146 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
face for air and food. Hence if these roots are too 
low in a wet, cold soil, the tree is robbed of part of 
the important elements of growth, it dwindles away 
and prematurely dies. Tenfold more trees are 
planted too deep than not deep enough, and if too 
deep at first they soon become more so, as most 
cultivators will plow more furrows towards the 
tree than away from it. Subsoiling before plant¬ 
ing will be of advantage to almost all soils. 
SELECTION ANT) PREPARATION OF TEEES. 
Every purchaser should, if practicable, make his 
own selection of trees to be planted, and not trust 
to the promiscuous collections of a tree peddler of 
whose knowledge or fidelity he has no assurance. 
Trees of the same kind vary much in the nursery 
rows ; some are worth double as much as others for 
form and thriftiness, and if the purchaser attends to 
it himself he knows what he is getting. In purchas¬ 
ing largely at the leading nurseries a discount of X 
to X can be saved from the prices asked by peddlers. 
Trees of healthy growth, with well formed heads, 
good roots, and true to name (a very important item), 
will, in after years, save much labor in pruning, 
give more satisfaction always, and amply repay the 
extra labor and expense in procuring them. Four 
or five years from bud or graft, if they have not been 
forced ahead too fast, or where it is no great object 
to save freight, from 7 to 8 feet in bight is, I think, 
the proper size; but if they have to be conveyed a 
long distance, smaller and younger trees will be 
preferred. Before planting, cut out all superfluous 
branches and twigs, leaving three or four main 
branches to form a head. If the tree has fine roots, 
with a few main ones as braces, the top will require 
little or no cutting back. The top must be in pro¬ 
portion to the amount of roots. The buds of the 
previous year’s growth give much larger leaves than 
older wood, we therefore cut but little off Unless 
the roots are scanty. As the larger roots of trees 
are almost always cut off roughly by the spade in 
digging, their ends should be trimmed off smooth¬ 
ly before planting ; amass of small roots will spring 
from the end, much assisting the tree in its hold 
upon the ground. It should always be our special 
care to secure the most roots possible upon the 
trees we purchase, and to have them in the best @r- 
der, for the after growth much depends upon this. 
PLANTING. 
There are two methods of planting, one the regu¬ 
lar square in which the trees shouldbe30 feet apart, 
and the other called quincunx, or 5 to the square. 
The latter gives more trees to the acre; they will be 
27 feet apart. Some varieties form much-larger and 
wider spreading heads than others, and if the culti¬ 
vator will take the pains to ascertain the manner 
of growth of the kinds of apple trees he plants, the 
distance between the trees maybe varied some¬ 
what to advantage. After the distance is staked, if 
the ground be mellow, mark it out with a plow each 
way, and plant the trees at the intersections. If in 
the quincunx form, mark 20 feet each way and plant 
at every other crossing of the plow. Having made 
our selection and marked out the ground, we pro¬ 
ceed to dig the holes for their reception so that they 
may be planted with as little delay and exposure as 
possible. For although the apple is a very hardy 
tree, drying and exposure to cold winds will check 
their leafing out and their growth the first year. 
Dig the holes about 3 feet across, taking out the 
surface soil and keeping it separate from the sub¬ 
soil. Two spades in depth is sufficient; then 
the sods, if there are any, and surface soil should be 
thrown in until the tree can be placed at the same 
lepth it grew. Next throw in good friable surface 
soil carefully around the roots, placing them in the 
«ame position they originally grew, and gently 
ihake the tree sidewise. A few minutes’ attention 
<o the proper placing the roots, working the earth 
between the roots with the fingers if necessary, will 
pay for the trouble. Lifting the tree up and down 
like churning is not a good practice, as the dirt falls 
in at the end of the roots, misplacing them in an 
arching manner. To insure a quick growth, the root¬ 
lets must have good food in the soil, and hence the 
necessity, whatever the surrounding soil may be, 
that good rich earth should be in contact with them. 
