ECONOMIC PLANTS 243 



Growing a Fruit Tree. When we plant a seed of a 

 certain variety of plant, we naturally expect that seed 

 to produce a plant of the same variety, but experiments 

 have proved that in the case of the tree fruits, at least, 

 planting the seed of a given variety may produce a tree 

 that bears fruit of an entirely different variety. More 

 than likely the fruit of an apple seed will simply be 

 an inferior variety, of no value at all as a fruit. 

 Trees grown from seeds are called seedlings. Orchard- 

 ists who are trying to develop new and improved va- 

 rieties grow a great number of seedlings in the hope 

 that out of the large number there may be found one or 

 more trees bearing fruit that is an improvement over 

 the varieties now in existence. It is through this pro- 

 cess that the existing varieties were found. 



Tree fruits are ordinarily grown on land set aside for 

 that purpose, called orchards. The small fruits are 

 commonly cultivated in gardens. 



Location of an Orchard. In a hilly country or- 

 chards are planted on all sides of the hills, but in the 

 higher latitudes the north side of hills is preferred, as 

 that slope is not subject to so many variations in tem- 

 perature. A location should be secured that is not 

 subject to frosts during the growing season. Orchards 

 should not be planted in hollows or closed valleys be- 

 cause of lack of cold air drainage. As the warm air 

 rises and the cold air descends, the cold air may be 

 pocketed in the hollow unless there is a still lower 

 hollow or valley that may drain out the cold air. 



Proximity to a body of water has a tendency to 

 equalize the temperature of the surrounding land and 

 will often avert untimely frosts. 



Arrangement of Trees. --The most common method 



