Fruits and Culture. 373 



Deep rooted trees do not respond as quickh' to fertilizers, but on 

 the other hand they do not make known a want as quickly. There 

 are always a sufficient number of small roots to take in the food or 

 water, and the fact that there are none of these upon which the tree 

 largely depends will be a guarantee that year in and year out the deep 

 root system is best. The experiment is well worth trying. — Orange 

 Judd Farmer. 



ORCHARD METHODS. 



Prof. John Craig of Cornell University told of his observations 

 on orcharding in western New York. Quality of fruit should be 

 sought rather than quantity. If the grower . has only Ben Davis 

 apples and Kiefifer pears he may not.be successful. Orchards in west- 

 ern New York are paying in just such proportion as the grower puts 

 energy and intelligence into his work. The great problems to be 

 carefully studied out by fruit-growers are pruning, spraying, and 

 tillage. A mistake is made in pruning heavily at long intervals. 

 The grower waits until the foliage is dense and limbs intertwining; 

 then he goes at it vigorously, with result that the tree is thrown out of 

 its normal balance.^ The whole system of constitution has been so dis- 

 arranged that it takes several years to bring the tree back to normal 

 condition. Annual or biennial pruning is to be recommended. Spray- 

 ing trees while in bloom is dangerous and entirely unnecessary. 

 When the tree is bearing heavily it might not prove disasterous, but 

 the bees working on the blossoms are likely to be killed. 



Eleven years ago, the tilled orchard was an exception in western 

 New York ; to-day, it is the untilled one. Cultivate the orchard part 

 of season, and then sow a crop that will return some of the fertility 

 taken from the soil. During a dry season, tillage should go on much 

 longer. In a wet season, trees do not need so much moisture. — Coun- 

 try Gentleman. 



RENOVATING OLD APPLE TREES. 



(By Professor L. R. Taft, President of Horticultural Department Mich- 

 igan State Agricultural College.) 



The work needed for the renovating of most of these orchards can 

 be grouped under four heads, cultivation, pruning, manuring and spray- 

 ing. 



