HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 343 



MORNING SESSION. 



FOUETH DAY, FRIDAY, JAN. 18, 1889. 



The meeting was called to order at nine o'clock by President 

 Elliot. 



The following paper was read by Mr. Dartt : 



ORCHARD PROTECTION — FACT AND THEORY. 

 By E. H. S. Dartt, Owatonna. 



This subject of orchard location and protection must be get- 

 ting somewhat stale. . We have been told so frequently that the 

 orchard should be placed in a high, airy location and be pro- 

 tected by trees, and also by an intelligent and energetic man, 

 that it would seem useless to plant an orchard in any other loca- 

 tion, or for any other kind of a man to attempt to raise an 

 orchard. But there are certain phases of this subject that seem 

 worthy of consideration. 



There is an orchard near Owatonna that is favorably situated 

 and has been planted out ten years. The trees were set twelve 

 feet apart each way — the owner believing that trees thus planted 

 would naturally protect each other, and that if they did well 

 they could be thinned out, and if they did poorly, the less 

 ground covered the better. On the east side is a single 

 row of European larch trees; on the south and west, a row of 

 box elders on the outside, with a row of Scotch pines on the in- 

 side. These trees are now about 20 feet high. Scotch pines 

 are also set 60 feet apart all through the orchard. The east part 

 of the orchard is entirely Duchess, and of the row standing 12 

 feet from the pines on the south side of the orchard, 16 trees 

 are standing in fair condition, while only 2 are dead. In the 

 second row, 24 feet from pine trees, 13 trees are standing and 

 5 are dead. In the third row, 36 feet from pines, 12 are stand- 

 ing and 6 are dead. In the fourth row, 48 feet from pines, 7 

 trees are standing and 11 are dead. The next three or four rows 

 are similar to fourth row. Then slightly higher ground is 

 reached, and trees are in better condition. These facts seem to 

 prove that while partial shade is very beneficial, yet these bene- 

 ficial effects do not extend much farther north than twice the 

 height of the windbreak. From these results we might expect 



