-2- 



fort. It takes cov.ra[^e to cut out np.ture trees os soon as the 

 branches begin to touch. It's easier to wait for "one more crop", 

 forgetting thot the roots o.re crowding seriously and that the 

 lower half of the tree is beconing less efficient long before 

 there is serious crowding of branches. 27 vigorous trees to the 

 acre with good exposure to light arc almost certain to be noro 

 profitable than double that number of crowded trees. One Worces- 

 ter County grovrer who is thoroughly sold on the idea of removing 

 fillers promptly, reports the following: One "Mcintosh tree with 

 plenty of space on all sides had a crop of 12j bu. 6-j bu. vrorc 

 picked from the ground and the remaining 6 bu. from a short ladder. 

 The average color was excellent. Ease of harvesting as well as 

 spraying and thinning are real a.dvantages of the violl spaced or- 

 chard. 



In a certain Plymouth County orchard the trees vrere 

 originally planted 20 x 20. Half of them have been removed, 

 leaving the remainder 2J feet aport, or 5^ trees to the acre. 

 The orchard is on a droughty soil and no mulch has been used. 

 This yerr the crop averaged g bu. per tree but the size of the 

 fruit was disappointing. Evidently there wasn't enough water in 

 the soil to support a 400 bu. per acre crop. 171 th half the num- 

 ber of trees properly mulched the cmer might have ho.rvested 30O 

 bu. of high quality fruit. In the course of a few years he will 

 save enough on spraying, pruning rnd harvesting to pay for many 

 loads of mulch material. Too many trees per acre is one of the 

 most pressing problems of our Massachusetts orchards. 



A Tip on Soil Management 



V/ritlng on the subject of soil management in the September 

 issue of American Fruit G-rov.^er, F. E. Boar makes this pointed 

 strtement, "An orchard soil to give best results, must be well 

 drained; it must contain a liberal supply of organic rartter; and 

 it must produce good yields of sod or cover crops. On this point 

 there is not likely to be ;xny disagreement. But a large percent- 

 age of our orchard soils do not meet these specifications. Some 

 are too wet. Others contain very little organic matter and are 

 too dry. Others ptc so unproductive of cover crops that it is a 

 waste of money to sov/ them until conditions for their growth are 

 made more favorable." 



If we look around us we can see plenty of orchards which 

 illustrate the truth of this statement. Where ragi.veed makes a 

 grovrth of only six or eight inches vre ma.y be dead sure that soil 

 conditions are not favorable for apple production. Such orchards 

 may bear a fair crop in a. year "v.'hen everybody has apples." But 

 the successful orchard bears a good crop every year, Including 

 the year when apples arc scarce. The orchard cover crop is an 

 excellent indicator of soil needs. If the soil will grow a rank 

 growth of grass and weeds we needn't v^orry much about the tree 

 itself. But if through long continued cultivation and a failure 

 to maintain a good supply of organic matter vre find the soil get- 

 ting harder each year and the grovrth of creeds scantier, it is 

 high time that ve embark upon a program of soil improvement. Cash- 

 ing in on the organic matter in the soil is lilce drawing money 



