MONTANA STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE 49 



Throughout the valley there are many old orchards which are 

 sadly neglected. Many of them are family orchards, the owners not 

 wishing to spend time or money in caring for them. They are merely 

 a side issue on the farm and owing to their neglected state are quite 

 unprofitable, giving no more returns than a few apples for the family 

 use and a considerable amount of more or less valuable hog feed. If 

 apples are scarce and high priced some of this fruit is marketed, but 

 it is generally of low grade. These old orchards are gradually being 

 done away with, the owners in some cases keeping only enough trees 

 to furnish fruit for the household. A half dozen well cared for trees 

 will give better returns than a couple of acres' of neglected, unpruned 

 and unsprayed trees. Many of these old orchards harbor insects and 

 disease and serve as a source of infection for an entire neighborhood. 

 The sooner these old orchards are taken out or cleaned up, the better 

 will be the conditions for the commercial orchardists and also for those 

 who are trying to take care of a small home orchard. 



It is the latter classes of orchardists who are taking more and more 

 interest in their work and who can see that the orchards respond to 

 good and efficient treatment and that apple growing in the Bitter 

 Root can be made to pay. With these men fruit growing is settling 

 down to business and the apple production will soon be increased. 

 There will be a better grade of apples raised with a good deal less 

 percentage of C grade and culls. 



While apple production is the main thing with the fruit grow- 

 ers, they have found that it is not wise to put all of their eggs in one 

 basket and consequently they are branching out into other lines' of 

 farming. The two most common lines in connection with the orch- 

 ard industry are the raising of dairy cattle and swine. The raising 

 of livestock not only furnishes additional income but helps the orch- 

 ardist to maintain proper soil fertility. As the trees grow older the 

 maintaining of soil fertility becomes more and more important and 

 undoubtedly the best method of keeping the soil fertile and in good 

 physical condition is by the use of animal manures. Of course, ma- 

 nure is available for use mainly on farms keeping a number of ani- 

 mals. 



The use of alfalfa and cover crops is becoming more general. In 

 connection with this it might be of interest to mention the eight- 

 year cultural tests conducted by the Horticultural Sub-Sation and pub- 

 lished in Bulletin 114 of the Agricultural Experiment Station. The 



