Chapter I. 

 ESTABLISHING AN APPLE ORCHAED. 



F. C. SEARS, PROFESSOR OF POMOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL 



COLLEGE. 



In any country which grows as fine apples as Massachusetts, 

 and in a section where orcharding is as important a branch 

 of farming as it is in this Commonwealth, there is a constant 

 demand for information as to the setting of orchards. The 

 following brief suggestions are offered in the hope that they 

 may, in part, supply the desired information. 



FUTUBE OF THE ObCHARD INDUSTRY. 



Naturally, any man who contemplates setting an orchard is 

 anxfous to know the answer to the above question, and while 

 it cannot, of course, be answered conclusively, it would cer- 

 tainly seem to the writer that with the conditions which 

 obtain here in Massachusetts it is as reasonable to expect suc- 

 cess in the orchard business as in any other branch of farm- 

 ing. We are close to the best markets in the country; our 

 land values are reasonably low; our transportation facilities 

 are excellent; and our conditions as to labor, fertilizers and 

 other factors which go to influence, the result of an orchard 

 enterprise are certainly no worse than in other sections. The 

 writer would therefore be inclined to believe that the future 

 of the orchard business in Massachusetts is as good as it is in 

 any other part of the United States. 



Selecting the Orchard Site. 



If one is buying a farm with a view of using it as an or- 

 chard proposition and wishes to ascertain how much of the 

 land is useful for that purpose, or if one already owns a farm 