Well rotted manure or compost maybe placed in 
the holes, but not in contact with the roots, and then 
covered with soil and firmly trod down. Two per¬ 
sons are needed to plant a tree properly, one to 
hold it and the other to fill in the dirt. No 
fresh or unfermented manure should be placed un¬ 
der or around the roots of the tree ; always put 
it on the surface. As we need more surface soil 
than we dig out of the hole, it may be taken from 
near the heap of subsoil, and when the planting is 
done the subsoil is put into the hole made by its 
removal. The best time for transplanting is when 
the best attention can be given to it. If properly 
done there is little difference between Fall and 
Spring. Probably the tree is more likely to live 
if there should be a drouth the succeeding Summer, 
and its growth be greater, if planted in the Fall. 
But there is, in ordinary seasons, almost no risk of 
apple trees living unless grossly neglected. When 
trees have been brought from a long distance, it will 
be better to wet them previously, dipping them 
into water or pouring water in the holes when plant¬ 
ed. If the ground be kept mellow by frequent stir¬ 
ring with hoe, plow,or cultivator,no better mulch can 
be given the young tree through the season. There 
is nothing equal to frequently stirring the surface to 
enable a tree to withstand drouth. [If the root fibers 
are not touched or disturbed. Ed.] But where this 
can not be done owing to the trees being planted 
in a grass sod, or among the cereal gram crops, a 
good mulch of anything that will prevent the mois¬ 
ture from evaporating will be of service. Hay, 
straw, cornstalks, old weeds, shavings, and leaves, 
are all good, and it is much better at all times to 
throw refuse rubbish around trees for a mulch than 
to burn it up, doing good to no one. 
Trees will require more or less pruning until 
they are grown. We should go over them every 
year. Spring is the time when most persons have 
leisure, and if the growth of the tree is properly 
watched, few or no large branches need ever be re¬ 
moved. The head of the tree should be kept so 
open that a person can climb up and about without 
difficulty, and every year as the trees increase in 
size we may find small branches or shoots which 
need removing. While the trees are young no 
tool is needed but the pruning knifo. But as they 
grow out of reach, a saw with the teetn reversed so 
as to cut with a down stroke and fixed on a long- 
handle is the most convenient. There are many 
different tools for effecting this object for sale at 
the agricultural stores, but when one of these can 
not be procured, a substitute can be made by taking 
the handle from a common back-saw, the smaller 
the better, filing the teeth reversed, and fastening 
it to a pole or hay-fork handle. As to the time of 
pruning trees, some advise to cut when the knife 
is sharp. When the limbs are quite small, the best 
time to trim is whenever we perceive it to be need¬ 
ed. Large limbs heal over much better if removed 
very late in Spring or early in Summer, and if 
smoothed over with a knife, they will be covered 
with new bark in half the time. It is a mat¬ 
ter of individual taste whether to trim high, 
so that the plow can always be run under the 
boughs, or low, drooping their branches to the 
ground. Both ways have their advocates and ad¬ 
vantages. Many kinds of apple trees, like the Bell¬ 
flower and,Rhode-Island Greening, have such a.ten¬ 
dency to droop, that to remove the large branches 
to prevent it would be a serious loss. For it is 
seldom that a large branch heals over readily, be¬ 
fore the wound decays to the heart. There are 
some varieties too that scarcely ever droop their t 
branches. Probably the best method would be to 
keep such trees by themselves, and allow the others, 
when large, to bend their limbs to the earth, as grass 
can not grow under such trees, and the ground is, 
therefore, always mellow. 
An orchard, especially before the trees have at¬ 
tained the full size, never should be allowed to be 
covered with a stiff Timothy or red-top sod. In 
many parts of the country the injury done to or¬ 
chards by grass is more than the value of the hay to 
the farmer, and he had best never undertake to have 
an orchard, if such is to be his practice. The roots 
of grass and the cereals, of which rye appears .to be 
the worst, rob the young fibrous roots of their 
needed food and moisture. All hoed crops are best, 
and it would lie better to alternate them, as pota¬ 
toes, turnips, etc., one year, and corn the next. 
