DWYEE'S GUIDE. IS 



ognized fact that on the banks and interior sections of the Hudson River 

 Valley, between New YorK City suburbs and Albany, there Is produced in 

 large variety a high standard of large, choice, fine appearing apples of 

 the best flavor. The top soil along the Hudson River section varies from' 

 a light sandy loam to a dark loam, with a limestone mixture. This top- 

 soil has a body of itself from ten to twenty inches and is almost invari- 

 ably underlaid with a clay sub-soil. This seems to be indisputable evi- 

 dence that such land is especially adaptable to the successful production 

 of the Apple; moreover it is a noticeable fact that the trees grow larger 

 and live longer on this character of land than on any other. 



Don't Plant Apple Trees on an excessive dry, warm soil; they may 

 exist there for a while, but in the end it will be an all-round disappoint- 

 ment with money, and what is more important, valuable loss of time. 

 Don't plant on excessively wet land, that is, land that is low and too 

 moist to cultivate when the ordinary farm crops can be tilled to' advan- 

 tage. We want to warn all against planting the Apple on very low 

 ground, even when the land is of an average dry nature; the trees never 

 thrive well on these low lands. It is only occasionally that the blos- 

 soms escape the late Spring frosts and bear a crop of fruit. We have 

 in this country such a varied list of soils and exposures suitable to the 

 best cultivation of the apple that it seems like careless and suicidal in- 

 difference to select any of these uncongenial situations and destroy our 

 chances of success in the beginning. The apple should not be planted 

 on land underlaid with solid rock — unless the roclt is five feet below the 

 ground surface. 



SUITABLE SITUATIONS AND EXPOSURES. 



Most any other situation or exposure except those objectionable ones 

 referred to above will be desirable for the apple orchard. We prefer the 

 northern exposure, but believe when other conditions are equal that it 

 makes but little if any difference whether or not the land is level or has 

 a northern, southern, eastern or western slope. 



The Three Systems — There are three distinct and separate ways of 

 planting an apple orchard. All are perhaps equally good, and one sys- 

 tem superior and more desirable than the other under different condi- 

 tions and circumstances. It is, we believe, unwise to recommend any 

 one particular rule without having a full knowledge of the situation and 

 the aims and purposes of the planter. We therefore think best to ex- 

 plain briefly the methods now generally in use and let each one choose 

 the one he finds most desirable and adaptable for his individual environ- 

 ments. One of the methods tO' adopt, and the old-fashioned one, is to 

 plant the apple trees thirty-five to forty feet apart each way. Another 

 system and one that has been used quite largely is to plant peach trees 

 between the rows of apples, and also alternately in the row, removing 

 the peach trees in a few years or as soon as they are done bearing, and 

 then leave the land entirely to the apples. The third arrangement is to 

 plant the apple trees twenty feet apart every way. With this plan you 

 get one hundred and eight trees on an acre of land and under ordinary 

 conditions will have these trees come into bearing and produce a barrel 

 of apples each the sixth year after being planted. They will, of course, 

 bear quite some fruit the fourth and fifth years. From the sixth year 

 on to say about the eighteenth, they will bear many crops, large and 

 small, without the trees interfering with one another or becoming too 

 much crowded to hainper all-round favorable facilities in care, cultiva- 

 tion and gathering of the fruit. After this period the trees should be 



