The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-01-06
INTENSIVE APPLE CULTURE.
c. 7. Holmes of Charlotte, Tells Of
His Work With 100 Acres of Orch
ard Since 1907.

ard Since 1907.
The Burlington Free Press prints
the following communication from c.
r. Holmes of Charlotte, well known as
one of the most successful apple
growers in this part of New England.
was interested in this orchard be-
, fore 1907, but not in such way that
| could give 1t the kind Of care | knew
it should have. The hundred acres
had been in sod for years. The trees
/ had been trimmed and sprayed thor
oughly for several years, but the yield
had never been up to the average of
orchards in this section, although since
spraying began the quality had been
good.
In the winter of 1907, fifty acres
of greetings were given a good mulch
of barnyard manure as far as the
was out of the ground | turned this
mulch under the ground about three
inches-not deep enough to injure the
roots. | don't believe in pruning a
tree at both ends. One acre was given
a dressing of air Stacked lime-about
two hundred pounds to each tree.
will here say that this acre showed
such marked superiority to the rest
in color and size of foliage and in fin
ish and texture of fruit that seventy
acres more were lined that fall and
the remainder of the orchard will be
lined this winter.
To go back to 1907, the plowed
ground was thoroughly pulverized with
a disc harrow and was gone over
with a spring tooth harrow about
once every two weeks until the mid
die of July, when | sowed one bushel
of buckwheat to the acre Two weeks
before apple picking time, when the
buckwheat was in full bloom, it was
j., rolled with a low roller in order to
break it down and at the same time
provide soft cushion for windfalls
and keep them clean. That fall 1
picked $500 barrels from the fifty
, acres | took care of, and 600 barrels
from the rest,
In the Spring of 1908 foolishly al
lowing myself to be influenced against
my own Judgment by the opinions of
some of the wise ones, who said the
crop of the previous year was due to
manure alone, l dropped one-half of
| the fifty acres and cultivated but
twenty-five, while manuring the en-
tire orchard-We all know what a
! dry season we had in 190S-I cult
waited the twenty-five acres once every
ten days until the middle of July when
| seeded to mammoth clover for a
cover crop for winter. The outcome
of this experiment was, that from
twenty-five acres cultivated two
years in succession 600 barrels were
picked The twenty-five acres cultivat-
ed but one year yielded 200 barrels,
much inferior in size; and from the
other half of the entire orchard
got nothing.
| was now convinced that intensive
cultivation was of the greatest import
ance and this year the whole orchard
was under cultivation. From inquiries
coming from all parts of the CONT
nent, it would seem that everyone
had heard of the crop of apples which
rewarded me in 1909
OF 1000 barrels, picked 3,1OO from
the fifty acres cultivated two and three
years and of these | didn't have 10 bar
rels of stung apples. The crop was
packed as fancies, first and number
Us. 1920 barrels fancies, nothing
smaller than "a inches. 500 barrels
firsts. nothing smaller than "a in
Balance windfalls, a trifle small
but free from worms, The wind
falls brought two dollars per
barrel at the station. The others
were placed in cold storage at Troy,
n. Y, and are being handled by Il.
p. LOOMS G. Co., of New York. Fan
cies are selling today at 81 and firsts
at $3.50. No. 2s were sold on arrival
at So,
The 1907 crop Melted, after deduct
ing costs of picking, freight and COM
ihisoioH ''''''''''' 9o,Uff.ou
The crop of 1908 netted e. 100000
This year the gross returns will so
well beyond SIS, 600. 90
In spraying l use a l 3 horse pow
er gasolene sprayer A man makes
no mistake when he buys one of these.
Hand power pumps are too laborious
and do not give force enough to pro-
duce the fine spray necessary to reach
every part of fruit and foliage.
l spray before buds open for bud
moth and cigar cases bearer with
Bordeaux lead arsenate mixture, and