Fruits and Culture. 363 



few years of the use of these cover crops rye can be substituted in 

 llieir place. I firmly believe that b_y an intelligent use of these 

 cover crops that all long cultivated soil may not only be economically 

 restored and improved, but that greater production can be obtained 

 than ever in its history. 



CONDITIONS AFFECTING FRUITFULNESS. 



(*By Prof. E. S. Goff, University of Wisconsin.) 



In pruning we have most to learn, and here I must introduce two 

 principles, to which I have not before alluded, viz. : that plenty of 

 light is absolutely necessary to the formation of flower buds, and that 

 the more a branch tends to the horizontal the more likely it is to form 

 flower buds. We should, therefore, favor horizontal branches, and 

 discourage vertical ones, with the exception of the leader. We should 

 insist on the growth being distributed over a large number of branches 

 and should promptly pinch, in early summer, all shoots that incline 

 to grow more than a foot long. We should promptly rub ofif all 

 superfluous shoots. This means that we must do much summer 

 pruning, and in some cases, we must do less early spring pruning. 



BUD THE UNIT OF PRODUCTION. 



To make this subject clearer, I will introduce in conclusion what 

 will be to most of us a new conception of the cultivated fruit tree. 

 We have been accustomed to regard the fruit tree as the unit of pro- 

 duction in the orchard. But the tree is a composite a*nd intricate 

 organism. It is more just and tends to simplify our conception of 

 the proper methods of treating the orchard to consider the bud as 

 the unit of production. The buds of a fruit tree are in a sense dis- 

 tinct organisms. They are separately born. Each has a definite and 

 distinct life history. Its mission is to grow for a time, to produce 

 other buds by division of itself for the perpetuation of the trees, and 

 finally to flower, to fruit and then to perish. 



From this point of view the fruit tree represents a crop of buds, 

 or, more accurately, two or more crops of dififerent ages. Each sea- 

 son one of these crops of buds finishes its course by flowering and 

 fruiting, and another crop is brought into existence to take the place 

 in due time of the crop that has fulfilled its mission. Now the fruit 

 grower's problem is easily stated. It is to so treat his trees as to 

 have the largest number of buds in condition to fruit to their best 

 capacity each season, and at the same time to bring on other healthy 



