The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1911-12-01
HEALTHY ROOTS A MOST I'M
PORTANT FEATURE IN SET
TING PLANTS.
DIStASlS Thai AFFECT GRJWTH
Pruning and Essential to Successful
andIing.-Steep Lands Not DesIr-
able on Account of Difficulty in !
Proper Cultivation and Spraying.
(By Prot. G. A. Keffer.)

the orchard, pruning, cultivating,
spraying, and the harvesting of the
crop.
1t will not be possible in this brief
paper to discuss all of these, and es-
pecial attention will be given to Or
chard beginnings.
The site should be high and the
soil should be deep. There al" a
great many ridge lands where the
crest of the ridge is from one to two
hundred yards wide, and occasionally
broadening into a considerable area;
and here the soil, is of great depth.
These are the best orchard locations
that can be found. High places are
chosen because they are more free
from late frosts in the spring than
valley lands, but it is quite as i'm
portant that the trees should have d
great depth OF soil from which to
gather moisture, as that they should
be protected from late frosts. Clay
loan or limestone formation is very
good soil for apples. Practically the
best soil for apples is that made by
the disintGSratiOn of granite rocks,
The famous Aibemarle Pippin region
of Virginia has soil of this character.
The very deep bluff soils of West
Tennessee are excellent for apples,
and in this location the danger Of
frost can be largely overcome by the
use of orchard heaters.
In the choice of trees for planting,
especial care should be taken to Sc
cure trees with healthy>roots. There
are three common diseases of apple
roots the Crown Gall, which causes
large burls or warty growths to form
on the roots the Hairy Root, recog.
nized by large number of fine roots
growing out from one place, usually
on the main root of young trees; and
the third is the result of Woody Ap.
his, a red brown louise, which lives
in colonies and covers itself with
fine, white fibres. This louise causes
many bulges on the root and the up
ward passage of water through it is
clearly retarded.
In buying peaches, June buds will
make quite as good trees as one year
Odds. They are always smaller and
the freight charges will be much
less. At the Experiment Station,
June budded trees, not more than
eight inches high, were set Is by 20
feet in an orchard. They were in
full bearing quite as suon as one
year old trees. and five years after
setting it would have been impos-
sible to have distinguished from. the
larger sized trees planted in another
orchard.
The following is a good list of var
ieties for commercial planting. All
are named in the order in which they
mature.
Apples: Yellow Transparent, Ear
ly Harvest, Red June, Duchess.
These are all summer varieties and
are highly recommended for Middle
and West Tennessee, where it is be-
lieved they viii prove more profitable
than winter sorts. Delicious, Grimes
Golden, Rome Beauty, York Imperial,
Ben Davis, Stayman Winesap, Para
gon, Old Fashioned Winesap OF
these the four first named require
cold storage, but all can be grown
with profit in the State.
Peaches: Greensboro, Carmen,
Belle, Elbarta, tor home use and Lear
market one may add to the above list
Sneed. Mountain Rose. Champion,
Stump, snlway.
Cherries Ncnt Morenci, Ordin-
aire, English Torello. In some parts
Of the State. Early Richmond is also
successful.
Until a remedy for blight can be
found it is not advisable 10 plant
pears.
Very steep lands should never he
planted wi frat because of the diff
Guilty of cultivation and spraying the
trees on such lands Almost all high
lands. however, slope more or less,
and if the ground has any tendency
TO wash. tie orchard rows should fol
low the lay of the land In the direc-
lion mp and down the hills the rows
may be equal distance apart, but on
The contour of the land it will be i'm
possible to have the distances equal,
and thus contour planting will always
be uneven, but the great advantage