MONTANA 



1367 



ommended. Water is usually put in the 

 holes with the trees if the planting is 

 late. Most of the orchards recently 

 planted are laid out in the hexagonal or 

 triangular system, the trees being from 

 24 to 30 feet apart. 



In young orchards most of the pruning 

 is done during the late dormant period, 

 during the months of March, April and 

 early May. The general practice is to 

 cut out the leaders and grow the open- 

 centered tree. The trees are headed from 

 18 to 24 inches from the ground and made 

 to branch as low as possible for easy and 

 efficient cultivation under the trees. 



Wind breaks have not been planted in 



the valley to any great extent, and except 

 in the most exposed places are not re- 

 quired for the successful growing of fruit 

 crops. 



The chief fruit pests now in the valley 

 are: On apples, blight, aphis, bud moth, 

 scab and nursery diseases such as crown 

 gall, etc.; on pears, blight and blister 

 mite. Cherries are particularly free from 

 all insect and fungous diseases, the great- 

 est damage being done by gummosis. The 

 sweet cherries, Bing and Lambert, are 

 sometimes injured by late spring frosts 

 or during a very severe winter, although 

 as a general rule frosts or freezes do not 

 affect the cherry tree or crop. 



Frost and Precipitation in Montana 



For additional information on orchard 

 sites and soils, see Selection of Site, un- 

 der Apple Orchard. 



Fruit ProdiH'tion in Montana 



Small Fruits: 1909 and 1899. Straw- 

 berries are by far the most important of 

 the small fruits raised in Montana, with 

 raspberries and loganberries and cur- 

 rants ranking, respectively, second and 



third. The total acreage of small fruits 

 in 1909 was 562 and in 1899, 554, an in- 

 crease of 1.4 per cent. The production 

 in 1909 was 767,000 quarts, as compared 

 with 1,034,000 quarts in 1899, while the 

 value was $86,586 in 1909, as compared 

 with $79,891 in 1899. 



The following table shows data with 

 regard to small fruits on farms: 



