Apples and Cherries for a Hot Place.

What kind of apple do you think would do best in a dry, hot climate? 
What do you think of the Early Richmond cherry in such a place?

Apples most likely to succeed in a dry situation are those which ripen their fruit very early.  The Red Astrachan is on the whole the most satisfactory, but there are many places which are altogether too dry and hot for any kind of apple.  Whether cherries would succeed or not you can only tell by trying.  Possibly the trees would not live through the summer if your soil becomes very dry.  The most hardy cherries are the sour or pie cherries and the Early Richmond is one of this group.

Die-back of Apple Trees.

What causes the death of the top shoots in apple trees?

New wood is sometimes diseased by mildew, but die-back is usually due to two different causes:  One, the accumulation of water in the soil during the excessive rains of mid-winter; second, the occurrence of low temperatures, including frosts, after the sap has risen.  Which of these causes operate in a certain case depends, of course, upon whether the soil was heavy and inclined to retain standing water too long, or whether there were such frosts at about the time when the leaves should start.  Sometimes, of course, both of these conditions worked in the same place; sometimes one and sometimes the other, but certainly both of them are capable of causing the trouble.  There seems to be no specific disease; it is rather a matter of unfavorable conditions for growth.

Storage of Apples.

We desire to store two or three thousand boxes of apples for three or four months and propose to do it in this way:  Make an excavation in dry earth, putting at the bottom of the excavation straw.  Upon this straw place the apples, then dry straw over the apples, and upon the top of this two or three feet of dry earth.  Will it be a good plan to pour on water from time to time over the top of this to keep the apples and all wet, or should the apples be kept dry?

Putting down loose apples in a straw-lined pit would be very expensive.  It would invite decay by bruising the fruit, and the result would probably be a worthless mixture of rotten fruit and straw.  The fruit should be stored in boxes or shallow trays to reduce pressure and promote ventilation, and not in bins or large piles.  Apples will keep for a long time in good condition if the boxes are put in piles in the shade, covered with straw, which should be slightly moistened from time to time; but in that case there would not be such an accumulation of moisture and there would be ventilation at all times.  Apples should be kept dry, but they will shrivel and become unmarketable unless the air in which they are stored is kept reasonably moist.  This is generally accomplished by making apple houses with double walls and roof to exclude heat and with an earth or concrete floor which can be sprinkled from time to time with a hose.