OF DWARF FRUIT TREE CULTURE. 65 



for comparison, Paradise trees at 4 feet apart. That is, the standard 

 apple trees occupies a space of 1,600 square feet and the Paradise 16 

 feet. Or, theoretically, 100 Paradise trees will fit on the same area 

 of ground as one standard apple tree ; this is, however, impracticable, 

 as roadways must be provided for attending to the trees properly 

 (see cut) . We will therefore be reasonable and plant four rows four 

 feet apart on each side of an eight-foot roadway, making 40 feet 

 each row would then contain eight trees, making 64 trees for the 

 block of 40 feet square and leaving an eight-foot roadway through 

 the middle of the plot ; this would be equal to 1,628 trees to the acre, 

 not counting fractions, with proportionate roadway space. A little 

 practical figuring upon the basis of the foregoing table of the actual 

 yield of these little trees will give some startling results. We find 

 that one of these bush trees yielded in six years over five bushels 

 of apples, or 320 bushels from the trees occupying the space of one 

 standard apple tree THAT HAD NOT YET BEACHED THE 

 BEARING AGE; consequently as only 27 apple trees, at 40 feet 

 apart, fit on one acre, 8,640 bushels of apples could be produced 

 from one acre (not counting fractions) of dwarf apple trees in six 

 years from planting and BEFORE ONE ACRE OF STANDARDS 

 PLANTED AT THE SAME TIME HAD COME INTO BEARING. 

 These dwarf trees would continue bearing increasing quantities of 

 fruit for 15 or 20 years longer, when the orchardist could well afford 

 to dig them up and plant fresh. The generality of standard apple 

 trees require five or six years to BEGIN bearing; the bush, on the 

 contrary, beginning to bear the second year and steadily increasing 

 its crop till 10 years old and continuing to yield steadily maximum 

 crops till 20 or 25 years old. On the other hand the standard tree 

 may be expected to gradually increase till from 15 to 20 years it 

 will yield about three barrels (nine bushels) per tree per year; from 

 this time until the trees begin to fail from old age, the annual yield 

 will be under 15 bushels. These are average figures for well cared- 

 for trees, and allowing for off years, poor years, and poor trees, or 

 badly pruned or moss-bound trees, will not do so well. The standard 

 tree will bear for 50 years, and it will average for good and bad 

 years 10 bushels a year, or 500 bushels in all. This, I think, is a 

 liberal estimate for one standard tree on 40 feet square of land. 

 Compare the above with the Paradise apple, or, rather, 64 of them, 

 for that number of trees may be grown on the same area of land as 

 one standard tree. One dwarf Paradise apple bush, as we have seen. 



