EEPOliT OX THE No. 33 



rapid grower, and the young trees may be obtained 'very cheaply. The windbreak should 

 be planted at the same time as the orchard; it will then be effective by the time the trees 

 come into bearing. A single row may be sufficient, although in very exposed places, 

 a double row, with the trees set alternately, is preferable. The trees should be at least 

 six or eight feet apart, and even ten or twelve feet is better when the trees grow up. 

 The trees should not be planted nearer than forty feet from the first row of apple trees, 

 as if planted too near drifts of snow may cause injury in winter, and insects are more 

 troublesome in summer where there is not a good circulation of air. The trees in the 

 windbreak should be well cultivated, the same as the trees in the orchard, until they 

 become well established. Neglect of this is the main cause of failure in setting out 

 windbreaks. 



THE SOIL AXD ITS PREPARATION. 



The apple tree readily adapts itself to a great variety of soils, yet there are certain 

 kinds upon which it does much better than others. Light sandy soils are usually 

 deficient in plant food, and are not retentive of it when fertilizers are applied to them. 

 On the other hand, heavy clay soils may contain plenty of plant food, but they are 

 difficult to work, and unless very carefully managed bake so hard that the tree will 

 not thrive upon them. The ideal soil is a happy mean between these extremes, a friable 

 loam. It may be called a sandy or a clay loam, as either sand or clay predominates in 

 its composition, and is all the better if of a limestone formation upon an open subsoil. 



One of the first requisites in any orchard soil is good drainage. Fruit trees will 

 not thrive upon undrained soil. If the land is not naturally well drained, it should be 

 thoroughly underdrained. 



Good preparation of the soil previous to planting is very essential. Trees set on 

 unprepared soil are seriously handicapped at an important stage of their life and often 

 they never overcome it. Land which has been exhausted by grain production is in poor 

 condition for the growing of trees, although it may be greatly improved by growing 

 and plowing down two or three crops, such as rye, clover, or vetches, as a green manure. 

 Probably no other crop leaves the ground in better mechanical condition for the growth 

 of trees than clover. Its roots penetrate the soil deeply and leave it well filled with 

 vegetable matter or humus. 



There has been much diversity of opinion regarding the value of subsoiling in 

 preparing the land for trees. But there is little room for doubt that it is of much benefit 

 on land where the subsoil is hard and impervious to water. The subsoiler should follow 

 in the furrow of the ordinary plow, loosening the subsoil as deeply as possible. Where 

 this is not done, clover roots are the next best thing as subsoilers. 



The preparation of the ground for planting should begin by a good deep plowing 

 in the fall, and it would be all the better if it could be ribbed up as is now frequently 

 done in preparing ground in the fall for spring seeding. This insures good surface 

 drainage and quick drying of the ground in the spring. All that would then be required 

 in the spring would be to harrow down the ridges and loosen up the ground as deeply 

 as possible with a spring tooth cultivator. 



PLANTING. 



Great care should be taken and good judgment shown in laying out the orchard 

 and in planting the trees. 



The proper distance apart for planting depends altogether upon the ultimate size 

 which the trees may attain, which in turn depends upon the variety, the soil, and the 

 locality. The varieties grown in our most northern orchards seldom spread more than 

 twenty or twenty-five feet, while the kinds grown in the more favored apple sections 

 of Southern Ontario often have a spread of forty feet. The best guide to intending 

 planters is to observe carefully the distances required for full grown apple trees in the 

 neighborhood. In southern Ontario this will be found to be from thirty-five to forty 

 feet, throughout central Ontario thirty to thirty-five feet, while in the northern sections, 



