The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1911-03-31
A Well-F ormed


distant party, and these questions have
to be decided very largely by the
grower.
The condition under which the fruit
Is to be produced should, in a large
measure, decide the variety. If man
is engaged in general farming, he can.
not well afford to grow a large num-
Der of varieties that will be continual
ly demanding his attention during the
season when he is busy with other
farm crops. A man so situated would
be unwise to plant a commercial or
chard of five or six trees of Yellow
Transparent, five or six, or ten, OF
Wealthy, some King, some Hubbards-
ton, some Mcintosh, some Duchess,
some Snow and some of the we'll
known winter sorts like Northern Spy
and Baldwin. Some of these apples
would be ready to harvest in August
and the work would drag along until
late in the fall and would be a great
bother in connection with other work.
If a man is going to raise apples in
connection with general farming, he
should plant varieties that could be
harvested at a time when his other
work will permit, as near as possible
and the orchard for such farm should
probably be Rhode Island Greening,
Baldwin, Northern Spy or some com
mercial standard sorts that ripen late
in the fall.
If the farm is loaated where the
shipping facilities are not first class,
a man should shun such sorts as Vel.
low Transparent and other fall vari-
cites, especially the yellow colored
sorts that show the bruises of long
hauling and hard roads. While there
is a good profit in these varieties,
when grown in a To- atty where they
can be shipped to market quickly and
are hauled carefully, it would be folly
to grow them in any region distant
from shipping ia, illties, and so should
be stricken from any list under such
conditions.
1t is fLtal mistake TO rlant largely
Of poor varieties of apples like Ben
Davis. For instance. there is an or
chard in Michigan of thirty-six acres
Of Ben Davis, now eighteen years old.
that is not as valuable a piece Of
property by a good many hundreds Of
dollars as another orchard of North.
ern Spys of about the same number
OF acres, and it costs no more to buy
the young trees and cultivate them in
one case than in the other.
The market in which the fruit is TO
be shipped should be very carefully
considered. There are sections in
western Michigan where the Duchess
apples grow to high degree Of per-
lection, but ripen at a time when
they come into competition with the
Duchess grown in Wisconsin orchards.
and where such a state of affairs ex-
lists, the Michigan man has found it
profitable to plant some other variety
like Maiden's Blush; and there are sec
tons in southern Michigan where the
Duchess is very profitable apple and
comes into market before the Duchess
are ripe in Wisconsin.
A mistake in a good many MICHIGAN
orchards is that too many varieties are
planted. Aside from the work of TAX
ing care Of them at harvesting time,
ii is also more difficult to sell a few
barrels of a variety than It is a good
many barrels Of one standard variety
In southeastern Michigan, not very
far from Detroit, is fine orchard
made up of forty-flve trees Of Jona-
than, ninety of Red Canada, 235 Bald
win and 100 Greening. While this is
very good combination in some re-
spects. for that particular region
where the Red Canada grows to
high degree of perfection and com.
mands such high price in the neigh
boring markets, 1t would have been
profitable to plant more largely of
the Red Canada and less Of the Bald.
win and Rhode Island Greening.
SO to sum UP the whole question OF
varieties, man should first decide
upon what kind Of a market he intends