that year I would put it off another year, until the trees are now 

 nineteen j^ears old. Three j^ears ago I cut some of them out; I took 

 out one whole row, and in other places I thinned them out, and last 

 summer I cut down a good inany trees that were nineteen years old, 

 and good healthy trees, so as to leave them tweutj'-four feet apart. 

 Mr. Gould saw the trees after I had cut them down. If you under- 

 take to plant close, you will not thin out until it is too late. 



Mr. H. L. Crane: What kind of cultivation did those trees have 

 that lived thirty years? 



Mr. Brand: They were well cultivated the first five years after 

 they were planted. In the fall they were banked up with earth, and 

 we made hay ropes and wound them. At the end of five j-ears* 

 the former owner sold the farm and they received cultivation 

 most of the time, with the exception of two or three years; the last 

 four or five j-ears the land has been in grass, until a year ago last 

 summer. The land has been cultivated three-fourths of the time> 

 perhaps, and one-fourth of the time was in grass. 



Mr. Dartt: How much ground does the orchard cover— those 

 trees that lived thirtj- 3^ears? 



