24 CULTIVATION OF STANDARD APPLES. 



In the first place, when you select your trees 

 from the nursery, be careful there is no blemish 

 on the stem caused by the canker : and when 

 orchards are planted the trees should stand at 

 least sixteen feet apart, but distances vary in 

 different counties, from sixteen to forty feet ; I 

 should recommend about twenty feet, or 

 twenty-five if the land is very good, to give 

 room for the under crop, and as there is no fear 

 in future of the trees decaying through the 

 canker, it would be better than planting them 

 nearer, for it is necessary for the meadow to 

 have a free current of air, otherwise it would 

 produce a poor sour pasturage. 



It is a very good plan to plant the trees three 

 or four years or more before the ground is laid 

 down for grass, for keeping the ground dug 

 about the trees while young greatly encourages 

 their growth, and they then become strong 

 and out of the way of cattle. 



This plan is often adopted by hop growers to 

 plant their trees before the hop grounds are 

 worn out, and when the meadow is laid down, 

 there is at once a fine young orchard in bear- 

 ing without further trouble, and while the trees 

 are in that young state they do so little injury 

 to the under crops, that the same method may 



