128 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Oregon fruit is not the results of sticking in a tree and tlien sitting 

 back and watching the tree bear. The fine fruit is not the result of 

 such. It is not an accident. It is the result, though, of carefully- 

 planned orchard practice — a carefully followed plan which orchardists 

 know they must follow if they are to have fruit which will be accepted 

 as No. 1 fruit, a working knowledge of such things as the trees them- 

 selves, the insect pests, fungus diseases, pruning, spraying, harvest- 

 ing, etc. 



Possibly many people believe that there is nothing to do as con- 

 cerns an orchard after the planting until that orchard is in bearing, 

 and I believe that that is too often the practice. The Northwest 

 orchard's care and treatment starts from the planting of the trees and 

 goes through a careful course of treatment the ^est of its life. And, 

 of course, too, the common methods of handling differs from condi- 

 tions here from the first. Oregon orchardists, believe, and in believ- 

 ing, practice as well, that the one year old whips are the best kind of 

 stock to use in planting. We will say there are three advantages. 



1st. That of cost. 



2nd. The orchardist starting with e. one-year-old whip, can 

 prune as he will, and so produce the shape tree he desires. 



3rd. An older tree received a more serious shock when trans- 

 planted and so would not be ahead of a yearling whip. You can per- 

 haps give weighty reasons as to why one-year-old whipe should not be 

 used here. 



Continuing with the handling of these trees and first consider 

 pruning. An unpruned tree tends to go to terminal growth, throw- 

 ing out comparatively few laterals. Long continued terminal growth 

 results in long, slender, weak branches. Good up-to-date orchardists 

 of the Northwest, are of that opinion, and prune severely the fir.st 

 three or four years, in order to thicken up the growth and gain a 

 stronger tree. He prunes yearly and when his tree comes into bear- 

 ing, it also has the desired shape. Then the type of pruning changes 

 and he prunes for fruit and to keep his tree within bounds. A high 

 tree is not a desirable tree from the westerner's point of view. A 

 twenty foot orchard tree is a high tree in Oregon. Also figures show 

 that if the trees exceed that height, the cost of pruning, spraying and 

 harvesting increases very materially. I might add to that the open 

 center tree has been the favorite type of the Pacific Coast. Some are 

 now going towards a modification between that type and a leader 

 type however. 



Also young trees receive their spraying, not for coddling moth, 

 but for aphis, slugs and other pests which would strip the foliage and 

 injure them. And on the mature trees it continuesf — a careful, sys- 

 tematic method in order to control the coddling moth, scale, scab, 

 anthracnose and others. I am firmly of the opinion that the North- 

 west states must wage a more careful war against pests than must this 

 section. Climatic conditions, I believe, are more favorable for them 



