ORCHARD MANAGEMENT. 33 



(5) To control the amount, to regulate the movement, and 

 to determine the availability of soil moisture, so that there shall 

 never be an excess or deficiency of this indispensable carrier of 

 feed materials to and through the plant. 



(6) To determine the amount, movement and availability of 

 the water-soluble plant food materials present in the soil, so 

 that growth may be both rapid, normal and continuous to the 

 end of the season. 



(7) To convert the entire root zone of the soil into a com- 

 modious, sanitary, living and feeding place, perfectly adapted 

 to the needs of the roots of the crop and to the soil organisms." 



PRUNING. THE TWO ESSENTIALS. 



There are really but two things to keep in view in pruning, 

 viz., to properly shape the tree so that it may be more of the 

 modern type of low headed, open center tree, and to let in the 

 sunlight and air. With these objects accomplished we have 

 done practically all we should aim at in pruning a tree. Some 

 have thought that pruning renders a tree more fruitful but the 

 fact is that a tree that is well nourished will bear well if never 

 touched by knife or saw. It is however true that the type of 

 fruit which nature produces on the unpruned tree is not what 

 the apple dealers desire in their commercial operations. Fruit 

 of good size and of attractive color is the fruit that should be 

 striven for. To get this size, color and quality we must let in 

 the sunlight. The sunlight must reach all the leaves as well as 

 the fruit, for the leaves cannot transform the sap into the neces- 

 sary ingredients to make luscious fruit unless there is sunlight. 

 Hence, any country that has a great amount of cloudy weather 

 cannot produce the highest grade of fruit; likewise is this an 

 important reason why our uplands are the most desirable for 

 orchard lands. Our own orchards have but an elevation of a 

 few hundred feet above the Connecticut valley but many a day 

 in the summer season when it is perfectly clear upon our hill 

 tops it is foggy and hazy beyond in the valley. 



From the first planting of the tree we must train it so it will 

 have an open top when loaded with fruit. That will be the vase 

 or goblet-shaped top. As I have before mentioned, to secure 



