FRUIT AND ORNAMENTAL NURSERY STOCK 
worth while to plant them. To show our firm belief 
in fillers, we are using them in our own commercial 
orchards and would plant no other way. (See 
diagrams.) 
NUMBER OF TREES OR PLANTS TO AN 
ACRE. The following table will show how many 
trees or plants are required for an acre at any 
distance apart: 
Square 
Triangular 
Method 
Method 
40 feet apart. 
31 trees 
35 feet apart.. 
40 trees 
30 feet apart. 
55 trees 
25 feet apart. 
80 trees 
20 feet apart. 
125 trees 
18 feet apart. 
155 trees 
15 feet apart. 
225 trees 
12 feet apart. 
350 trees 
10 feet apart. 
505 trees 
8 feet apart. 
775 trees 
6 feet apart. 
1,600 trees 
5 feet apart. 
2,010 trees 
4 feet apart. 
3,145 trees 
3 feet apart. 
.. 4,840 trees 
5,590 trees 
2 feet apart. 
12,575 trees 
1 foot apart. 
.43,560 trees 
50,300 trees 
Trees sometimes can be planted to advantage 
farther apart one way than another. To do this, 
you have to work out the plan for your own orchards. 
This plan works best on steep hills. The rows should 
follow the lines of the hill to make driving easier. 
No rules can be laid down for hillside arrangement. 
Use some modification of the plans given here. 
(See diagrams.) 
DISTANCES FOR PLANTING. Avoid setting 
permanent trees too close together. They feed over 
a wide area if they have the opportunity, and they 
are the better for it. Our plan is to set three peach 
trees to one standard apple. Where peach trees 
are used as fillers, we get from fifty to two hundred 
trees on an acre. Some varieties are naturally 
smaller growers than others, and can be planted 
closer; also the section has something to do with it. 
For instance, trees grow bigger in Pennsylvania or 
Delaware than in Michigan or the West. 
The system of pruning adopted, as well 
as the price of land, has something to do 
with the distance the trees should be 
apart. Leave plenty of room for spray¬ 
ing, cultivating, driving about with 
wagons, etc. Keep the trees far enough 
away from boundary fences, and never 
plant them closer than 40 feet (100 feet is 
better) to thick woods or an evergreen 
windbreak. Privet needs only 20 feet, 
and in most sections is as good as any 
known plant for windbreaks. Fillers, of 
course, alter the distances given, as they 
merely occupy the ground before the 
permanent trees get big enough. The 
following gives the shortest distances at 
which permanent trees should be set. 
Permanent apple trees need 30, 40 or 
50 feet between each other, depending 
on the various conditions named above 
(dwarfs 10 to 15); pears 20, 25 to 30; 
quinces 15 to 18; peaches 13, 18, 21 
to 25 feet; plums 15, 20 to 25 feet; sour 
cherries the same as peaches, and sweet 
cherries the same as pears (in some 
sections 40 to 50 feet); grapes should 
be put 6 by 8 feet to 8 by 10 feet; 
strawberries from 18 inches each way 
to 1 by 4 feet; raspberries from 3 by 
6 to 5 by 8 feet; and blackberries from 
4 by 7 to 6 by 9 feet. 
FILLERS. If you think you will not use your 
trees right while they are growing, or that you will 
lack the determination to cut out the nicely bearing 
fillers when they are about twelve years old, do 
not plant fillers. But no business farmer will think 
of going to the expense of growing a first-class 
apple or pear orchard without planting early- 
bearing sorts of these same fruits, or of peaches or 
strawberries, between his permanent trees. To 
use fillers makes the orchard a paying investment 
in a few years. (See planting diagrams.) 
PRUNING PEACH TREES AFTER PLANTING. 
All peach trees are one year old from bud, and 
when set in the fall all bruised roots should be 
removed; but we prefer leaving the limbs and top 
on the tree until spring. When growth starts, prune 
the peach trees to a whip, and cut them back to 
whatever height you desire your trees headed. We 
prefer heads not higher than 18 inches. In one of 
our orchards the trees are headed at 12 inches. 
(See illustrations.) 
PRUNING ONE-YEAR APPLE TREES AFTER 
PLANTING. Prune off all bruised roots with a 
smooth cut on a slant that leaves the face down. 
Leave on all the limbs until spring, and when 
growth starts, if the tree is a whip, simply cut it off 
at the height which you desire the head to be. We 
would prefer this to be not more than 18 inches 
from the ground. If the tree is more or less branched, 
and the head already formed, prune the side branches 
with regard to the frame of the future head, leaving 
sticks 4 to 6 inches in length and cut off the top. 
The total height should be about 18 inches. We 
do not advise pruning the branches or cutting back 
the top until spring for best success. (See illus¬ 
trations.) 
PRUNING TWO-YEAR APPLE, PEAR AND 
CHERRY TREES AFTER PLANTING. With two- 
year apple trees, especially of first grade, the shape 
of the tree usually has been fixed by the nursery¬ 
man, but it is necessary in planting to remove all 
9 
York Imperial Apple (See page 21) 
