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Show every farmer should have an orchard Every farmer, however small his possessions mny be, who lives within the apple growing districts of the United States should have an apple orchard, says G. B. Erackett of the United SiUtes department of agriculture. agri-culture. While the aim and purpose of the farmer should be to supply an abundance abun-dance of fruit for his own family, fam-ily, he should also be able to offer to the outside world a liberal surplus. The apple orchard will often bring him better returns for his outlay than any other, portion of his farm, acre for acre. It Is unfortunate that some farms do not afford the best soils and exposures ex-posures for orchards. But the owners of such should not allow this fact to deter them from planting trees and caring for them afterward. If possible, the site should be elevated ele-vated above its immediate surround- is deep tillage, and the more thorc..-.-i. ly this work is done the more ctrtaiti. is success. Some plant 16 by 32 feet tlis.t i-i. the trees 15 feet opart in rw-svs Si feet apart. Other planters adopt :i distance dis-tance between trees of 20. 21, or :c feet apart each way. claiming tlu:t 'ty the time the trees interfere with oiiolt other they will have finished t!sir growth and the orchard will begin to decline. The selection of trees is a very iror-portant iror-portant part of orcharding. If tlw-farmer tlw-farmer makes his purchase direct fronc the nurseryman, he will save Use fs pense of the middleman or agotit. and is less liable to the cii-takes cii-takes that may occur through repeated repeat-ed handling. Wherever mice or rabbits exi-r they are liable to do much dairiiw ! young trees during the winter rniwufif... especially when the ground is covervo "JT K P ' jCT 1 I -. USE OF CARPET AS BAND ON APPLE TREE- Ings, thus giving a free circulation of air, while such an elevation will be of great aid in guarding against late spring frosts, so fatal to young fruit at the blooming season. Apple trees will thrive nnd do well on almost any soil which is well prepared, pre-pared, but all orchard lands should be thoroughly surface-drained and under-drained. Well-rotted barnyard manure is of great value for an apple orchard. It not only supplies humus, but it contains con-tains a large per cent of other necessary neces-sary nutritive elements. As to the indications when n bearing bear-ing orchard needs stimulating, the eminent pomologist, Dr. Warder, once said : "When the growth of the terminal ter-minal branches fails to make an annual an-nual extension of at least one foot In length, the tree should be stimulated by manuring the land and giving it thorough cultivation." The principal requirements in preparing pre-paring land for planting an orchard with snow. Anything that affords prff-toction prff-toction to mice, such as grass, wcl-vIk or leaves, should be removed frmi i around the trunks of the trees. It is only when the natural food f the rabbits is cut off by being wwirrt' with snow that this destructive- 5ir. u- animal is forced to resort to guuw'uig ; the bark from fruit trees. The proper stage of maturity" nv: which it is best to take the fruit from. ' the tree, if for sale, will be gcsvtn i2 somewhat by the distance to the Kiat-ket Kiat-ket to be supplied. If near by, :iai requiring re-quiring no shipping, the fruit i:i:iy lnv left on the tree until nearly trsHJoiv.. But if to be shipped a long distutuxv it should be picked as soon ivi V..i seeds are fully matured. The stock of early winter sort.it be held- in storage for a whih? if v., paying market cannot be fomvli siti once, but generally it is best ti '!r. before freezing weather conies mi. t as soon as packed, and while ttw. m; ples are In prime condition. |