A paper read before the Kansas Horticultural Society, by W. D.
CELLAR, of Edwardsville, Kan.
A wide difference of opinion prevails as to the proper distance apart
for apple trees, some growers maintaining that forty feet is close
enough, while others plant as close as fifteen feet. With varieties that
come into bearing early, planting close in the row north and south, with
the intention of cutting out every other tree when they are large enough
to crowd, may be good husbandry. Two or three crops might be secured
before it would be necessary to cut out the extra trees. The objections
are, that the orchard cannot be so thoroughly cultivated, and the drain
necessary to grow the extra trees might so debilitate the soil as to
seriously affect succeeding crops. One grower says: "I am satisfied it
will pay in the short run, but it remains to be seen whether it will pay
in the long run." In this section, where we have so much wind and
sunshine, twenty-five to thirty feet seems to be the proper distance for
apple trees, fifteen feet for plums, and fifteen by twenty feet for
peach and cherry, and twenty feet for pear trees. Upland is thought
better than river bottom for orchards, and a north or east slope is
chosen for apples.
A difference in location is required for different varieties of apples.
A vigorous-growing variety will do well on the thin soil of the hills,
while a variety deficient in root vigor, which might be profitable in
deep soil, would not thrive on the hilltops. I gathered this year from
eight-year-old Missouri Pippin trees, planted in the deep soil of a
creek bottom, five bushels of apples to the tree, while Missouri Pippins
in the same orchard, on the hilltops, planted at the same time and
having the same treatment, yielded scarcely a bushel to the tree. In the
same orchard Jonathans yielded about as well on the hill as in the
valley. I would not choose an exposed north or northwest slope for
peaches or cherries. Better an east, or even a south slope. Professor
Whitten, of the Missouri State Agricultural College, has recommended
whitening peach trees in winter by spraying with lime to prevent
premature swelling of the buds.
In my locality the best varieties of apples, from a commercial
standpoint, are Ben Davis, Jonathan, and Missouri Pippin. More Kieffer
and Duchess pears are planted than any other kind. The leading peaches
are Elberta, Old Mixon Free, Stump, Champion, Smock, and Salway. The
most profitable plum is the Wild Goose. Some of the Japans, Abundance
and Burbank promise well. Of cherries, Dyehouse, Early Richmond,
Montmorency, English Morello and Ostheim make a succession in the order
named, and are the best for either a family or commercial orchard.
Cultivation of the orchard for the first few years is deemed absolutely
necessary to success, but it is a serious problem how to cultivate the
hills, and at the same time keep them from washing into the hollows and
so denuding the roots of the trees at the top. I know one orchard in
which a back furrow has been thrown to each tree row in the same
direction for several years, leaving a dead furrow (which has become a
ditch) between the rows. It looks like a field of huge sweet-potato
rows, with the trees standing on tripods or "quadrapeds" at the top of
the ridges. Neither back furrow nor dead furrow should be made in the
tree row. As few dead furrows as possible should be left. They should be
frequently changed, and should never run up and down the hill. If
ditches have started, they cannot be stopped by plowing them full of
earth; the loose soil will wash out at the first rain. Fill them with
old hay, straw, stalks, or brush. Old raspberry or blackberry canes are
excellent for this purpose. Begin at the bottom and work up the hill,
letting the forkfuls overlap like shingles. Drive a stake through at
frequent intervals, and secure firmly at the top; else a hard freshet
will wash it all out. Deep ditches may be filled by dams of loose stone
a rod or two apart. On many farms these stones need to be gathered
anyway, and one may "kill two birds with one stone" by filling a big
ditch with a good many stones. "An ounce of prevention, however, is
worth a pound of cure," and the best prevention from washing that I know
of is clover. I would advise seeding a hill orchard as soon as the trees
have had a year or two of vigorous growth. The orchard may be cultivated
after the spring rains, and seeded again in time to prevent washing the
next winter. After the orchard is seven or eight years old, I should
leave it in clover and weeds, mowing two or three times a year to make a
mulch and prevent tall growth of weeds.
"Hogs in the orchard" is generally condemned. I have seen old orchards,
however, that were decidedly benefited by hogs. Hogs and plums go
together. This is no theory, but an established fact. Let them rub the
trees as much as they will; let them tramp the ground till it is as bare
and as hard as the road. It will do no harm; it will do good. Hogs may
not like green apples, but there is something specially delectable to a
hog in a green, wormy plum. He will pick up every one that drops, and so
diminish the crop of curculio. In my locality, pruning of apple and
cherry orchards is practiced very sparingly. Cutting out broken, decayed
and interlacing branches and the suckers at the base seems to be about
all the pruning that is desirable. Peach and plum orchards are likewise
neglected, though some growers practice heading in to make the trees
grow more compact, and to thin the fruit. I think that, with tall and
straggling apple trees, such as Missouri Pippin, Winesap, or Minkler,
heading in might be profitably practiced.
The question as to the profit of spraying for insects and fungi, as far
as my observation goes, is not settled yet. The theory is all
right--indeed, it has become one of the strongest articles of faith in
the horticulturist's creed. When the subject comes up in the
horticultural meeting all commend it. Very few growers, however, make a
business of spraying. Most of the growers in my locality who used to
spray have quit it. They deny that they have lost faith in it, but they
don't do it. My opinion, based not on my own experience, but the
practice--or rather lack of practice--of others, is that, save in
exceptional cases, it doesn't pay; that the ravages of codling-moth and
curculio are not appreciably lessened by spraying; that the loss from
scab in this dry climate is so light as not to justify the cost of
spraying; that, just as many of the doctrines of the churchmen would
die out if the preachers should turn teachers, so the doctrine of
spraying as a cure-all would die out if the pump men and experimenters
should turn fruit-growers; that the average man believes in a
perfunctory way many things which his experience forbids him to
practice.
The damage from borers is a serious drawback to orcharding. There are
various patent contrivances and washes that are recommended to prevent
the work of borers, but all, so far as my observation goes, fall short
of complete success. The only safe way is to hunt the borers out. This
should be done twice a year, late in August, when the newly hatched ones
are large enough to be easily seen, and in April or May, after they have
come up out of the roots, to get the ones overlooked in the fall.
Rabbits the past year have been specially troublesome. In my locality
they frequently attack large trees, six to ten inches in diameter, and,
in some instances, entirely destroy them. Their mischief for the most
part, however, is confined to young orchards, and may be prevented by
wrapping the trees with grass, stalks, paper, or, better than anything
else, wooden wrappers made especially for the purpose. These wrappers
are now manufactured in Kansas City. They cost about one-third of a cent
each, are easily put on, and last four or five years. They are said to
protect the tree from sun-scald and borer also, but I would not rely on
them as a protection from borers, but would remove them and hunt the
borers at least once a year.