The Canadian Horticulturist. 



NOTES ON APPLE ORCHARD CULTIVATION. 



Ovj,)/- AY I take the liberty of asking you to insert in your very 

 interesting monthly a few notes relative to the cultivation 

 of an apple orchard. I have been more or less inter- 

 ested in apple trees for quite a number of years. Four 

 years ago I decided to take a more active part, and, 

 turning my attention to this branch of culture, became 

 an apprentice-horticulturist. I have set about 500 trees, 

 consisting principally of the leading varieties known in 

 this section of the country, such as Duchess, Wealthy, Fameuse, St. Lawrence, 

 Canada Baldwin, Golden Russet, etc., which are all doing well. 



Like everyone imbued with the desire to make a success of a new enter, 

 prise, I began to study the art of making apple trees grow, and, what is still 

 better, bear fruit, adopting the practice to which others attributed their success. 

 In every line of business there are always things which crop out, of which one 

 does not think at first ; this has been my experience, anyway, as far as horticul- 

 ture is concerned. 



It is now established, and on very sound principles, that a young orchard 

 should be kept under cultivation, and that consequently the raising of vegetables 

 and roots should be what the young orchardist should put his hands to. But 

 when one is located quite a few miles from a marketing place for garden products 

 and has hardly any stock to feed, the culture of roots, such as carrots, beets and 

 turnips, is not by any means a paying business. 



One must then have recourse to the culture of potatoes and corn, which 

 pays very well when properly done, but the work involved by the culture of from 

 seven to eight acres of potatoes and corn is indeed considerable, and impracti- 

 cable in a good many cases on account of the scarcity of hands, or great cost of 

 fertilizers needed. This is the obstacle which presented itself to me, and I 

 thought of sowing about four acres or so of my orchard in cereals. I consulted 

 many works on horticulture in order to ascertain what would be the best grains 

 to try, but, unfortunately, I could not get any information on the subject. 

 Accordingly, having to decide for myself, I chose peas and oats, sown together 

 as a mixture, for the simple reasons that peas greatly improve the soil, and oats 

 need much less nutritive elements than wheat or barley. 



This first trial I made two years ago. The crop was a very good one, but 

 as soon as the field was rid of the grain I noticed that the bark of some of the 

 trees had been slightly gnawed by something, but what this something was, was 

 the next question to be solved. The damage done to the trees was so small 

 that a very superficial examination led me to believe that perhaps crickets had 

 tried to feast on what I prized so much. Last year, however, I tried peas and 

 oats a second time, but in another part of the orchard. The first part of the 



