13 



This is a fairly impressive list of benefits and ought to con- 

 vince any one that the windbreak is a useful thing to have 

 in connection with the orchard if it is possible to get it. 



Choice of Varieties. 



We may next attack the question of the choice of varieties 

 for the plantation, and in the writer's opinion this is the 

 most critical question which can come up for decision so far 

 as its bearing on the success of the orchard is concerned. 

 One is more likely to succeed if he chooses the right varieties 

 and puts them on the wrong soil than if he chooses the wrong 

 varieties and has them on satisfactory soil. 



It is impossible in a paper of this type to discuss a long 

 list of varieties, and those which have been selected are, in 

 the opinion of the writer, the most useful for our State. 



Let us begin by considering the advantages of a fairly long 

 list of varieties for the orchard, say the advantages of five or 

 six varieties in the orchard as against one or two. These 

 advantages stated briefly would be as follows : — 



First, it provides better for cross-pollination. This has 

 been shown to be frequently a very important factor in the 

 success of the orchard; and while most of our varieties are 

 reasonably self-fertile, yet nearly all of them are benefited by 

 cross-pollination with other varieties, — the yields being 

 steadied and made more certain. 



Second, a longer list of varieties lengthens the season for 

 picking and handling the fruit. In the writer's opinion this is 

 the strongest argument for a fairly long list of varieties. Let 

 us compare the orchards of two men, both of whom we will 

 say are harvesting 3,000 barrels of apples in the season. One 

 man has Baldwins alone, and if we allow a 15-day picking 

 season (which would probably be a generous estimate count- 

 ing from the time the fruit was in proper condition to pick 

 up to the time when it would begin to drop badly), this would 

 mean that the owner must pick 200 barrels per day during 

 this picking season. 



On the other hand, suppose the adjoining owner has five 

 varieties beginning with Oldenburg, which is ripe around the 



