Profit and Pleasure in the Home Fruit Garden 
Si 
Well-ripened sound fruit is a valuable food and in some 
form, fresh, canned or preserved, should form part of 
evei’y meal. Fruit is essential for the proper growth and 
health of children. 
The growing of fruit for home use means a large sav¬ 
ing in the family living expenses, for it is now on the list 
of high-priced foods. Furthermore, you can never know 
the delectability of fruits until you pick them fresh and 
ripe from the home garden. Varieties grown for market 
are selected for productiveness, color and shipping, and 
to stand shipping, but for home use, quality is the first 
consideration. 
Anyone with a little ground can grow some fruit— 
Strawberries and at least a few grapes, on the fence, 
arbor, wall or building. 
You can grow first class fruit if you will do your part. 
We guarantee what you order from us to be satisfactory 
upon arrival and will show you how to take care of it. It is 
a question of taking only one step at a time. (For infor¬ 
mation on varieties adapted to your district, see page 23.) 
PLANTING DISTANCES 
Some varieties need more room when 
full grown than others of same kind. 
Yellow Transparent, a small upright 
grower, and Rhode Island Greening, a 
large spreading tree, represent ex¬ 
tremes in apple trees. 
Apple. 
Apricot. 
Cherry, Sweet. 
Cherry, Sour. . 
Peach or Plum 
Pear, Standard. 
Pear, Dwarf. . 
Quince. 
30 ft. apart 
20 ft. apart 
20 ft. apart 
20 ft. apart 
20 ft. apart 
20 ft. apart 
12 ft. apart 
12 ft. apart 
Blackberry. 
Black Raspberry. . . 
Red Raspberry. 
Currant. 
Gooseberry. 
Grape. 
Strawberry. ... 
Asparagus. . .. 
Rhubarb. 
Plants 
Rows 
5 ft. 
7 ft. 
4 ft. 
6 ft. 
3 ft. 
6 ft. 
4 ft. 
6 ft. 
4 ft. 
6 ft. 
8 ft. 
10 ft. 
3 ft. 
3 y 2 to 4 ft. 
15 in. 
3 ft. 
2 ft. 
4 ft. 
To determine number of trees per 
acre for any given distance, multiply 
distance between trees in row by 
width of row. Take resulting answer 
and divide 43,560 by it. For example: 
To determine number of trees, planted 
30x30, required to set one acre. 
30X30 = 900. 43,560-1-900 = 49 trees per 
acre. 
THE SECOND STEP is to place your 
order with a reliable firm. Inferior 
stock is costly at any price. You may 
forget the price but not the quality. 
PREPARING THE GROUND 
Band that has been in some culti¬ 
vated farm or garden crop is usually 
in the best condition for fruit trees 
and plants. Plow deep and work the 
ground thoroughly. 
An ideal soil, mellow, deep, fertile 
loam, is not often available and it may 
even be necessary to go to consider¬ 
able trouble to improve the dirt you 
have; for instance, for fruit trees dig 
a hole 5 feet in diameter, throwing the 
surface soil to one side, then digging 
out the subsoil to a depth of 6 to 12 
inches, putting it in a pile by itself. 
Then throw in a few shovefuls of well- 
decayed manure. Next throw in the sur¬ 
face soil. In this set the tree and use 
other surface soil to fill the hole. The 
other pile of subsoil can be scattered 
on the surface. Well - rotted manure, 
wood ashes and ground bone or cot¬ 
tonseed meal can be mixed in with the 
surface soil used to fill the hole, but 
care should be taken to avoid having 
too much of any fertilizer come in con¬ 
tact with the roots. For gooseberries 
and currants the holes should be about 
2 feet in diameter, and for raspberries 
and blackberries dig a trench 15 to 18 
inches wide. 
HANDLING TREES ON ARRIVAL 
If possible plant at once. 
If the weather is too cold, put the 
box or bundle in a cool but frostproof 
cellar. 
If the weather is warm and you are 
not ready to plant, unpack at once and 
place the'stock in a cool cellar, cover¬ 
ing the roots with damp packing from 
the box or bundle and spread old sacks 
or canvas over them. Sprinkle enough 
w T ater on the trees to keep them from 
drying out, but do not drench the roots 
and tops. If possible heel them in, pref¬ 
erably at the north side of a building, 
where they will have protection from 
the sun and their development will be 
retarded. 
