270 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Somerville: I came here more to take notes and to lis- 

 ten than to talk myself. I will say that in 1862 I set out fifty 

 Duchess apple trees sixteen feet apart each way, and if I were 

 to set out fifty thousand more that is the distance at which I 

 would set them. I want the whole ground occupied and I want 

 it shaded, when the trees get large. A great many of us set 

 our trees here in Minnesota with the expectation that one out 

 of ten of them may live, and the balance of the ground will be 

 cutivated for other purposes. I think that is wrong. We can 

 afford to take better care of a small piece of ground, and thus 

 insure our trees living, than we can of a larger one. if they are 

 scattered too far apart. Of the fifty trees that I set out in 1862 

 there are forty-nine of them living to-day. I have not failed to 

 get a crop of fruit for twenty-five years. The fiftieth tree 

 overbore itself and broke down. My orchard occupies a space 

 of ground about nine by thirteen rods, and it is the most profit- 

 able piece of ground that I have on my farm. 



I believe it is necessary to feed our trees as much as it is to 

 feed our stock. In the first place, we put on the mulch in the win- 

 ter, and that retains the moisture in the ground. In the next place, 

 the ground never freezes so hard when it is mulched. There 

 are more trees starved to death than killed by severe winters. 

 The roots are kept cool and moistened by this mulch, and our 

 trees are not subject to blight as they are when the sun has 

 licked up the last particle of food in the way of moisture that 

 the trees can get at. I believe it is an advantage to do this, 

 and I have found by doing it that I have very little blight in 

 my orchard. I have a number of Russian apple trees that have 

 done well. There are a number of our seedlings that are good 

 fruit trees. There is no doubt that we have taken a step in the 

 right direction in this matter of seedlings, ahd when we get 

 two or three generations of these seedlings w^e will be right at 

 home in raising apples in Minnesota. I am satisfied that we 

 are increasing our yearly crop of apples in this state quite 

 rapidly, and I believe that we shall continue to do so. Of 

 course, whenever we leave the corn belt we do not talk about 

 raising apples, but wherever we can raise corn we may be sure 

 of success in raising apples. Now. there has been a great deal 

 of talk made in regard to locations for orchards, but I do not 

 think that either Mr. Keel or myself has any better location 

 than other people. It is largely a matter of care and good 

 judgment. (Applause.) 



