Vol. LIX. No. 2627. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 2, 1900. 
*1 PER YEAR. 
NOTES ON AN APPLE ORCHARD. 
THE CONDITIONS IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS. 
Varieties, Location, Culture and Care. 
I think that there are so many causes of failure in 
orchards here that it will not do to place one’s Anger 
on a single point and say “here it is,” and if I should 
give all the points as I see them, my arguments would 
be burdensome—'tiresome. No amount of cultivation 
would make a Gloria Mundi apple bear like the tree 
pictured on Plate 12, of the Illinois Bulletin. But a 
Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, or Stanard are inclined to 
heavy bearing under all (nearly) conditions. If I 
planted a Minkler by the side of a White Winter 
Pearmain or 20 “Russians” I could name, I would— 
at my age (57 years) expect 'to see the latter all dead, 
and that the Minkler would be in fresh, green youth 
when I had passed away. So I give Arst importance 
to variety. We may get to the point where each in¬ 
dividual variety may be 
so thoroughly studied 
and known that all its 
wants can be supplied, 
but I doubt it. I have 
seen hundreds of apple 
trees die because they 
were planted in a hollow, 
even when that hollow 
was drained by tiling. 
Yet a persimmon or pa- 
paw might thrive best in 
the hollow. So I would 
think that location had 
much to do with the lon¬ 
gevity of an orchard. I 
have seen many apple 
trees (young ones) killed 
by having oats sown in 
the orchard. The oats 
were cut at what is 
usually the driest and 
hottest time of the year; 
sunscald and starvation 
from lack of water was 
'the result. No, I do not 
believe in grain in an 
orchard. Radiation of 
heat from straw some¬ 
times runs the thermom 
eter up to 140 degrees \n 
the sun. This is what 
the unprotected bodies of 
young apple trees have 
to stand in the hottest 
weather, after the oats 
are rnt. The soil is not 
in mechanical condition 
to furnish water to neu¬ 
tralize this terrible heat, and sunscald results. 
I think that overpruning is one of the main causes 
of failure among farmers in the apple orchard. A 
limb is in the way in picking or cultivating; off it 
goes, and if it does not result in dead roots it certain¬ 
ly will in innumerable water sprouts, which come in 
as a measure of self-preservation. I underprune, as 
my object is to see the natural habit of the tree, so 
that I may more intelligently prune when I grow 
for fruit. I have no commercial orchard. On our 
rich soil I do not think it gives the best measure of 
success to encourage the fastest growth, but a good 
healthy growth is necessary, and by all means I would 
discourage the second or September growth as much 
as possible. This is why we plant corn in an orchard; 
in the May and June growth the trees are not shaded, 
but they are somewhat later on. I see nothing ob¬ 
jectionable in corn, if not planted nearer than eight 
feet from the trees. I believe that many varieties, if 
kept under constant cultivation, will continue to grow 
and not bear, long after they should bear paying 
crops, and I think a seeding down to clover, or even 
a stunting by allowing the weeds to grow (afterwards 
cut down for a mulch) for a year or two, the proper 
thing to do in such cases. Yet clover and mulch in¬ 
vite mice, and here is an objection to this plan. This 
is not the apple region of Illinois, but one of the most 
productive orchards of this neighborhood has been a 
hog pasture for 30 years, and the fruit has been ex¬ 
ceptionally free from worms. When I have tried this 
plan the hogs have nearly always gnawed and barked 
the trees. I have always given my orchard from 
three to six cultivations each year, until the past year 
or two, when I gave it up on the older parts of the 
orchard—trees planted 12 to 15 years ago—and I can¬ 
not say that my orchard is the more productive for 
the cultivation. But I incline to believe that after the 
Arst four or Ave years of cultivation the orchard 
should be sown to clover or cow peas at least part of 
the time. We do not use commercial manures here, 
and, strange to say, we cannot see the results of ap¬ 
plying wood ashes that you receive in the East. 
The worst stunter in my orchard is the Woolly 
aphis, and I can’t get rid of it by any reasonable 
means. Probably two inches of tobacco dust with a 
half inch of ashes might do it, but I can’t afford it. 
Cultivation has no effect on the aphis; it delights in 
manures. My propagating rows, that I keep thor¬ 
oughly tended, are just as badly off as any other part. 
A graft starts off to grow in the Spring nicely; soon 
the lice commence curling the leaves, and most of the 
June growth is lost. In later years this stunting is 
not so noticeable, but it is there. In the Spring the 
roots are a mass of brittle knots. But neglect in an 
orchard does not consist solely in lack of cultivation. 
Borers may have sapped the life of the tree at the 
ground; “wet feet” may have rotted the roots. Stock 
may have trampled the life out the ground and tree 
after cultivation has ceased, or may have mutilated it 
by gnawing and rubbing. Canker worms and hosts 
of other insects may have stripped off the foliage, and 
it seems to me that I have heard of such a thing as 
the San Jos6 scale, which was to work injury in gen¬ 
eral to the whole tree. A tree in cultivated ground is 
often blown over by strong winds that come in the 
Spring with ground-softening rains, and the tree is 
not righted up and staked as it should be. Some¬ 
times a man neglects to inform himself thoroughly, 
and plants a hundred kinds of Russians, and they all 
die from blight except three or four, and the fruit 
from these kills his hogs because they contain so 
much acid and stringency. It will be very hard to 
convince farmers, or even most commercial orchard- 
ists, that they should put $16 per acre each year on 
cultivation alone. In a very wet Summer with no 
serious dry spells, I doubt whether cultivation is any 
beneAt. I believe in 
cultivation, and this will 
make the tree grow if 
no hindrances come in. 
But I do not believe in 
late cultivation in this 
country of severe Win¬ 
ters, and if the orchard 
has not been cultivated 
in May or June, I would 
wait until the next 
Spring. I cannot think 
that the taking off of 
crops of corn can be 
particularly injurious to 
the apple, for our best 
apple region Is where 
corn won’t grow, and I 
deduce that the two 
plants feed on different 
substances. I believe, as 
is the case this year, 
that a wet season is 
often more injurious to 
the apple than a dry 
one, because of fungi, 
and I do not believe that 
cultivation will help in 
this case. I know that 
cultivation will give 
moisture in a dry sea¬ 
son, and I know that I 
don’t know as much 
about the subject as I 
thought I did 15 years 
ago. BENJ. BUCKMAN. 
Illinois. 
R. N. Y.—These notes 
were written shortly af¬ 
ter the publication of the bulletin on Apple Culture, 
by Prof. Burrill, of the Illinois Experiment Station. 
Mr. Buckman, as many of our readers know, has had 
a long experience in studying trees. He has one of the 
most extensive experiment orchards in the country. 
It is evident that the proper caring for an orchard is 
not the simple and easy thing that some of the nur¬ 
serymen would have us believe. Not only does the 
location and the character of the soil affect the tree, 
but the variety, too, must be considered. Some varie¬ 
ties have distinct habits of growth, and in order to 
give them their best chance we must give them the 
soil, cultivation and pruning which they need. Mr. 
Buckman thinks that overpruning is one of the main 
causes of failure among farmers. True it is that some 
faithful and sturdy trees are badly butchered with ax 
and saw. Many pruners seem to think that the 
more wood they remove the better, and this is re¬ 
sponsible for many unproductive trees, 
