APPLES 



307 



I'mniiii; 



If the orchard is coiiiposed of suitable 

 varieties, and the trees are not to be top- 

 grafted, the first operation will be that 

 of pruning. In many orchards the trees 

 are too closely planted. That they have 

 not commenced to crowd is due more often 

 to a lack of vigor than to proper spacing. 

 The renovated orchard under favorable 

 conditions will soon require more room. 

 The larger growing varieties like Bald- 

 win, Rhode Island Greening, Northern 

 Spy, Roxbury Russet and many others 

 will eventually require 40 feet between 

 the trees. With the small growing sorts 

 like Transparent. Oldenburg, Wealthy. 

 Mcintosh and others. 20 to 30 feet may 

 be sufficient. 



Thiniiinsr the Orchard 



The first step, then, is to determine if 

 the trees are properly spaced. If they 

 are found to be too closely planted and 

 if some of them must be removed, it is 

 well to follow some regular order so as to 

 retain the conformity of the orchard. 



Where trees are planted in squares, as 

 is commonly the case, every alternate tree 

 in the row nia.v be removed. If the first 

 tree of the first row is retained, the first 

 tree of the second row should be removed. 

 This is done by taking out ever.v second 

 row diagonally. This method, it will be 

 seen, leaves the rows cornerwise of the 

 orchard. If the squares between the trees 

 were originally 25x25 feet, they would 

 now be 35.3x35.3 feet. If originally they 

 were 30x30 feet they would now be 42. 4x 

 42.4 feet. So that by removing half the 

 trees it does not follow, as is commonly 

 supposed, that the trees will be twice as 

 far apart as before. 



In order that the diagonal rows to be 

 removed may contain the largest possible 

 number of vacancies and inferior trees, it 

 is well to make a diagram of the orchard, 

 locating on it all desirable trees by a par- 

 ticular sign, all weak trees and trees of 

 undesirable varieties by another sign, and 

 all vacancies by another. The result 

 would be something like Fig. 1. 



As to whether one should start by re- 

 moving the first diagonal row. or the sec- 

 ond, may readily be determined by re- 





+ * + 

 -*- .■»■' + 



>,_ + X -f 



" -+■ "* 



+ £>*.raWa r,,rt 

 J^ U UndnirBblrTrTes C^ 



I-'i.i;. 1. l)iai;ram Sliowinfj Method of Thinnins 

 Orchards. The dotted lines show the tows 

 that are retained. 



ferring to the diagram. The even rows, as 

 shown in the accompanying figure, in- 

 clude 19 vacancies and 18 weak or un- 

 desirable trees, while the odd rows in- 

 clude only four vacancies and 11 unde- 

 sirable trees. In this particular case, 

 then, it would be advisable to remove the 

 even, diagonal rows, which include 37 out 

 of the total of 52 vacancies and undesir- 

 able trees. The rows that remain include 

 four vacancies, and the question may 

 arise as to whether the trees adjacent to 

 these vacancies should be removed. In 

 some cases it may be advisable to leave 

 such trees, but it must be remembered 

 that each one so situated is likely to 

 crowd one side of three other trees. An 

 investigation by the Qornell Exiieriment 

 Station shows that, within certain limits, 

 the more trees per acre, the less the yield. 

 Their results are based on the records of 

 hundreds of orchards and cover a period 

 of four years. A brief summary follows:* 



Bushels 

 Pet Acre 



Not over 30x30 feet 186 



31x31 to 35x35 feet 222 



36x36 to 40x40 feet 229 



SliapiuK and Thinning the Trees 



Most trees are too high and may be 

 greatly improved by cutting back the 



• Cornell Experiment Station Bulletin L'2ti. n 

 .•SOI. 1905. 



