Vol. LIX. No. 2652. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 24, 1900. 
»1 PER YEAR 
ORCHARDING IN NOVA SCOTIA. 
HILLCREST ORCHARDS IN THE ANNAPOLIS VALLEY. 
How Apples are Grown at the North. 
We have all heard of Nova Scotia Gravensteins and 
the way they grow in the fertile valleys of the Ann¬ 
apolis and Gasperaux rivers. In former days apples 
formed both head and tail of the horticultural pro¬ 
cession. Times are changing, however. New ideas, 
new methods and progressive men are diversifying 
the fruit industry ; nd developing the resources of 
the Province in a remarkable manner. Time was in 
Nova Scotia when apples only were grown for profit, 
while plums and pears were grown for pleasure, with 
peaches, quinces and the like cultivated as pomologi- 
cal curiosities. A few leaders here and there have 
shown the way, and it will only be a few years till 
the most favored parts of Nova Scotia will have 
gained an enviable reputation as the producers of 
cherries, pears and Japan plums. Orchard areas have 
been rapidly extending dur¬ 
ing the last five years. 
There are now some fine 
examples of the intensive 
method. This system aims 
to make the orchard a self- 
supporting institution al¬ 
most from the start. To 
this end early fruiting and 
productive kinds are plant¬ 
ed as fillers. 
A COMPOSITE OR¬ 
CHARD.—This method of 
planting finds a splendid 
illustration in the 60-acre 
orchard of Ralph S. Eaton, 
of Hillcrest Orchards, N. S., 
of which the writer has 
personal knowledge. The 
plan of the orchard is to 
plant standard apple trees 
33 feet or two rods apart in 
rows 33 feet apart. In the 
center of each square so 
formed another permanent 
or standard apple tree is 
placed. This brings the 
rows 16% feet apart, and 
the trees 23% feet apart 
diagonally. Next a tem¬ 
porary apple tree of a 
young bearing variety is 
planted between each of 
the trees in every row. This 
brings the trees all 16% 
feet apart. Again, a plum, 
dwarf pear, quince or other 
small growing tree is planted in every space, bringing 
the trees 8% feet apart in the rows, the rows remain¬ 
ing a rod apart. The standard trees are Gravenstein, 
Ribston, King or Baldwin. The temporary trees are 
early-bearing apples such as Wealthy, Wagener or 
Ben Davis; such cherries as Windsor or Governor 
Wood, or free-growing peaches. Other cherries grown 
are Early Richmond and English Morello. This sys¬ 
tem gives 320 trees to the acre. Every 20 rods east, 
west, north and south, an open space is left for a 
roadway, dividing the orchard into blocks of 2% acres 
each. Instead of planting a standard in every square 
as mentioned in the first of this description, a plum 
or peach may be placed in every third square, and 
the row thus formed be filled in with plums, peaches 
or other short-lived trees. Every sixth row on this 
plan is composed wholly of temporary trees, which 
can be cut down in 15 years, leaving a roadway for 
teaming and spraying. As the trees grow and begin 
to crowd each other they are to be cut out in the re¬ 
verse order of their planting, till, when the orchard 
is fully grown only standard apples will be left. An 
interesting fact in connection with the 2,000 cherry 
trees is that they are all on wild bird-cherry stocks 
(Prunus Pennsylvanicum), which were dug in pas¬ 
tures and along roadsides, and root-grafted in Winter. 
The trees are proving productive and healthy. 
TILLAGE.—The ground is plowed in Spring, throw¬ 
ing the furrow to the trees. From the middle of May 
to the middle of July the disk harrow works the sur¬ 
face once a week. To save time and labor Mr. Eaton 
has modified an ordinary disk harrow by adding four 
disks. This gives him an eight-foot sweep which 
allows him to cover the 16%-foot inter-space with a 
turn up and down. A good scheme to prevent ridg¬ 
ing in the process of disking is adopted by Mr. Eaton. 
He widens the eight-foot disk to 12 feet Dy separating 
the halves. This leaves an uncultivated strip of four 
feet in the middle, which is worked on the return trip. 
If the soil is lumpy a smoothing harrow follows the 
disk. With his eight-foot sweep Mr. Eaton is able to 
cover 20 acres of orchard in 10 hours. Mammoth 
clover is used as a cover crop almost exclusively. This 
is sown about the middle ot July, and by harvesting 
time has formed a fine picking carpet. 
