MONTANA 



1367 



ommended. Water is usually put in the 

 lioles with the trees if the planting is 

 late. Most of the orchards recently 

 planted are laid out in the hexagonal or 

 triangular system, the trees being from 

 24 to 30 feet apart. 



In young orchards most of the pruning 

 is done during the late dormant period, 

 during the months of March, April and 

 early May. The general practice is to 

 cut out the leaders and grow the open- 

 centered tree. The trees are headed from 

 18 to 24 inches from the ground and made 

 to branch as low as possible for easy and 

 efficient cultivation under the trees. 



Wind breaks have not been planted in 



the valley to any great extent, and except 

 in the most exposed places are not re- 

 quired for the successful growing of fruit 

 crops. 



The chief fruit pests now in the valley 

 are: On apples, blight, aphis, bud moth, 

 scab and nursery diseases such as crown 

 gall, etc.; on pears, blight and blister 

 mite. Cherries are particularly free from 

 all insect and fungous diseases, the great- 

 est damage being done by gummosis. The 

 sweet cherries, Bing and Lambert, are 

 sometimes injured by late spring frosts 

 or during a very severe winter, although 

 as a general rule frosts or freezes do not 

 affect the cherry tree or crop. 



Frost and Precipitation in Montana 





No. 



Frost 



Precipitation 



Station 



Average Date of 



Date of 







First 



Killing in 



Autumn 



Last 



in 

 Spring 



First 



in 



Autumn 



Last 



in 

 Spring 



Annual 

 inches 



Havre 



1 



2 



3 



4 



5 



6 



7 



8 



9 



10 



11 



12 



Aug. 26 

 Sept. 18 

 Oct. 10 

 Sept. 5 

 Sept. 11 

 Sept. 24 

 Sept. 5 

 Sept, 22 

 Sept. 24 

 Sept. 15 

 Oct. 9 

 Sept. 18 





Aug. 3 

 July 28 

 Sept. 26 

 Aug. 11 

 Sept. 3 

 Sept. 9 

 Aug. 1 

 Sept. 11 

 Sept. 5 

 Sept. 6 

 Sept. 7 

 Sept. 7 



July 21 



18.5 



May 17 

 May 5 

 May 26 

 May 16 

 May 1 

 May 30 

 May 10 

 May 11 

 May 29 

 May 1 

 May 18 



14.2 



Kalispel 



Glasgow 



May 23 

 June 20 

 June 26 

 May 20 

 June 20 

 June 9 

 June 9 

 June 25 

 Nov. 9 

 June 21 



16.4 

 11.8 



Poplar 



Great Falls 



Missoula 



13.1 

 13.4 

 15.5 



Glendive 



15.9 



Helena 



13.3 



Butte 



12.2 



Miles City 



Crow Agency 



12.5 

 13.6 



For additional information on orchard 

 sites and soils, see Selection of Site, un- 

 der Apple Orchard. 



Frnit Production in Montana 



Small Fruits: 1909 and 1899. Straw- 

 berries are by far the most important of 

 the small fruits raised in Montana, with 

 raspberries and loganberries and cur- 

 rants ranking, respectively, second and 



third. The total acreage of small fruits 

 in 1909 was 562 and in 1899, 554, an in- 

 crease of 1.4 per cent. The production 

 in 1909 was 767,000 quarts, as compared 

 with 1,034,000 quarts in 1899, while the 

 value was $86,586 in 1909, as compared 

 with $79,891 in 1899. 



The following table shows data withi 

 regard to small fruits on farms: 