TREATMENT FOR “DRIED OUT” 
TREES 
Sometimes trees are somewhat dried 
out in transit, but can be restored by 
burying them in wet dirt or put in a 
pond for one to three days. 
HANDLING TREES AT PLANTING 
Success is largely a matter of avoid¬ 
ing exposure of roots and tops to the 
sun or drying winds, and to thorough 
firming the soil about the roots. Cut 
off any bruised or broken ends and 
shorten any roots that are extra long 
and put the trees at once in a barrel 
or tub about one-fourth full of water. 
Some use a semi-liquid of water and 
dirt (not heavy clay). 
SETTING THE TREES 
Assuming that the ground has been 
properly prepared, it will not be neces¬ 
sary to dig large holes. 12 to 18 inches 
square and about the same depth will 
be large enough for the average size 
apple tree. 
The top soil should be put to one 
side so that it can be used to fill in 
about the roots. 
After a tree has been placed in its 
exact position and about as deep as it 
stood in the nursery, the roots are 
spread out and good top soil worked 
under and around them. Moving the 
tree slightly up and down will help 
to get the soil under the roots. Then 
fill the hole half full and tramp the 
soil firmly. After this fill the hole to 
the top and again tramp the soil. Last¬ 
ly throw a few shovelfuls of loose dirt 
about the tree to prevent loss of mois¬ 
ture. 
If you have to plant when the 
ground is very dry a bucket of water 
should be poured around the roots 
after they have been well covered but 
before the hole is filled. 
Don’t put manure or other fertilizer 
in the holes in contact with the roots; 
spread it on the ground around the 
£ F00. 
PRUNING THE TOPS 
Even with a special tree-digger and 
particular care, part of the roots of 
trees dug in the nursery are cut off 
and the small feeding roots are lost 
anyway, so the tops have to be cut 
back to restore the balance. This is 
done either just before or after plant¬ 
ing. 
ONE-YEAR APPLE TREES, without 
side branches, are cut off just above a 
sound bud, 24 to 30 inches from the 
ground. 
Some varieties of one-year budded 
apple like Jonathan have side branches 
unless they have been pruned in the 
nursery. These and two - year apple 
should have all but 3 to 5 side branches 
cut off smooth close to the trunk. Se¬ 
lect these branches on different sides 
of the trunk and spaced 6 to 8 inches 
apart. Leave also one branch growing 
from the top. Shorten this leader a lit¬ 
tle and cut back the selected side 
branches y 3 to y 2 their length. 
PEAR TREES are pruned like apple 
but usually headed lower, 12 to 15 
inches from the ground. 
DWARF PEARS are usually trained 
to pyramid form, which calls for a cen¬ 
tral trunk with side branches, the 
longest nearest the ground. 
PEACH —The fruit is borne on last 
year’s wood. After the tree is planted, 
cut off the top 18 to 24 inches above 
the ground and cut off any side 
branches about an inch from the trunk, 
leaving one or two good buds. 
PLUMS AND APRICOTS are pruned 
like peach trees. 
ONE-YEAR SWEET CHERRY are 
usually whips which are cut off just 
above a bud 2 y 2 to 3 ft. from the 
ground. 
SOUR CHERRY, even one-year, are 
almost always branched and the gen¬ 
eral practice is to cut off close to the 
trunk all but 3 to 5 selected side 
branches, leaving the central leader 
unpruned. 
QUINCE are headed low, about 18 
inches high. 
CARE OF TRANSPLANTED 
TREES 
The first two years is the critical 
period. It is of vital importance to have 
them make a good start, for summer 
drought is likely to prove- fatal to 
trees of low vigor and slow growth. 
So it is necessary to cultivate thor¬ 
oughly and systematically to conserve 
the moisture and aerate the soil. The 
first summer the soil should be fre¬ 
quently stirred to make a soil mulch 
and prevent baking and crusting of 
the surface. The second summer the 
ground should first be plowed deep, as 
early in the spring as possible. Culti¬ 
vation should be stopped about July 
15th to August 1st that the trees may 
have time to mature and harden in 
preparation for winter. 
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF OFFICE AND STOREHOUSE 