PRUNING AND SPRAYING.—Mr. Eaton’s system 
of pruning is unique. He tills thoroughly and fertil¬ 
izes heavily, and then he wants the fruit. To en¬ 
courage Iruit-bud formation, and to discourage wood 
production he prunes in June and July. His pruning 
consists of a Summer shortening-in process. Bur¬ 
bank plums and Ben Davis apple trees not above 
seven feet high in this orchard are bearing two bush¬ 
els of fruit each. The fillers are not allowed to inter¬ 
fere with the growth of the permanent trees. Spray¬ 
ing is one of the important parts of the Summer pro¬ 
gramme. Mr. Eaton has proved the benefits of spray¬ 
ing by carefully-conducted experiments, and is a 
strong advocate of the practice. An interesting 
thins in connection with tlPo spraying busings is that 
nearly every clear-headed fruit grower has invented 
or adapted apparatus designed to meet the needs of 
his own conditions. Bordeaux Mixture is the stand¬ 
ard specific for tree troubles at Hillcrest. Mr. Eaton 
is convinced that black knot may be controlled with 
Bordeaux, as well as other fungi. 
CONCERNING VARIETIES.—Mr. Eaton reports as 
follows, for apples: The Gravenstein, Ribston, Blen¬ 
heim, Wealthy, Baldwin, Wagener, Ben Davis, Golden 
Russet, Fallawater and Nonpareil. In plums, a spe¬ 
cialty is made of the Japan varieties, of which there 
are 1,100 Burbanks, 400 Abundance, 300 Red June and 
200 Wickson, giving a succession of fruit from Au¬ 
gust till well into October. One thousand other plums 
are divided among the Lombard, German Prune, 
Reine Claude, Quackenboss, Niagara, Bradshaw, Mon¬ 
arch, Black Diamond and Grand Duke. Plums have 
been shipped to London with results that justify the 
expectation of finding a market for surplus produc¬ 
tion. Ten varieties of peaches have been planted, 
seven of which, the Alex¬ 
ander, Hyne’s Surprise, El- 
berta, Crosby, Hill’s Chili, 
Mountain Rose and Early 
Rivers, ripening in seven 
successive weeks, have 
proved sufficiently hardy. 
This year Mr. Eaton had 
400 boxes of GovernorWood 
and Early Richmond cher¬ 
ries, and expects to have 
1,000 of the English Mor¬ 
ello. The various kinds of 
cherries ripen from July to 
September. In pears, there 
are the Bartlett, Clapp Fa¬ 
vorite, Duchess, Louise 
Bonne, Flemish Beauty, 
Anjou and others. Three 
kinds of apricots are grown 
and also several hundred 
quince trees. How rapidly 
the value of the land multi¬ 
plies is seen from the fact 
that 13 years ago the old¬ 
est part of this orchard was 
in forest, and six years ago 
much of it was in stump 
and worth about $10 per 
acre. To-day it could not 
be bought for less than 
$500 per acre. As a ship¬ 
ping point Nova Scotia has 
exceptional advantages that 
are only now being fully 
appreciated, john craig. 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
RESULTS FROM BONE AND POTASH.—I wish to 
thank you for advice I received from you about 
three years ago as to the treatment of an or¬ 
chard. Then I had an orchard of 100 trees, about 25 
years old, of choice Winter varieties, which were not 
yielding more than 75 barrels of apples per year, yet 
the trees were vigorous and thrifty. You advised an 
annual application of bone meal and potash. In the 
Spring of 1899 I applied 1,000 pounds bone and 250 
pounds potash. Trees made a tremendous growth, 
and in addition I had 120 barrels of choice apples, 
but when I gathered the apples I noticed that the 
trees were all filled with healthy, prominent fruit 
buds. Last Spring I applied 1,200 pounds bone and 
250 pounds potash, cultivated the orchard thoroughly 
from May 10 to July 20, and this Fall harvested 300 
barrels of apples, pronounced by buyers as well as 
others to he worth at least 25 cents per barrel more 
than same vaiieties grown elsewhere in the county. 
The apples were large, smooth an$ highly colored ajjd 
PICKING GRAVENSTEIN APPLES IN HILLCREST ORCHARDS, NOVA SCOTIA. Fig. 298. 
