STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. gy 



DISTANCE FOR PLANTING. 



Mr. Briggs inquired of Mr. Prince whether in setting his six-acre 

 orchard, he set the trees in rows both wa3-s, and wh}' he set pear 

 trees in the squares between the rows. 



Mr. Prince. I did it simply because I thought the trees were 

 not near enough together ; I wanted more, and hence I set the pear 

 trees ; my apple trees being originall}' thirty feet apart. I have set 

 pear trees between a part, and between the rest I have set apple 

 trees. Where there were four trees, I put one in the centre between 

 them — not opposite. I leave ever^' fourth row in order to have a 

 place to drive between. 



Mr. Gardiner. I once had a Bellflower tree which spread over 

 a space of forty feet. What would become of such a tree as that 

 in an orchard where the trees are but twenty- feet apart? 



Mr. Prince. Where you find one tree that spreads fort\- feet you 

 will find forty that do not spread twenty feet. 



Mrs. Strattard. We have an orchard of about three hundred 

 trees, now beginning to bear, which are set thirty feet apart each 

 wa}-, and to-da}" they are getting so they interlace or touch each 

 other ; it is hard to get through with a team. There is a drain from 

 throe to five feet in depth under each row, and you will hardly find 

 a thriftier orchard in that vicinit}-. They are growing on what was 

 once a frog pond. 



O. C. Nelson, of New Gloucester. I will say that from my ex- 

 perience in orcharding I have been in favor of the practice of setting" 

 close, sa}' twenty feet apart, for various reasons. I have been suc- 

 cessful with the Nodhead. I have grafted trees that grew up nat- 

 urally, without removing them, and have obtained strong trees. 



Question. Do j'ou manure them? 



Ansioer. I put something about them every vear ; some years I 

 have mulched with straw or hay, sometimes with barn-yard manure, 

 very light ; sometimes mulched them with sand ; a little something 

 every \ear. 



Mr. Atiierton. How old are those trees that you have set twenty 

 feet apart? . 



Mr. Nelson. Those trees were set in 1848. The3' didn't make 

 much growth. At that time the ground was used as a vegetable 

 garden. I commenced to take care of them and they commenced 

 to bear. The^' have borne heavily until within four or five years. 



