Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 - Various

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and eighteen by planted windbreaks; and in the southwest section, one by a hill and natural woods, one by a hill and planted windbreak, two by natural timber, and fifteen by planted windbreaks. If Meeker County, which has natural timber, was not included in the central west—and perhaps it should have been included in central east—this section would have only one orchard protected alone by natural timber; and if Blue Earth County was eliminated from the southwest, this section would have no orchard protected alone by natural timber.

      The beneficial effects from windbreaks may be summed up as follows: Twenty-five reported that they prevented fruit from being blown off trees, nine that they prevented trees and limbs being broken by winds and storms, ten that they protected trees from injury by winds without specifying the kind of injury, four that they reduced injury from frosts, ten that they either prevented or reduced winter injury, four that they helped to retain moisture, five that they helped to hold snow, eight that they prevented snow drifting, five that they protected orchards from hot and dry winds, three that they permitted the growing of apples, and one that they supplied all advantages.

      The kinds of trees recommended for windbreaks and the methods of planting are numerous and variable and to discuss them at length would take too much time. However, the principal facts may be briefly enumerated.

      In eighty-five reports that listed set out windbreaks, it was found that fifty-seven growers had used evergreens, thirty-seven willows, twenty-nine box elders, twenty-five maples, seventeen cottonwoods, thirteen ashes, eleven elms, eight poplars, four oaks, four plums, three nuts and one apple. The evergreens consisted of thirteen Scotch pine, eleven evergreens (not named), eight Norway spruce, five spruce (not named), three balsam, three Austrian pine, two white pine, one yellow pine, two cedar, two white spruce, two pine (variety not named), two fir, two jack pine, one Black Hills spruce, and one tamarack. In the willows were given twenty willows (variety not named), two laurel-leaved, seven white and eight golden; in the maples, sixteen soft maples, two hard maples, one silver-maple and six maples (kind not named); in the poplars, five Norway, one Carolina, two poplar (kind not named); and in the nuts, one black walnut, one butternut and one walnut. The major part of the box elders, cottonwoods, willows and ashes were noted in the central west and southwest sections. Thirty-seven experienced growers of windbreaks, the most of them living in the southwest, west central and southeast sections, recommended the following trees for windbreaks in the given proportions, twenty-four evergreens, fifteen willows, seven maples, six poplars, five elms, five box elders, three elms, two plum, two cottonwood, three hedges, one oak, one hackberry and one black walnut. The evergreens are decidedly the most popular, and among the varieties mentioned Norway spruce takes the lead for those recommended, and the Scotch pine for those planted.

      There are about as many different systems of planting used as growers. The main point in all cases was to have a planting that would stop the wind and storms. A few growers advocated the use of a hedge or plum trees to fill in under the windbreak, while one grower desires a circulation of air under the branches of his trees. Cultivation and intercropping of windbreaks are also recommended in a few cases. The distance of planting varies, of course, with the trees or shrubs used. For example: one grower recommends 8 ft. x 8 ft. for large deciduous trees, and another grower, 6 ft. x 12 ft. apart in rows and two rows, 12 ft. apart. For Scotch pine one grower advocates eight feet. In some cases a mixture of many kinds of trees is recommended, and then again only one kind. One very solid windbreak is made up of a lilac hedge, four rows of jack pine, four rows of Norway poplar and one row of willow. Another is one row willow, one of evergreen, one of willow and one of evergreen.

      Various distances between windbreak and orchard were used and recommended. A large number of orchards were started at about twenty feet from the windbreak and a few as close as one rod, but these distances proved to be too close. One grower, however, recommended close planting and later the removal of a row of trees in the windbreak when more space was needed. The recommended distances for planting varied from thirty to 500 feet, although seventy-five to 100 was satisfactory in most cases.

      More details have been given in regard to orchard sites and windbreaks than many of you are probably interested in, but for one who is planning to set out an orchard they should prove of value and profit, as they are based upon the experiences of many of Minnesota's best orchardists.

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       Table of Contents

      About ten years ago we acquired some land three and one-half miles north of Spring Valley. This land is very rough and was originally covered with heavy timber, in fact, about one-third of our large orchard was cleared and grubbed out the fall before planting.

      When I became interested in fruit growing one of the first things I did was to join the Horticultural Society and to the knowledge obtained through this membership we owe in large measure what success has come to us.

      The eighteen acres selected for our main orchard slopes quite abruptly to the north and northeast. In fact, the slope is so steep that the ground, if kept under cultivation, would wash badly, and this was the real reason for seeding down our orchard at the time of planting. The orchard is now seven years old, and the trees have never had a particle of cultivation. Part of this ground was in grain and seeded to alsike and timothy the year before; the balance was the new land referred to, which we had broken and immediately seeded down to alsike and timothy, with oats as a nurse crop.

      Our first problem was what varieties to plant, in what proportion and where to buy them. In this we adopted the recommendation of this society at that time, choosing Wealthy, Duchess, Patten Greening and Northwestern Greening, with fifty Malinda and fifty Iowa Beauty. We now have in addition two small orchards with nearly forty varieties altogether. The varieties, for the large orchard were divided as follows: 250 Duchess, 250 Patten Greening, 300 Northwestern Greening, 1,000 Wealthy. Were I to set another commercial orchard of the same size it would contain 500 Duchess and the balance Wealthy. While the Patten Greening is an ideal tree and an early and prolific bearer, there is with us a much larger per cent of imperfect and diseased fruit than of any other variety. Tree for tree, I believe the Duchess will produce more saleable fruit.

      Where to buy our trees was decided for us in one of our first numbers of the Horticulturist, viz., at the nearest reliable nursery. That this was good advice is evidenced by the fact that out of the 1,900 trees we have found but two that were not as ordered.

      Our next problem was, at what distance to plant the trees. The more information we sought the less sure were we of the best plan. We were advised to plant all distances from 12 feet by 16 feet to 24 feet by 32 feet. We finally concluded to take about an average of them all and decided on 20 feet by 20 feet, and so far have had no reason to regret it. We have put up the alsike and timothy every year for hay with the usual machinery, and there has not been over a half dozen trees seriously damaged. Our trees were nearly all three years old, 5 to 6 feet, and we find they do much better in sod than a smaller tree.

      Having the orchard set out the next thing was to protect the trees from mice and rabbits. This we did by making protectors out of wire cloth, using different widths, from 18 to 24 inches, cutting it in strips 10 inches wide and holding it about the trees by three pieces of stove pipe wire at the top, middle and bottom. Not counting the time of making and putting them on these cost us from 1–½ cents to 2–½ cents each, and lasted from three to four years. We used a few made of galvanized wire cloth, which lasted much longer.

      Three years ago we commenced replacing these protectors with a wash of white lead and raw linseed oil mixed to the consistency of separator cream. The first year we painted only fifty trees, the next year 100, the next 300, and this last year we painted every tree on the place. We can see no bad effects, and it certainly protects against mice and rabbits and, what is equally as important, against borers also, and the cost per tree, including labor, is much

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