STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 6l 



prune the tree in a consistent way, or in a manner that will be 

 consistent with the system that we shall carry out with the soil 

 under the tree. These factors are closely related to each other, 

 and to avoid any overlapping of these factors it is important 

 that they be considered in this manner, I believe. We know 

 that by a severe pruning the tree will endeavor to reproduce 

 itself in wood growth ; that overpruning in any one season tends 

 to develop a larger wood growth ; that by stimulating this wood 

 growth, it does so to the neglect of the fruit spurs and also fruit 

 buds. This is the way it works out in practice in a great many 

 cases. I believe the tree should be pruned annually, taking out 

 the crossed limbs or any diseased wood that may appear in the 

 tree, keeping it open to the sunlight and air. Doing this once 

 a year, you won't throw that tree out of balance with the root 

 system, the idea being to maintain as nearly as possible a bal- 

 ance between growth and fruit. I think it is one of the fixed 

 laws that is well understood among fruit growers generally, 

 that growth antagonizes color, and by getting a reasonable 

 growth on the trees every year, we are assured of a better 

 quality of fruit or of mature fruit at the close of the season. 

 Therefore, it is only by having a definite plan and system and 

 considering these together that we can regulate these various 

 factors. 



Spraying. 



Why do we spray? What is the object of spraying? If we 

 are to get the best possible results from a tree, it is nothing 

 more than reasonable to expect that the tree must be in good 

 condition all the time if it is to do its best in the production of 

 fruit. So we must spray. It has been demonstrated over and 

 over again in the State of Maine that we must spray to protect 

 the trees from bark-sucking insects, leaf-eating insects, and 

 the fungous diseases that are coming to us nearly every season. 

 If we allow these insects and the fungous diseases to destroy 

 the foliage, which are the lungs of the trees, we have seriously 

 interfered with the productiveness of the orchard. So it is 

 absolutely necessary to spray. It is a large factor in the pro- 

 ductiveness of the trees, that we maintain a healthy, clean foli- 

 age from the time it emerges in the spring until it falls in the 



