176 
cause a greater wood development and 
must be taken into account. 
WILLIAM STUART, 
Burlington, Vt. 
Vermont Experiment Station, Bulletin 141, 
1909. 
Distance and Climate 
The distance at which to plant apple 
trees varies with the variety and with 
the climatic and soil conditions. Apple 
trees in states where they attain large 
size and are long-lived are planted from 
35 to 40 feet apart. In New Mexico and 
especially in the warmer valleys the ap- 
ple tree is not very long-lived nor does 
it attain a very large size. Most of the 
orchards now growing in New Mexico are 
from 25 to 30 feet between the trees. 
Because of the fact that orchards must 
be sprayed economically, trees ought to 
be planted at least from 30 to 35 feet 
apart. 
FABIAN GARCIA, 
Santa Fe, N. M. 
Thirty to Forty Feet Best 
A decision as to the proper distance 
apart to set trees varies with different 
planters. Some plant 16 by 32 feet— 
that is, the trees 16 feet apart in rows 
32 feet apart. The object of this method 
is to obtain a crop from the trees until 
they begin to interfere with each other, 
when ever alternate tree in the row is 
cut out, leaving the trees in the entire 
orchard at a distance of 32 feet each way. 
The trees to be cut out should be early- 
bearing, short-lived varieties. This sys- 
tem has the advantage of more fully uti- 
lizing the land for fruit production until 
the thinning out becomes necessary. 
Other planters adopt a distance between 
trees of 20, 24, or 30 feet apart each way, 
claiming that by the time the trees inter- 
fere with each other they will have fin- 
ished their growth and the orchard will 
begin to decline. But it is generally con- 
ceded that 32 to 40 feet is the preferred 
standard distance. If the distance of 40 
feet each way is adopted, it will afford 
ample space between the rows for growing 
any crop which requires cultivation, such 
as corn, beans, potatoes, ete. Such culti- 
vation is highly important and necessary 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
for the maintenance of moisture in the 
soil and for the health and vigor of the 
trees. This distance will afford free cir. 
culation of air and abundance of sun. 
light, both of which are essential to the 
growing of well-developed and highly- 
colored fruit. Small grain should never 
be grown among fruit trees, especially 
when the orchard is young. 
G. B. Bracxerr, 
Washington, D. C 
Close Planting and Fertilization 
Closely connected with the subject of 
the fertilization of orchard lands, is the 
subject of close planting. Close setting 
is the rule, and the use of peach trees 
as “fillers”—a practice to be deprecated— 
is common. Various distances for plant- 
ing are advocated by different growers, 
and in use. There has hitherto been a 
tendency to decrease the distance rather 
than increase it. The method of close 
planting, so common in connection with 
early and heavy bearing, calls for especial 
attention to the matter of fertilization of 
orchard lands. Such lands are commonly 
fertile in the beginning, but it is only a 
matter of a few years when trees under 
the conditions mentioned begin to feel 
the need of additional plant food. If our 
orchards are shorter-lived than trees in 
other regions, the practice of close plant- 
ing of fruitful kinds, coupled with neglect 
of cultivation, and of proper fertilization 
of the land, offers an adequate explana- 
tion. Some large and successful orchard- 
ists advocate and practice close planting, 
but they give proportionate attention to 
the matter of maintaining the fertility of 
the land. 
J. H. Hale, so widely known in the hor- 
ticultural world, plants peach trees 13x13 
feet and makes it pay-—-but as Van De- 
man remarks,* “he feeds them like a lot 
of pigs.” 
In close planting, early bearing kinds 
like Duchess, Missouri Pippin, Wealthy, 
and Wagener are frequently used as “fill- 
ers,” the idea being to cut out the super- 
fluous trees before they do harm to the 
permanent ones, but, as practical growers 
*H. EH. Van Deman. “Plans for Orchard 
Planting,” Rural New Yorker, March 6-18, 1897. 
