472 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



My Prize Orchard and How I Manage It. 



E. W. MAYMAN, SAUK RAPIDS. 



The management of a "Prize Orchard" is not materially dif- 

 ferent perhaps from the management of any other orchard, ex- 

 cept we naturally try to take better care of it in the hope that we 

 may grow better trees, raise better fruit and capture the highest 

 prize we can. 



The land in my vicinity is somewhat rolling upland and the 

 surface soil a clay loam underlaid with a compact strata of 

 hardpan, which if not loosened up has a tendency to retard and 

 check the root system by locking up the circulation and holding 

 back the fertility. 



In a dry spring digging holes with a spade or long handled 

 shovel is laborious work, hence I use the dynamite system. We 

 make a hole where the tree is to be planted with a crowbar, put- 

 ting it down about three feet. Then we take a half pound stick 

 of forty per cent, red cross dynamite and cut it in two, using 

 one-fourth pound to each hole, and with a fuse about three feet 

 long attach it with a cap to the dynamite and place it in the hole, 

 leaving the fuse about two inches above the surface in order to 

 light the same. 



All the holes are charged before setting off, after which the 

 work of cleaning out and preparing to plant the trees is easy. 

 Care should be taken to see that all the pockets and cavities are 

 closed, and this is done by tamping with a long handled shovel. 



This dynamiting shatters and blows the hardpan apart, and 

 the ground can be seen to heave for several feet around. 



The hole is then filled with enough good black surface soil 

 so the tree can be planted the required depth. I plant about two 

 inches deeper than it formerly stood if a three years old tree, and 

 about the same depth it stood in the nursery if a two years old 

 tree. 



Shading should be done as soon as planted to prevent blis- 

 tering and sunscalding, as the bark on the trunk is tender after 

 being shaded by other trees in the nursery row. I use the wooden 

 veneer protector and buy them by the thousand. They are put 

 on at planting time and remain on until they decay, and if 

 removed otherwise they are replaced. They are also a protection 

 against mice and rabbits. 



As to pruning, the roots are pruned if necessary, also a few 

 side shoots removed and about one-half of the previous season's 

 growth. The balance, and main, pruning is done later in the 

 season after the tree has begun to establish itself. I have found 

 that in pruning the branches along the trunk at planting time 

 when the trees are in a dormant state, that the wound does not 

 heal as well as when done later when the tree shows signs of life. 



Cropping the orchard is not detrimental to its success. A 

 liberal use of manure or other fertilizer and cropping with straw- 

 berries, followed by potatoes, is what I practice. For a mulch 

 in the line or row of trees, I use rape seed and leave it there. It 

 makes a good mulch and also prevents the snow from blowing 

 away. 



