.APPLES AND ORCHARDS. 37 



were quoted at $2.50 per barrel at shipping station, plus the 

 freight of about 40c per barrel, making them net at Minneapolis 

 $2.90, car load lots. At the same time the best quality of Wealthy 

 apples were selling to the trade at $4.00 per barrel, F. O. B. ship- 

 ping station, within a radius of 75 miles of the Twin Cities, and 

 were selling at retail to customers in such varieties as Jonathan 

 and Wealthy at 20c per dozen, 5c per pound and up, depending 

 upon quality, making a retail price of $2.00 or more per bushel. 

 Apples 2V2 inches and up average about 140 to the bushel. 



Best Location for An Orchard. — There are thousands of 

 acres of land located on the bluffs and along the banks of the 

 Mississippi and throughout the northwest, which are admirably 

 adapted to growing apples upon a commercial scale. The bluffs 

 which slope to the north and east are the best. At present most 

 of them are covered with underbrush or a poor class of timber. 

 Such land may be called practically valueless, so far as the pres- 

 ent income derived from it is concerned. The timber, however, 

 will usually pay for clearing the land. 



The Jewell Bluff Orchard. — The Jewell Nursery Company, 

 of Lake City, Minn., endeavored to solve the problem of making 

 such land profitable by clearing one of these steep bluffs. The 

 cost of clearing the timber and digging roads on the side hill so 

 that teams could traverse them, was estimated at $50.00 per acre. 

 The orchard was planted largely to Wealthy, Northwest Green- 

 ing and Virginia crab apples. The latter were planted for the 

 purpose of top-working, which has since been done, being top- 

 worked very largely to the Wealthy. Except for semi-hardy 

 varieties, I can not say that I especially recommend top-working 

 apple trees. The orchard now consists of about twenty-one acres 

 and 1,900 trees. As the process of clearing and planting has 

 extended over several years, not more than a thousand of these 

 trees have come into bearing, and a number of these have only 

 borne one or two years. It was this orchard that won two first 

 prizes for the State of Minnesota at the Spokane National Apple 

 Show in 1909 and 1911, in competition with twelve north central 

 states, demonstrating the fact that Minnesota could grow as fine 

 apples as can be grown anywhere. 



As the trees are located on a steep side hill, it is not possible, 

 and not necessary, to cultivate the entire orchard, and so the sod 

 is removed from around the trees for a space of about six feet 

 in diameter and the earth is stirred two or three times during 



