3o8 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



The broad and fertile prairies of the Central States and the valleys and 

 mountain plateaus of the Rocky Mountain regions, afforded ample opportunities 

 for growing apples on a large scale. It is not uncommon now to see an apple 

 orchard of fifty to a hundred acres belonging to a single person. There are 

 others, belonging to orchard companies, of more than two thousand acres in 

 extent. 



Methods of Culture. — The methods of apple culture, and of all other 

 branches of fruit culture to-day are very much in advance of those of a few 

 years ago. Horse power has largely taken the place of manual labour. Even 

 the plough has been laid aside in many cases for other improved tools. 

 There are harrows and horse-hoes of various kinds that stir and pulverise the 

 ground over a wide space. The old plan of leaving the apple orchard in grass, 

 thus making a meadow or pasture of it, is found to be a bad one. The trees 

 grow so much better, and the fruit is so much larger and finer, that many of 

 those who have had their orchards in grass have ploughed them up, and are 

 giving the ground good tillage, with most favourable results. Although most of 

 the large apple orchards are in the States west of the Mississippi River, there are 

 some of considerable size along the Appalachian Mountain chain, which runs 

 north and south through the eastern tier of States. The land in the latter region 

 is mostly hilly, and some of it mountainous, but the soil and climate are 

 especially adapted to apple culture. Western New York is also a famous 

 district for apple culture. 



Dwarf Apple Trees are rarely grown in America, except in a few small 

 fruit gardens, nor are fruit trees of any kind trained on walls or as espaliers. 

 We use the open orchard style. Many trees of the older apple orchards were 

 trained with trunks from 6 to 8 feet high that ploughs and waggons might be 

 driven beneath them, but this is rarely seen now. The trees are headed about 

 2^ feet from the ground and induced to make abundant lateral branches. The 

 trunks are thus shaded from the direct rays of the sun, which in some districts 

 prove injurious to apple trees ; danger from wind is less than if the trees were 

 tall, and they are much more convenient for pruning, spraying, and gathering 

 the fruit. Another marked advance in apple culture is the system of close plant- 

 ing. Instead of trees 30 to 50 feet apart, they are set about half that distance, 

 with the ultimate intention of cutting out about half or more of the trees when 

 they become crowded, thus giving abundant room to those that are left. An 

 improvement upon this plan is, instead of using all of one variety, to plant 

 such as will come into bearing early for the temporary trees, and for the 

 permanent trees such as come into bearing later, and will live to an old age. 

 This is the approved plan now adopted by our commercial apple orchardists. 

 It is, fortunately, true that there are varieties of good flavour and with other 

 points of excellence that suit the two purposes. The temporary ones will begin 

 to bear in from four to six years after planting, and need not be dug out until 

 they are ten to twenty years old, while the permanent trees will remain pro- 

 fitable until thirty to fifty years old or more. 



Varieties. — As might be expected, the wide variation in climate and soil 

 make corresponding differences in the behaviour of varieties of apples. Some 



