344 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



for in hot weather they get very thirsty .and will eat the bark from larger trees 

 even, unless they have plenty of water. 



I like this manner of treating my orchard very much ; what it would cost 

 me to hire the sheep pastured each week will buy at least GOO pounds of bran 

 and 400 pounds of corn, making an aggregate each summer of over ten tons 

 of the very best kind of fertilizer for an orchard. For the money I pay for 

 feed I get my sheep kept in the linest condition, have the lambs growing finely 

 all summer, and have the whole amount of feed bought (which is worth all it 

 cost for the purpose) scattered about the orchard in the best possible manner. 

 Thus, you see, I prove that it is perfectly practicable to "eat my cake and have 

 it, too," or in other words, to get twice value received for the money invested, 

 besides having codling moth successfully crapped. 



PROTECTION OF TREES FROM THE SUN. 



Trees suffer more from the effects of the sun, directly and indirectly, than 

 the majority of tree-planters will acknowledge or comprehend. Very often the 

 unhealthy condition of trees is attributed to various causes, such as "poor 

 stock" — fault of the nurseryman — soil, insects, etc., whereas the first cause of 

 trouble is improper exposure to the sun. Young trees are trimmed up by cut- 

 ting off all the side branches by the nurseryman in order to give the tree a 

 good appearance, which is very well as long as the tree remains in the nursery, 

 for there it is protected by its neighbors ; but when set out in orchard rows, 

 the long, smooth stem will suffer more or less by the exposure to the sudden 

 changes of temperature caused by the sun, and unless well staked is very apt 

 to lean over from the winds, in which condition the sun's rays strike the tree 

 more directly, causing the bark on the exposed side to decay, and making it 

 attractive to insects. Apple trees in this condition are very sure to be attacked 

 by the flat-headed borer (Chrysobothris femorata, Lee). The insects and sun 

 together soon ruin a tree. 



In reference to apple trees especially, I think they would be healthier and 

 longer lived if we would copy after nature more than we do. For example, if 

 we allow an apple tree to grow up from seed, never turning or crowding it, wo 

 will have nothing more than a large bush ; but, you may depend upon it, there 

 will be no sun-burn on that tree, there will be no flat-headed borers, no sap- 

 sprouts ; it will not lean at an angle of 45° from the wind, and if on average 

 good soil, will be a perfectly healthy and long-lived tree. 



Now I do not propose that we should grow our trees in this way, but I do 

 think that we might come a little nearer having perfect and healthy trees by 

 elevating the art of tree pruning and by copying to a greater extent from 

 nature. Dr. John A. Warder says, in one of his works, speaking of nature's 

 pruning: " She prunes and trains magnificently, and gives us models for imi- 

 tation." 



As far as I have observed, in nature the healthiest trees are those on which 

 the side branches have been allowed to grow. When a grove of trees grow up 

 by an undisturbed effort of nature, they will effectually protect themselves 

 against the sun and winds ; those on the exposed sides remain shorter and 

 retain their side branches, so that the branches of the tallest reach down to the 

 next shorter, and these in turn to the next, and so on down to the shrubs, and 

 these to the grass. Why is this so if it is not for the protection from the sun 



