36 THE AMERICAN APPLE ORCHARD 



apples are used for fillers between apples. The per- 

 manent trees are put where they are to stand, say 40 

 feet apart, and in the middle of the square, equidistant 

 from four of these trees, a temporary tree is placed. 

 This increases the number of trees to an acre by ex- 

 actly 50 per cent. 



When plums or cherries or dwarf pears are used 

 for fillers, a much larger number can be put in to 

 advantage. Perhaps the best way then is to 

 plant the permanent trees in rectangles, say 24 by 32 

 feet, then an entire row of fillers can be run through 

 the wide spaces, making the rows 16 feet apart one 

 way and 24 feet the other. The fillers would then be 

 planted 12 feet apart in the row, and there would be 

 one and one-half times as many of them as permanent 

 trees. In case a still heavier interplanting seems de- 

 sirable, the most practical way would be to set the 

 permanent trees in squares once more, then to run 

 temporary rows half way between them in both di- 

 rections. If the permanent trees are 40 feet apart 

 then fillers are put in half way between, in both di- 

 rections, making the entire orchard stand, as origi- 

 nally planted, with its trees 20 feet apart. In this 

 case there are just three times as many fillers as there 

 are permanent trees, and the number of trees in the 

 original orchard is increased by 300 per cent. 



Land is sometimes economized in a slightly different 

 way, namely, by interplanting with small fruits. The 

 writer has seen gooseberries and currants rather suc- 

 cessfully used in this way. They are worth trying. 

 Raspberries and blackberries are also planted occa- 

 sionally, but their use is attended with considerably 

 greater difficulties. They should be interplanted be- 



