McKay Nursery Company 
THE HOME ORCHARD 
“An Investment in Beauty , Pleasure and Profit” 
The typical Wisconsin farm orchard consists of 20 
to 60 fruit trees. Because the McKay Nursery Co. be- 
lieves that every farm owner should grow a more or 
less complete line of fruit trees as well as small fruits, 
we present our plan of a Complete Home Or¬ 
chard”. This orchard will keep the average family 
supplied with home grown fruits of various kinds 
and varieties through the different seasons of the 
year. This plan can be modified to suit the individual 
family’s wants, tastes, and needs. We present it as a 
guide to you to work from. 
McKAY’S "COMPLETE ORCHARD” 
30 APPLES 
5 Summer Apples 3 Crab Apples. 
7 Fall Apples. 15 Winter Apples. 
6 CHERRIES 
3 of one early variety. 3 of one late variety. 
(If you live in a section of the state where cherries do 
not grow, substitute McKay s Hardy Cherry Plums ) 
5 PLUMS 
1 each of 4 varieties which will ripen in succession 
through August and September. 
1 pollenizer plum tree to be planted in center of 
above group. 
4 PEARS 
1 or 2 each of several varieties suitable for your 
locality. 
100 RED RASPBERRIES 
25 of an early variety. 
75 of a standard midseason variety. 
25 BLACK RASPBERRIES 
6 GOOSEBERRIES 
3 each of 2 varieties. 
9 CURRANTS 
6 of one standard juicy variety for jellying. 
3 of a variety for pies, marmalades, etc. 
12 GRAPES 
Made up of several varieties. 
200 STRAWBERRIES 
150 June berries. 
50 Everbearing berries. 
SUITABLE PLANTING 
DISTANCES 
Apples.20 to 30 feet 
Pears. 16 to 20 feet 
Cherries.16 to 20 feet 
Plums.16 to 18 feet 
Peaches . 16 to 18 feet 
Currants. 4 by 6 feet 
Gooseberries .... 4 by 6 feet 
Grapes. 6 to 8 feet 
Raspberries. 4 by 6 feet 
Strawberries .. l'/2 by 4 or 5' 
RULE: Multiply the distance 
in feet between the rows by the 
distance the plants are apart in 
the row's and the product will be 
the number of square feet for 
each plant or hill; which, di¬ 
vided into the number of feet 
in an acre (43,560), will give 
the number of trees. 
NUMBER OF TREES 
OR PLANTS 
PER ACRE 
iy 2 x 4 ft.7260 
V/ 2 x 5 ft.5808 
3 x 5 ft.2904 
3 x 6 ft.2420 
3 x 7 ft.2074 
4 x 5 ft.2178 
4 x 6 ft.1815 
4 x 7 ft.1555 
6 x 8 ft . 908 
8 x 8 ft . 680 
8 x 10 ft. 545 
16 x 16 ft . 170 
18 x 18 ft . 135 
20 x 20 ft. 110 
24 x 24 ft. 75 
27 x 27 ft. 60 
30 x 30 ft. 48 
The complete'Home Orchard Scale i * SO' 
ORCHARD SITE 
The complete “Home Orchard” should be 
laid out on a piece of land close to the farm¬ 
stead. This makes it easier to care for it and 
encourages you to do the work at the proper 
time. It is also more convenient for the various 
members of the family to eat and enjoy the 
ripe fruits. 
CULTIVATION 
Young Fruit Trees grow best if the ground 
is cultivated the first few years. This is best 
done by planting potatoes or corn between the 
rows of fruit trees. If new trees are set out in 
an old orchard, spade the ground for a two 
foot radius around the tree and then cover 
ground with a six to eight inch mulch of 
straw, hay or strawy manure. Even a heavy 
mulch alone on the sod will soon kill out 
the grass and conserve the moisture for the 
benefit of the tree. 
Small Fruits. Our orchard has ten feet of 
headland at the ends of the small fruit rows 
to allow for horse cultivation. Because farm 
help is scarce the small fruits should be culti¬ 
vated by horse power, not hand labor. Several 
good ground stirrings with a one-horse culti¬ 
vator will keep the ground loose, keep weeds 
down, conserve the moisture, and keep the 
raspeberries and strawberries from running all 
over the patch. Likewise, a 12- or 15-inch 
mulch of straw between the rows of rasp¬ 
berries, currants, gooseberries, and grapes will 
answer the same purpose. 
RASBERRY CULTURE 
Since raspberries bear only on last year’s 
canes, it is customary to cut out all the old 
canes (canes that bore fruit) every fall. This 
throws the strength of the roots into growing 
new canes which will again bear the following 
year. 
Since raspberries spread by suckers, culti¬ 
vation or mulching as described above will 
also keep the rows narrow—not over 18 inches 
wide. Suckers coming out beyond such a width 
should be destroyed by the cultivator or 
choked out with the deep mulch. In this way 
raspberries are kept manageable and productive 
indefinitely. 
PRUNING FRUIT TREES 
First Year. (Read planting instructions on 
page 37.) In general, prune fruit trees to a 
single leader or main upright branch on 
which are left three to five side branches well 
spaced up and down the trunk, as well as 
growing out in all four directions of the 
compass. 
Second Year. Further build up the branch 
formation of your trees to form the above 
skeleton. Cut out cross branches as well as 
new sucker side branches. Better to have 
fewer side branches than too many. If a 
tree lacked a branch coming out in one 
direction the first year, leave a sucker that 
comes out the second year to perfect the tree 
skeleton. Hold back vigorous growing side 
branches to gain uniformity in branch 
growth all around the tree. In succeeding 
years prune just enough to keep tree bal¬ 
anced and open in growth. This produces 
larger and better colored fruit. 
RODENT PROTECTION 
It is advisable to wrap fruit trees with 
burlap or tar paper the first winters against 
rabbit and mice injury. Again, ordinary 
fly screen can be circled around the trunk 
loosely and left on for several years, or until 
it rusts off. Be sure to place wrapping 
below ground, so mice can’t get inside it. 
STRAWBERRY CULTURE 
Note that our “Complete Home Orchard” 
plan shows two settings of strawberries. The 
one as a one-year bearing bed, the other as 
a newly set bed. The best practice of grow¬ 
ing strawberries is to set out a new bed 
every spring. This newly set bed can be 
cultivated conveniently with a one- or two- 
horse cultivator while the plants are making 
runners. The following year it will bear 
fruit heavily, whereupon it is plowed up in 
the fall. After being manured in the winter 
it is ready for a new plant setting in the 
spring. This rotation makes for the easiest 
growing and care of a strawberry bed, and 
will give you the maximum of fruit with 
the least labor. 
