1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 135 



trees. It is seldom that we see a good orchard ; but if we 

 will select nursery trees that are grown from first-class seed- 

 lings we shall make a good beginning. And if you choose 

 grafts, be sure that a seedling stock shall make only one 

 tree, that we make that tree on a stock which has the center 

 of vitality in it instead of buying a fragment of some side 

 root. There are a great many root grafts that are imperfect. 

 We should select trees that are budded on first-class seed- 

 ling stocks. Then I would have a tree, which, when you take 

 hold of it in a nursery, seems firm, well balanced with roots, 

 not with the roots all on one side. Select them all as near 

 as possible after one model, and let them head. My own 

 idea is they should head from five to five and a half feet from 

 the surface or possibly six feet, but I would not have them 

 less than five or five and a half feet, in or^er to give better 

 opportunity for cultivating in the orchard. We have some 

 trees that head lower than that and it is a great annoyance 

 to cultivate under them, therefore I would select them after 

 such a model, and if trees are entirely selected with well-bal- 

 anced stocks, you may set an orchard of five acres, and at 

 the end of fifteen years have likely trees. It is a point 

 greatly to be desired, to have a perfect orchard. 



Another point that I would allude to is the matter of 

 cultivation. When we plant an orchard we should endeavor 

 to secure a good start the first year, precisely as we would 

 if we were raising stock. If we have a nice calf, we want to 

 keep that calf growing right along from birth to maturity. 

 If a tree gets a very decided check, at transplanting, or 

 within a year or two after, it is more difficult to get it started 

 again and recover the time. It is best for mulching and for 

 cultivation if the trees are well transplanted. We want to 

 get a good growth the first year, yet not an overgrowth. I 

 think there are two extremes that we should avoid, one is 

 starvation, and the other is excessive growth. I remember 

 within two or three weeks seeing a little item in the ' ' Home- 

 stead" that attracted my attention, in regard to a peach 

 orchard where the trees had died, or at least portions of 

 them had died, near the ground, and the question was, what 

 was the matter with them ? Of course I do not know how 

 that orchard was managed, but my first impression was, and 



