APPLES 
heading, and therefore the first year in 
pruning would cut off the top not more 
than one foot above the surtace of the 
ground In fact, we have thought six 
inches is better than one foot, but many 
regard this an extreme. Our reasons for 
low heading were discovered by accident. 
Rabbits having girdled several trees dur- 
ing the winter, the owner of the orchard 
had to decide between cutting off the 
tops of the trees near the ground or 
rooting them up altogether These trees 
are now 18 years old. They are the 
healthiest, largest, most prolific bearers 
in the orchard. This is not confined to 
one variety, but is true of all the varieties 
in this orchard. We have observed other 
orchards where similar conditions pre- 
vailed, and in every case we have been 
confirmed in the conclusion that low 
heading is decidedly preferable. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
DISTANCES TO PLANT 
One of the most common mistakes made 
by orchardists is that of planting too 
many trees to the acre. “Short lived 
trees” is a very general complaint, and 
overcrowding is one of the direct causes 
of it. 
Moisture 
A number of important factors should 
be considered in determining the num- 
ber of trees per acre. Moisture plays 
an important part in plant growth. 
Most varieties of apples are from 8&5 to 
90 per cent water. This fact has an im- 
portant bearing especially for semi-arid 
regions. When we recall that each inch 
of rainfall means about 120 tons of water 
per acre the amount is significant, par- 
ticularly in a country where the annual 
rainfall is approaching a minimum sup- 
ply for the maintenance of tree growth. 
It is therefore evident that with a given 
annual rainfall per acre, the closer the 
planting the less the water supply for 
each tree. 
Distance and Yield 
Too close planting is one of the most 
Serious hindrances to the successful pro- 
duction of high grade fruit. A large 
Share of the apple orchards, especially 
175 
those set from 15 to 40 years ago, suffer 
from this mistake, which deprives the 
trees of air and sunlight, two of the 
cheapest and most essential factors in 
successful fruit growing. The writer has 
seen many orchards in which the trees 
were planted from 16 to 20 feet apart, 
the branches interlacing, forming a com- 
plete network over the whole orchard 
area, thereby restricting sun and air ex- 
posure to the top of the floor-like array 
of branches. In other words, these trees 
planted 20 feet apart simply had an area 
of 400 square feet of exposure to sun- 
light and air. If instead of four trees 
with an area of 1,600 square feet ex- 
posed to sun and air, but one tree grew 
which did not meet its neighbors by 
about two feet, this well developed tree 
would have over twice the area exposd 
to sun and air on top and side alike or 
somewhere in the vicinity of 3,500 square 
feet; and in addition from 20 to 25 per 
cent of the soil would be open to the 
sunlight. 
Investigations at the New 
tion * indicate that: 
York Sta- 
Trees set 30x30 feet gave a four-year 
average of 186 bushels per acre. 
Trees set 31x31 to 85x35 feet gave a 
four-year average of 222 bushels per 
acre. 
Trees set 36x36 to 40x40 feet gave a 
four-year average of 229 bushels per 
acre. 
Varieties 
Varieties attaining the size of Northern 
Spy, Rhode Island Greening and Baldwin 
should be set from 385 to 40 feet apart 
each way. Some growers are even set- 
ting these varieties 40 by 50 feet apart. 
McIntosh, Fameuse and  similar-sized 
trees may be planted from 32 to 35 feet 
apart. Yellow Transparent, Tetofsky and 
other similar upright growers may be 
planted somewhat closer. Distance-de- 
termining factors other than that of va- 
riety are the character of the soil, the 
severity of the climate, and the closeness 
of pruning. A strong soil will of course 
* New York (Cornell) Station, Bulletin 226, 
p. 301 (1905). 
