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COMFORT ME WITH APPLES' 



JOHN L. DOAN 



First Advance on Fall Planting for the Home 

 Orchard or Grounds — Considering Merits and 

 Adaptability of Varieties for Various Localities 



I HE apple is the fruit that satisfies. We may tire of the 

 orange and banana. The berry season that we wel- 

 ? come so eagerly may pass with scarce a sigh. But, 

 give us a real apple each day — a Baldwin, Stayman, 

 Grimes, or Mcintosh — (not a cork imitation masquerading 

 under the name Ben Davis or some alias of that variety) and it 

 will never wear out its welcome, though it be a daily guest 

 through all the year. 



Not only is the apple the prime favorite as a dessert fruit, but 

 it is preeminent for culinary uses. Sauce, butter, jelly, pud- 

 ing, fritters, pie, are only a few of the countless good things pre 

 pared from it that would fill a fair-sized cook book. 



The Apple tree is beautiful for a roomy lawn. It is one mass 

 of fragrant blush and white bloom in the spring; its abundant 

 and hospitable shade is most welcome in the summer; and it is a 

 delight to watch the small green fruits enlarge and then take on 

 shades of yellow and red as they ripen. 



What Soil and Site? 



THERE are more Apple trees grown in the world than any 

 other kind of fruit tree. This would be impossible were the 

 Apple not adapted to a wide range of soil and climate conditions. 

 The Apple in fact thrives from Carolina and Arkansas to Quebec 

 and British Columbia. 



Bearing age and length of life vary greatly with soil and 

 climate. In irrigated regions and light soils Apple trees usually 

 bear earlier and die younger. The varieties marked as very 

 young bearers are likely to bear a little four or five years after 

 they are planted, under average northern conditions. A majori- 

 ty of varieties will begin bearing about eight years after they 

 are set out and reach full bearing in fifteen to twenty years. 

 They may bear for fifty or a hundred years in the North. 



It flourishes in the heavy red soils of the Piedmont Region, 

 the sandy loams of Long Island, and the volcanic ash of Oregon. 

 The ideal apple soil is "sugar tree land" — the deep, strong, 

 well drained, gravelly loams on which Sugar Maples abound. 

 The land best adapted to white potatoes is fine apple soil, and 

 some mountain lands half covered by loose stone produce ex- 

 cellent apples. 



Do not try to grow Apple trees in wet soil, or on low ground con- 

 spicuously subject to frosts, or on land where bed-rock or water- 

 tight soil lies near the surface. But, if you have the room and a 

 soil different from the forbidden ones just mentioned, for a home 

 supply it is well worth while to plant varieties suited to your 

 conditions and give them a chance to grow. 



Planting Times, Distances, and Ages 



IT IS always safe to plant in spring; but autumn is a rather 

 better time to plant the Apple, except in dry or severe climate 

 or exposed situations. However, don't prune fall set trees until 

 the next spring. 



Give the trees plenty of room. For such weak growers as 

 Yellow Transparent, Oldenburg (Duchess), and Wealthy, 30 

 feet apart is ample and 35 feet suffices for Jonathan, Grimes, or 

 Williams; but Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening and Paragon 

 need all of 40 feet, which is counted the standard planting dis- 

 tance in the North Atlantic States. In some other sections the 

 trees do not grow so large and require less room. 



Intercrops of vegetables may be grown for several years; and 

 a very resolute person may plant early bearing varieties of 

 Apples half-way between the permanent trees as "fillers," to 

 be kept until the former need all the room. But it is hard to 

 find a person with the courage to cut out the fillers "that are 

 bearing so well," until they have crowded and injured the per- 

 manent trees. 



Don't lose time by trying to save it. Many set out four-year 

 trees to hasten the bearing of the orchard, only to see them out- 

 stripped by thrifty trees, one or two years old, set in the neigh- 

 bor's orchard. It you wish to train the framework of the tree 

 entirely yourself set one-year trees. If you would prefer to 

 have the framework already started, plant two-year trees. 



Early Pruning and Later Training 



DON'T have a long, bare trunk, unless the Apple tree be on 

 the lawn; leave the lowest limb as close as 18 inches or 2 

 feet from the ground. Train the top to from three to five main 

 framework branches. These should be evenly spaced around 

 the tree and should come out at different heights, to lessen the 

 danger of splitting. It will usually take two or more years to 

 start a vyell distributed framework. 



A one-year Apple tree usually has no branches. The first 

 spring shorten it back to a height that will leave several good 

 buds near the top. The uppermost of these will usually grow 

 into a leader and the others will be more spreading. The second 

 spring remove branches that are not needed for the framework. 

 Leave the leader rather long; but shorten the other branches re- 

 tained to two buds, letting only one shoot grow from each. New 

 branches will start from the leader and suitable ones of the first 

 and second years' growth (distributed along at least 18 inches 

 of the length of the trunk) are selected for the framework the 

 third spring. If needed, additional framework branches may 

 be grown from the leader the third year. 



If a two-year tree be planted it will have some framework 

 branches already. The first spring give it the treatment the 

 one-year tree received the second spring, and the second spring 

 the treatment the one-year tree received the third spring. 



If you wish your trees to begin bearing young, do only what 

 trimming is necessary and do not prune back the framework 

 branches except to secure stockiness, to prevent forking, or to 

 keep the most vigorous ones from outgrowing the others. 

 Heavy pruning delays bearing. 



If you plant fillers do not prune them at all, if you can avoid it; 

 for no pruning whatever will bring earliest bearing and the 

 training of the framework of the temporary trees is not so im- 

 portant. 



Some growers cut out entirely the leaders of the permanent 

 trees, after their framework is established, to get a low, open, 

 spreading top. Others let the trees take their natural form, ex- 

 cept to correct faults of habit. Either method may give good 

 results. 



Don't be too tidy. While the trees are still small, many 

 crooked, stunted branches may start on the framework. Of 

 course, you will be eager to cut them off; but refrain, for they will 

 be the first branches to become fruit spurs and bear. 



The leading shoots of some varieties, as Northern Spy, that 

 tend to grow too upright, should be headed down to outside 

 buds, or, still better, to small horizontal branches growing 



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