64 



Fig. 10. Root of 5-3-ear-old Peach tree, 17 feet in length, spread of 

 branches about 18 feet, 9 on either side. 



SELECTING VARIETIES. PREPARING THE LAND, AND 

 PLANTING A COMMERCIAL APPLE ORCHARD. 



T. AxDREW CoHiLL. Manager Tonoloway O'-cliard Co., Hancock, 



Maryland. 



Mr. President, Ladies and GcntJcnien. — Your corre^picnding 

 secretary has requested me to talk upon "'Selecting \'arieties. Pre- 

 paring the Land, and Planting a Commercial Apple Orchard." an^l 

 as representative of the Tonoloway Orchards of Hancock. r^Id.. it 

 affords me the greatest of pleasure to meet and talk to s^:- nianv en- 

 thusiastic fruit growers, and to find many among you liave se- 

 lected the same vocation as myself, namely : the culture of the 

 "Fruit of Eden" the apple. 



Apple culture is no longer a branch of agriculture where it 

 long languished-; it has become the most important branch of scien- 

 tific horticulture. As a result of the farmer's poor and neglectful 

 methods, it is predicted that a few more years will see the total 

 extinction of the small farm orchards as a business factor, and 

 the survival only of commercial orchards, conducted according to 

 modern horticultural methods. By this statement I mean only 

 that the fruit grower, be he large or small, must use business and 

 scientific methods in order to survive. 



It is a well-estabHslied fact that the greatest success of com- 

 mercial apple-growing depends upon proper selection and the plant- 

 ing of a few varieties only, taking into consideration not merelv the 

 present, but the future as well. This is the day of commercial 



