Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916. Various

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      More details have been given in regard to orchard sites and windbreaks than many of you are probably interested in, but for one who is planning to set out an orchard they should prove of value and profit, as they are based upon the experiences of many of Minnesota's best orchardists.

My Experience with a Young Orchard.

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ROY VIALL, SPRING VALLEY.

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      About ten years ago we acquired some land three and one-half miles north of Spring Valley. This land is very rough and was originally covered with heavy timber, in fact, about one-third of our large orchard was cleared and grubbed out the fall before planting.

      When I became interested in fruit growing one of the first things I did was to join the Horticultural Society and to the knowledge obtained through this membership we owe in large measure what success has come to us.

      The eighteen acres selected for our main orchard slopes quite abruptly to the north and northeast. In fact, the slope is so steep that the ground, if kept under cultivation, would wash badly, and this was the real reason for seeding down our orchard at the time of planting. The orchard is now seven years old, and the trees have never had a particle of cultivation. Part of this ground was in grain and seeded to alsike and timothy the year before; the balance was the new land referred to, which we had broken and immediately seeded down to alsike and timothy, with oats as a nurse crop.

      Our first problem was what varieties to plant, in what proportion and where to buy them. In this we adopted the recommendation of this society at that time, choosing Wealthy, Duchess, Patten Greening and Northwestern Greening, with fifty Malinda and fifty Iowa Beauty. We now have in addition two small orchards with nearly forty varieties altogether. The varieties, for the large orchard were divided as follows: 250 Duchess, 250 Patten Greening, 300 Northwestern Greening, 1,000 Wealthy. Were I to set another commercial orchard of the same size it would contain 500 Duchess and the balance Wealthy. While the Patten Greening is an ideal tree and an early and prolific bearer, there is with us a much larger per cent of imperfect and diseased fruit than of any other variety. Tree for tree, I believe the Duchess will produce more saleable fruit.

      Where to buy our trees was decided for us in one of our first numbers of the Horticulturist, viz., at the nearest reliable nursery. That this was good advice is evidenced by the fact that out of the 1,900 trees we have found but two that were not as ordered.

      Our next problem was, at what distance to plant the trees. The more information we sought the less sure were we of the best plan. We were advised to plant all distances from 12 feet by 16 feet to 24 feet by 32 feet. We finally concluded to take about an average of them all and decided on 20 feet by 20 feet, and so far have had no reason to regret it. We have put up the alsike and timothy every year for hay with the usual machinery, and there has not been over a half dozen trees seriously damaged. Our trees were nearly all three years old, 5 to 6 feet, and we find they do much better in sod than a smaller tree.

      Having the orchard set out the next thing was to protect the trees from mice and rabbits. This we did by making protectors out of wire cloth, using different widths, from 18 to 24 inches, cutting it in strips 10 inches wide and holding it about the trees by three pieces of stove pipe wire at the top, middle and bottom. Not counting the time of making and putting them on these cost us from 1–½ cents to 2–½ cents each, and lasted from three to four years. We used a few made of galvanized wire cloth, which lasted much longer.

      Three years ago we commenced replacing these protectors with a wash of white lead and raw linseed oil mixed to the consistency of separator cream. The first year we painted only fifty trees, the next year 100, the next 300, and this last year we painted every tree on the place. We can see no bad effects, and it certainly protects against mice and rabbits and, what is equally as important, against borers also, and the cost per tree, including labor, is much less.

      We have also used the lead and oil with splendid results in treating trees affected with canker. We had quite a number of Wealthy so affected, and we cut out the affected bark and wood and then covered the wound with lead, and in almost every case it has proved a cure, that is, stopped the spread of the canker.

      The second year our orchard was set out we began to mulch the trees with grass cut in the orchard, clover straw, pea straw—anything we could get. We were unable to mulch the entire orchard that year, and before we got the balance mulched you could tell as far as you could see the orchard which trees were mulched and which were not. The former not only made a better growth, but had a healthier look. Now I do not want you to get the idea that I am advocating the sod system except in locations similar to ours. Were our orchard on more level ground I not only should have cultivated the first three years, as advocated by most authorities, but would have continued the cultivation in some degree at least.

      Nevertheless, on account probably of the very favorable location, I think our orchard will compare favorably with any cultivated orchard of the same age. Having the orchard set out, protected against mice and rabbits and mulched, we found that the real work of raising an orchard had just begun. First came the gray beetles the following June, and they ate the new growth off several hundred trees before we discovered them. At that time, not knowing what else to do, we hand picked every one we could find and destroyed them. These beetles we found came from oak groves on the south and west, and the next year we sprayed with arsenate of lead six or eight rows of trees on that side of the orchard, and as we have since then sprayed the entire orchard each year we have had no further trouble.

      Next came pocket gophers, and before we learned how to stop them we had lost a number of trees by their chewing off the roots just beneath the surface of the ground. By opening their runways and placing well down in them a piece of carrot or potato in which has been placed a little strychnine we succeeded in getting rid of them entirely. Next came the woodchucks. They were very destructive with us, chewing the bark above the protectors as well as the roots. Trapping is the most successful method we have found, and by keeping a half dozen traps out all the time we held them in check. Eternal vigilance must be the motto of the successful orchardist.

      In the year 1913 we picked our first crop of apples, that is, in sufficient quantity to be considered in a commercial way. Our Duchess we sold in barrels at $2.00 net. Wealthy we packed in bushel boxes, making two sizes, the larger, three inches and over, we called No. 1, and they sold for $1.25 per box net. The balance or smaller ones were also sold in boxes and brought us $1.00 per box net. Patten Greenings brought us 80 cents and Northwestern Greenings, 90 cents per box. Our neighbors, who sold to the local and transient buyers in bulk and in barrels, received 75 cents to 90 cents per hundred pounds, or $2.00 per barrel.

      The past year we had only about 75 bushels of all kinds. With the exception of Duchess and possibly Patten's Greening we shall certainly sell our next crop in bushel boxes.

      We are top-working about 50 Patten's Greening to Jonathan, Delicious, McIntosh Red and King David. As the work was only started a year ago last spring I cannot tell you of its success or failure. So far the best results seem to be with the Jonathan.

      We also have about thirty varieties of plums, including many of Prof. Hansen's new hybrids. Of these the Opata seems to be the most hardy and prolific, but it is subject to brown rot, which, this past year was so bad that we lost more than half the fruit. We have it top-worked on several varieties of native plums, and it was similarly affected there also. This was the only СКАЧАТЬ