200 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the blanks which we send out asking- them to give us returns on 

 their orchards. I have here the blank which we received from a 

 gentleman by the name of Charles 0. Garrett. He has an orchard 

 farm east of Des Moines about thirteen miles. We asked him for 

 his report for 1915. Mr. Garrett was brought up on a farm. He 

 has gradually given more and more attention to fruit growing 

 and less attention to general farming. These are some of the 

 questions we asked : 



Q. How many acres did you have in apples in 1915-? Ans. 

 "Forty acres." 



Q. What was the yield per acre? Ans. "Two hundred 

 bushels to the acre." Mr. Garrett is one of the most progressive 

 of our orchard men. 



Q. Did you prune? "Yes." 



Q. Did you spray? "Yes." 



Q. What did you spray with? "Lime sulphur and arsenate 

 of lead." 



Q. How many times? "Three times." 



Q. Net returns per acre? "$150. Net returns for the 

 orchard $6,000." 



In contrast with that, are the replies from a man who has a 

 farm of about 1,500 acres, but who is interested in stock rather 

 than in the orchard. His father, however, did plant out a twenty- 

 acre orchard of Jonathans, which are now fine trees of bearing 

 age. The orchard was cultivated until the trees were about 

 twelve years old ; they are now about twenty years old. 



Q. How large was the crop in 1915? Ans. "Four hun- 

 dred bushels on the twenty acres." 



Q. Total gross returns per acre? Ans. "Five dollars." 



Q. Cost of production? Ans. "Nothing." 



Q. Did you prune? "No." 



Q. Did you spray? "No." 



You see he was not interested in the orchard. I believe in 

 the hands of Mr. Garrett there might have been turned off at 

 least $3,000 from that twenty acres of Jonathans. 



I could give you a great many other illustrations of this kind, 

 gentlemen, but these must suffice. They will call your attention 

 to the fact that we can make our orchards more successful if we 

 adopt the right methods. 



First of all I would say it is desirable to have good varieties. 

 You may not be able to get the very best varieties to live here, 

 but you can get good varieties that are hardy enough to stand in 

 this climate. 



Second. The management of the soil should be such as to 

 make conditions favorable to the vigorous and healthy develop- 

 ment of the roots. Should the orchard happen to be in a dry 



