The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1900-05-15
AGRICULTURAL.
THE BEST LOCATION FOR AN Or
CHARD.

At a meeting of the Pennsylvania |
Society Mr.. Hitler advo-
Gated low situations for orchards, and |
Baldwin apple that grew |
on tree that stood ten feet from a lit |
tie rivulet, the bottom of which was |
eighteen inches below the surface, and
stated his Baldwin apples which grew
on trees standing on high ground were
of inferior size and keeping qualities.
If the facts were as stated, and no
doubt they were, it was probably a
drouthy year, and the tree that bore so
well obtained all the moisture it need
ed by extending its roots toward the
rivulet, while the trees on the high
ground were suffering from thirst. 1t
is repetition of the story in the First
Pslam of David of "a tree planted by
rivers of water that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season, and his leaf shall
not wither.''
My experience is that we'll drained
lowland is just as favorable location
for an orchard as the hillside, and l
had experience with both locations.
Fruit trees: like all other trees intend
ed for dry land, will not flourish with
constant wet feet and will die in stag
nat water. Land lying along rivers
usually has good natural drain
age, being of sandy texture
and underlaid with gravel. Orchards
planted on the alluvial soil along the
Susquehanna have universally lived
long and borne well.
Situations sheltered from the north
| west winds are the most favorable for
orchards, and there is not much doubt
that it would pay in the long run in all
the Eastern, Middle and Western
States to plant windbreaks of valuable
timber trees to the nOrthwestward of
the orchards to protect them from the
chilling blasts of winter. These wind
breaks might not fulfill the purpose for
which they were designed, but become
a source of revenue themselves in rails
ing timber.
Mr.. Scherer, of Berks county, Penn,
says: 81 have a small orchard in Olney
township that is surrounded by a locust
belt, and believe l can raise more ap-
pies than any man in the township.
attribute my success to the protection
given my orchard"
Professors Schribner, of Maine,
lsays: 'My orchard is largely on the
southeast slope of a hill, and there is
not another in the State that has pro-
duced larger crops of fruit. 1t is pro.
tected on the north by a forest and on
the west by white cedar hedge, which
make a very dense and valuable shelter
A neighbor's orchard is protected by 8
hedge of white pine, which in ten
years grew to be twenty feet high. II
is the practice in Maine to shelter or
chards, and believe it brings good re.
Suits"
II Mr.. Mcfarland, of Pennsylvania
! says: 'In the counties of Blair anG
Cambria in every sheltered nook they
have unfailing crops of apples, which
attribute to the sheltered locations. ,
Cold air, being heavier than war;
air, will sometimes descend suddenly
} into the valleys and drive the warmer
air out up the sides of the hills, and the
fruit buds in the valleys will be killed
by a spring frost, while those on the
hills may escape. On this account
some orchardists advocate hill and hill
, side planting as being the more favor
able location, but my experience is tha
a difference of eighty feet in altitude
has made only little difference in pre-
venting frost on the higher ground
!. We never had the fruit killed in tn,
lower orchard, when we were fortunat,
enough to have it escape in the higher
one.
The Baldwin, the Rhode Islam,
Greening and the Roxbury Russet cal
be grown in New England up to A de
grees north latitude in sheltered situa
tion, but not much above 43 degrees il
b unsheltered situations.-J. w. Ingham