GROWING AND HANDLING APPLES FOR PROFIT* 



W. H. DEMPSEY, TRENTON^ ONT. 



APPLES are grown in nearly every 

 kind of soil and location provided 

 by nature in the Bay of Quinte district, and 

 to a certain extent are giving fair returns 

 for the investment. The successful or- 

 chards ajre those that are in more favored 

 locations, somewhat rolling land, protected 

 from the west and southwest winds, which 

 cause great destruction to fruit before it is 

 ready to pull and cause the young trees to 

 lean to the northeast, leaving the trunks sub- 

 ject to sun scald and of an unsightly ap- 

 pearance. 



The ideal soil for an apple orchard is 

 sandy loam, with clay subsoil, well drained 

 naturally or with under drains. This class 

 of land has many advantages compared with 

 heavier land. It is much easier to keep in 

 thorough cultivation, retains moisture bet- 

 ter in a dry season, gives quicker returns 

 from fertilizers, although it does not retain 

 them probably as long. Cover cj"ops take 

 much easier, fallen fruit is not so much dam- 

 aged, and is in a much better condition for 

 the canning factory or evaporation and is 

 very often shipped to market. There are 

 not many varieties which do not do exceed- 

 ingly well on this class of soil. Cranberry 

 and Blenheim Pippins do better on heavy 

 soil, while Hubbardson Nonsuch does best 

 on limestone gfavel. 



SELECTION OF TREES. 



A tree of medium size, two or three years 

 -old, from a graft or bud is best, as trees that 

 are older are slower in starting and do not 

 make as good growth. I prefer a good one 

 year old to a four or five yeaj old. In four 

 years the one year old tree will be the larger 

 and come into bearing first. 



Up to 15 years ago the orchards were all 

 planted 20 to 30 feet apart and of late years 

 40 feet apart, which might seem to be a lot 

 of vacant space. For 15 years at least I 

 would prefer 25 or 35 feet apart, and when 



the trees begin to crowd, remove every al- 

 ternate tree, and if the orchard has been 

 properly cared for they will by that time 

 have paid a profit for the care and land oc- 

 cupied by them. The remaining trees will 

 show a marked benefit both in appearance 

 and in the quantity, size, color and quality 

 of the fruit. 



FORMING THE HEAD AND PRUNINC 



When the trees are set they should not be 

 so that the head will be formed 30 or 36 

 inches from the ground. If trees are dried 

 out and not in a healthy condition, I would 

 leave three or four terminal buds, as they 

 are much easier to start into growth than 

 the other buds. 



If all the branches are cut away close to 

 the trunk adventitious buds would have to 

 be depended on for forming the head, and 

 as these might stand out anywhere along 

 the trunk the top would not be as symmetri- 

 cal as when four stubs were left. During 

 the first season the tree will require little if 

 any pruning, although if a tree is forming a 

 poorly shaped head a little judicious prun- 

 ing will often be helpful in making a uni- 

 form school. In early spring the trees 

 should be looked over and whatever 

 branches are not required in forming a good 

 head should be removed, care being taken 

 not to remove too much. The less prun- 

 ing done the sooner the trees will come into 

 bearing, and if the trees are quite thick 

 when they come into bearing fruit the 

 weight of the fruit will make them nearly 

 thin enough. 



]Many growers seem to think they are not 

 pruning unless they remove everything from 

 the centre of the tree so that there will be 

 no fruit except at the outer ends of the 

 branches. Sometimes it is 10 feet from the 

 trunk to the first fruit spurs, causing the 

 tree to split in pieces although there are 

 only a few bushels of fruit on it. I prefer 



* Extract from an address delivered at the recent convention of the Pomological and Fruit Growing Society of the Province of Quebec. 



211 



