THE APPLE. 95 



South, but they ripen much sooner. Even in the State 

 of Georgia, some varieties that succeed well in the moun- 

 tainous regions are worthless lower down in the State. 



Observation and the experience of intelligent fruit 

 raisers will often be necessary to make a good selection of 

 apple trees. For orchards, vigorous young trees one 

 or two years old from the graft should be selected. They 

 are planted at distances varying from twenty to thirty 

 feet. When the greater distance is adopted, the spaces 

 between the trees are usually filled with other shorter- 

 lived trees, which will be out of the way by the time the 

 apples require the ground. When planted at this dis- 

 tance, other crops are cultivated in the orchard very con- 

 veniently, but if the entire space is to be given up to the 

 trees, twenty feet apart each way is a very suitable dis- 

 tance. Unless the young fruit is killed by frosts, apple 

 trees usually bear full crops in alternate years. By thin- 

 ning the young fruit in the bearing year and giving the 

 trees liberal supplies of manure, crops may be had an- 

 nually. The soil of many apple orchards is so impover- 

 ished that they cannot produce respectable crops even 

 in the alternate years. In most soils lime and ashes are 

 needed in abundance, but almost any kind of manure 

 will be found beneficial, the more the better. Of course, 

 no sensible person would heap up a whole barrel of lime 

 around the trunk of a single tree ; but there is far more 

 danger that the orchard will suffer from want of manure 

 than from too large a quanity. The kind of manure used 

 and the condition of trees and soil will determined how 

 much is necessary. It is better to give up the ground tO' 

 the trees, manuring annually and keeping the soil clean 

 and mellow by cultivation, but if crops are to be gather- 



