146 Report of State Board of Horticulture. 



spring. The warm winter temperature, together with the rainfall, 

 results in a set of conditions quite suitable for the growth of many 

 hardy plants. Under the same conditions biological and chemical changes 

 in the soll are setting free much soluble plant food material. This 

 material, if not used by active plants on the ground, will be wasted 

 very largely by surface washing or leaching through the drainage 

 System. An active crop saves this waste; puts it in such form as can 

 be more readily used by the trees when they become active in the 

 spring. And thus, while saving what would otherwise be lost to the 

 soll tiller, the cover crop performs a preliminary or preparatory work 

 for the trees, getting ready for their use early in the spring a quantity 

 of predigested breakfast food, as it were. And, as with the human, 

 the more substantial the breakfast the better the start in the season's 

 work. 



While the list of plants that may be grown for cover purposes is 

 quite long, each locality and each grower will find that local conditions 

 and personal requirements will render some more suitable than others 

 for his purpose. So far as reports have been made the vetch — Vida 

 sativa — appears to give the best results in Western Oregon. 



PRUNING. 



" Pruning is commonly resorted to only for the purpose of increasing 

 the vigor of feeble trees, or to regulate or improve the form of healthy 

 and luxuriant trees." — Downing. 



" The course to follov/ in pruning will depend upon which of the 

 two leading objects, vigor of growth or fruitfulness, is in view. Pruning 

 at one scason will produce one result, while pruning at another will 

 yield a different result, hence prune in winter for wood and summer 

 for fruit." — Warder. 



" Bad pruning of the apple is disposed to give an alternate produc- 

 tion of fruit." — Passy. 



Pruning and training should go band in band in orchard making. 

 To prune is to remove surplus or undesirable wood; to train is to 

 evolve an ideal or cori-ect form as a result of the pruning, but it should 

 be remembered that the form will vary not only with the several kinds 

 of trees but also with the different varieties of the same kind, as is 

 well illustrated, for example, by the Northern Spy and Grimes Golden. 

 The pruner must have the ideal form in mind and then prune accord- 

 ingly. A brief discussion of the philosophy of tree growth may serve 

 to aid the beginner in getting a better idea of how to proceed in the 

 work of pruning. In the first place it must be kept well in mind 

 that the tree is a Community Organization. Each bud is measurably 

 independent — ^it is an individual. Every individual is struggling to 

 make the most of its opportunities. Every bud that is enabled to 

 develop into a branch becomes an important factor in the plant's 

 cconomy, and its importance will depend upon the magnitude of its 

 growth, and this depends very largely upon position and period of 

 formation. Every tree is endowed with an Impulse to grow upward 

 and outward. This Impulse is governed very largely by the influences 

 surrounding the tree as light, heat, moisture, wind, food supplies, and 

 roorn. One of the chief influences determining the form of the top 

 is light. Every bud, every shoot, every branch, for its best develop- 

 ment, needs ample light, other conditions being favorable, that bud 

 or branch that has the best light relation will make the best growth. 

 The best light relation normally is to be found about the top and 

 outside of the tree's head. As a result of this better light relation 

 growth begins earlier in the spring and continues later in the fall. The 

 terminal buds are the last to go into the resting stage; the lateral 



