HO IV TO GROW APPLES FOR MARKET. 



broken up, and the spot selected was 

 dry, sandy, rich loam. Wide, shallow 

 holes were dug. The trees were taken 

 from my own nursery and very carefully 

 planted; and the earth heaped up against 

 the trunk of the trees, two feet high. 

 This is absolutely necessary when plant- 

 ing in the fall, in order to protect the 

 roots from frost, and at the same time 

 it serves as a protection to trunks of the 

 trees against the field mice. About the 

 middle of December, wc carted out ma- 

 nure and spread it six inches thick on 

 top of the heaped-up earth. This was 

 an extra precaution, against frost attack- 

 ing the roots, and was suggested to my 

 mind by the very severe winter weather 

 beginning with little or no snow. It 

 was well we did take this precaution, as 

 no doubt this extra protection to the 

 roots, given by the mulching on the top 

 of the heaped-up earth, saved my trees 

 from total destruction. Last spring, 

 vegetation, we all know, in this province 

 at least, was much retarded by the cold 

 weather which lasted all through the 

 month of May. The trees in my new 

 orchard looked as if they had no inten- 

 tion of leafing out. When the nursery 

 trees were almost in full leaf the trees in 

 the orchard scarcely showed signs of 

 budding out. But I was not alarmed. 

 I knew that the roots, so deeply covered 

 with earth and mulching, had not yet 

 begun to feel the effect of the sun's heat. 

 It was some time after the heaped-up 

 earth had been levelled that the trees 

 began to show signs of life, but after the 

 copious rains in June and the heated 

 term in July, followed by more rains, 

 my trees have made wonderful growth. 

 Of the 126 trees planted only six have 

 failed to grow satisfactorily or have been 

 injured by the winter so as to need re- 

 placing. 



The orchard of 90 trees planted last 

 spring (almost the same varieties as those 



planted last fall), has been quite, if not 

 more satisfactory. The trees had been 

 selected from those that had been taken 

 from my nursery in the fall and very 

 carefully healed in for winter. They 

 have made very satisfactory growth since 

 being planted. Fall planting can be 

 successfully carried out if we take the 

 necessary trouble to plant the trees as I 

 have related. 



In my own case, at least, I find it pre- 

 ferable and more convenient to plant in 

 the fall than in the spring, because we 

 are not so busy, and there is more time 

 to do the work than in the midst of the 

 rush of spring. I imagine that many 

 farmers and fruit growers are similarly 

 situated and have neither time to devote 

 to the preparation of the ground nor to 

 the planting of the trees ; in such cases 

 I would recommend fall planting. Per- 

 haps, when time can be given, planting 

 of apple trees in the spring is more de- 

 sirable. But at the same time I firmly 

 believe that fall planted trees, which sur- 

 vive the first winter (and with proper pre- 

 caution, such as I have mentioned, in an 

 ordinary winter with snow protection, 

 there is scarcely any doubt about it) 

 really 



MAKE MORE RAPID GROWTH 



the following summer than those trees 

 planted in the spring. This is accounted 

 for, I believe, by the fact that the shock 

 of transplanting, which the tree must 

 sustain, has been more fully overcome, 

 and also the fact that the earth has been, 

 through the action of the frost during 

 winter, more thoroughly compacted 

 around the roots and the interstices filled 

 up than is the case when trees are plant- 

 ed in spring. We all know that spring- 

 planted trees, the second season, should, 

 and generally do, make good growth, 

 which is owing in a great measure to the 

 same cause, the compacting of the earth 



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