More and 



How to Plant Orchard Trees 



DON'T le.t this spring go by without planting 

 an orchard. It is so easy, it is not a big 

 item, yet the results in a few years are astonishing. 

 If, before, you have been disappointed in results 

 because varieties purchased were not true to name 

 or you were not acquainted with the qualities and 

 characteristics of certain varieties and made a 

 mistake in planting; or, if you did not set out an 

 orchard but intend to do so next spring, stay in doors 

 on cold days and plan next season's campaign. 

 It requires years and considerable expense to thor- 

 oughly establish an orchard, and one needs make 

 the correct start. 



Let's look at my own case: My orchard is in 

 Delaware County, in Southeastern New York, 

 where only hardy fruits are supposed to thrive 

 with ordinary care. Apples, pears, cherries, 

 plums and peaches were planted ten years ago 

 and the trees are now bearing Jgood crops. The 

 orchard is located on a slope of ground having a 

 southeast exposure, and the soil is a clay loam 

 with good natural drainage. The growing sea- 

 son is usually from May 15th to October, and 

 the temperature occasionally falls as low as 20 

 degrees below zero. 



For the orchard, a 3-acre field was selected on 

 which corn had been grown the previous year, 

 and the soil had been fertilized with stable manure 

 and well cultivated. It was not over-rich but just 

 in good condition for planting: Early in spring 

 the trees were ordered from the nearest reliable 

 nursery which had similar climatic conditions. 

 We bargained for the trees during the winter, even 

 as early as January, for the first customers have 

 the chance to get the best trees, and bought only 

 first-class trees. 



Cherries, plums and pears were planted twenty 

 feet apart each way and the apples from thirty 

 to forty, according to variety. During the last 

 five years the cherries and plums have borne good 

 crops. The pears and apples which at first bore 

 only a small quantity of fruit are now producing 

 very good crop^. 



Conditions are almost ideal here for apples. 

 King, Northern Spy, Spitzenburg, and Newton 

 Pippin live long and bear well. The sour cherry 

 seems at home here, but the sweet varieties live 

 but a few years and then die. Japan plums, 

 planted on the high ground, are hardy and even 

 the tips of the twigs do not winterkill. About 

 every third year they bear very large crops; other 

 years the crops are light, due to the early bloom 

 being injured by spring frosts. English and 

 native plums usually bear an ordinary sized crop 

 every year. Hardy peaches bear small crops. 

 High feeding and cultivation, which would increase 

 the amount of fruit produced, would probably 

 make the trees so tender that they would partially 

 winterkill. 



The cost of the orchard, $55.50, was as follows: 



30 one-year-old cherry trees, $0.25 each $ 7 . 50 



50 two-year-old plum " .15 " 7 50 



50 " " " pear " .20 " 10.00 



SO " " " apple " .IS " 7.50 



12 peach trees, $0. 25 each 3 .00 

 Plowing, harrowing, furrowing and lajdng 



out ground for planting 10.00 



Estimated cost of planting 10 . 00 



The trees were bought direct from the nursery 

 at wholesale prices. It is a great saving to buy 

 50 trees at the rate quoted for 100. Both trees 

 and labor are higher now than formerly and a 

 similar orchard would now cost one-third more 

 to set out. 



Cultivated crops, such as corn, berries, etc., 

 were grown between the rows for the first four 

 of five years and the money they brought at market 

 more than paid for the cost of cultivating, fertiliz- 

 ing and pruning the orchard until it came into 

 profitable bearing. After four or five years in 

 sod, the trees now indicate lack of food, and the 

 orchard will be cultivated and fertilized with raw 

 ground South Carolina phosphate rock composted 

 with stable manure. 



ANOTHER KIND OF PICTURE 



.A. neighbor planted his orchard at the same 



time as I did mine, the trees were bought from the 

 same nurseryman, at the same time and from the 

 same lot. His trees were planted in sod ground 

 by an inexperienced workman and neglected. 

 Cattle, rabbits, rats and mice destroyed part of 

 the trees, and lack of cultivation and fertility and 

 no protection against insect pests have partially 

 killed the others. 



From my own experience in establishing a smal. 



A section of the successful home orchard which had good cultivation. The neighboring orchard left 

 untended had no trees to be photographed! 



280 



A Montmorency cherry tree ten years old. A tree 

 of this size will bear annual crops of from fifty to 

 one hundred quarts 



orchard I would advise the selection of a slope or 

 knoll, choosing high rather than low ground, which 

 had been planted to cultivated crops the previous 

 year. Ascertain which varieties of fruits thrive 

 in your own or similar localities, and buy these of 

 the nearest reputable nurseryman where the trees 

 have been growing in climatic conditions similar 

 to those of your own locality. If your ground 

 is not ready, order one-year-old trees and grow 

 them in nursery rows while the ground is being 

 prepared. Make the soil rich enough to grow a 

 good crop of corn, and plant the trees early in the 

 spring before the leaves start. Cultivate the 

 ground in some way for several years. Protect 

 the trees from insect enemies and animals, and put 

 a woven wire fence around the orchard. 



The following varieties of dessert, or high quality 

 tree fruits, have proved to be well adapted to the 

 climatic conditions in this region; 



Early apples: Sour Bough, Yellow Transparent. 

 Fall apples: Strawberry, Victoria Sweet, Fa 'J 

 Pippin and Fameuse. Winter varieties: Kin?; 

 Spitzenburg, Seek-no-Farther, Newtown Pippii' 

 Jonathan, Swaar, Northern Spy. 



Early pears: Clapp's Favorite. Fall: Barl 

 lett and Bosc. Winter: Anjou. 



Cherries: Montmorency and English Morello. 



Plums: Reine Claude (or Bavay's Green Gage), 

 Bradshaw, German Prune, Abundance, Burbank, 

 Wild Goose. 



Peach : Champion. 



New York. ^, W. H. Jenkins. 