When the trees are too large to allow the planting 
of potatoes to advantage, corn for fodder and occa¬ 
sionally buckwheat may be sown. And when the 
trees nearly cover the ground, coarse manure should 
be occasionally spread on the surface and lightly 
plowed under in the spaces where a plow can go. 
But this, as well as the amount of manure required, 
must be left to the cultivator’s judgment, for the 
amount of nutriment in the soil adapted to the 
growth of trees varies greatly in different lo¬ 
calities, but we know, if the ground be kept suffi¬ 
ciently rich by manuring to grow good com and 
potatoes, the trees will get their proper share of it. 
Trees may be forced too much, and become weak 
and decay prematurely, although it very rarely hap¬ 
pens from this cause. An occasional top-dressing 
with ashes will be beneficial—chips and dirt from 
the wood-pile, straw, corn-stalks, or any refuse veg¬ 
etable matter may be advantageously thrown under 
the trees when the plow can not be used. 
WHAT VARIETIES TO CULTIVATE. 
A very important question is : What varieties 
shall we plant ? It costs no more time or money to 
raise the best than the poorest apples, and it is a 
question of some moment to the orchardist wheth¬ 
er or not his trees bear apples that will return $5 or 
$1 per tree annually. There is no doubt that we 
have varieties enough now suited to each locality, 
did we only know them. Fruit growers are all 
aware that a superior variety in one part of our 
widely extended country is sometimes worthless in 
another section, and that, as a general rule, those va¬ 
rieties originating in any particular locality are 
best adapted to the soil and climate of that section. 
Again there are a few kinds that are deservedly pop¬ 
ular nearly every wnere. Every person designing 
to plant an orchard should investigate the subject 
long enough to have a list prepared of those 
varieties that are adapted to his ground, before he 
goes to the nurseryman or agent. Nurserymen 
seldom cultivate an orchard; and as their informa¬ 
tion is gathered from man} 7 different and wide-spread 
sources, they may honestly recommend an apple to 
be excellent when it really proves quite an inferior 
fruit in the place the purchaser resides. Neither 
can this knowledge be reliably acquired from books, 
unless the authors describe what are good in each 
locality. Fruit books are most reliable too in de¬ 
scribing the habits and character of fruits in the 
section of country in which the author resides; as 
for instance, Elliot for the fertile States of the west. 
Thomas and Downing for the middle States, and 
Cole for New England. In the early days of fruit 
culture many varieties of apples were brought from 
Europe, but with few exceptions, such as the Grav- 
ensteinandRed Astrachan, we now have far better 
varieties to cultivate originating in our particular 
sections. The best reference for the inquirer 
or reader will be found in the lists made out for the 
Agriculturist last year, by 77 different cultivators 
of fruit in various sections of the United States; and 
if a selection is made from those that received the 
largest number of votes, one can hardly go amiss. 
[See abstract of that list in another column.— Ed.] 
Summer Apples. — Early Harvest, the most popu¬ 
lar early tart apple throughout the country, is a 
slow grower and has the reputation of being short¬ 
lived. It should have the best soil and care, or the 
cultivator will be disappointed in its quality. The 
Bed Astrachan is one of the very few foreign apples 
worthy of cultivation here. A very salable fruit, 
good bearer, but moderate growths The Early' 
Bough is a fine grower and bearer, and by some pre ¬ 
ferred as the best tart early sort. Summer Bose is 
excellent, but too small and a slow grower. Sum¬ 
mer Queen is a good grower and profitable variety. 
Summer Hagloe, slow grower, handsome and profit¬ 
able for market. Of sweet Summer apples the Sweet 
Bough is the most known. It is a good grower and 
bearer. Golden Sweeting is a better grower and 
more productive, not as good as the preceding for 
the table, though profitable for market. Summer 
