No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 371 



vious were grafted in the spring in tlie limbs, and we secured about 

 80 per cent, stand of the grafts put in. At the time of budding 

 we had a small epidemic of tire blight. The nurseryman had con- 

 tracted to change the tops of the trees as I desired, therefore, he 

 had to do the budding and grafting; and although, 1 told his man 

 I did not want him to try to bud any trees which showed fire blight, 

 he would ])ersist in taking the chance of putting a bud in and going 

 several inches below the seat of infection. In most of such instances 

 he managed to get the knife covered with the bacteria fiom the 

 diseased tree and he would inoculate the succeeding ten trees; and, 

 since we were putting in four buds, one on each side of the tree 

 we had four seats of infection. The weather was favorable for its 

 rapid growth and there was nothing left but to condemn the trees. 

 Out of some 8,000 trees 2,800 showed fire blight that fall. In my 

 judgment it was better to remove them and burn them than to try 

 and clean it up; so we took them all out the next spring; and I 

 requested the nurseryman to send me trees to replace them, which 

 he did. 



In this case, however, we adopted another policy: We were able 

 to plant the trees the last of March, and in April beginning even 

 before there were signs of growth, we sawed the tops otf at the 

 height of IS inches from the ground and put in a graft. I may 

 mention that these trees were f-inch two-year-old buds. Generally 

 speaking, we had a very good stand and these grafts would make 

 a growth of from 2| feet to 4 feet that season ; and, if it was neces- 

 sary to do any more top-working, I would prefer to do this in 

 [•reference to any other. Personally, I would rather grow the trees 

 from individuals and take the time, rather than try to top work. 

 T think I can get a better head and save much trouble afterwards ; 

 for it is necessary to go over all these trees carefully, even today, 

 to make sure that shoots are not coming out of the stock, and all 

 of this difficulty is avoided when the trunk is the same as the top. 



PLANTING 



In i)lanting we usually prune the roots as little as possible, merely 

 remove any injured roots. Prune the tops after it is set. We 

 dig as small a hole as Ave can and put the roots in, and insist on the 

 soil being well packed round them; this is the most important 

 thing in planting. Take a tamper along and make sure that no 

 roots are left out of contact with soil. If the tree has four limbs 

 we do not touch it. I would not on any account cut back the ends 

 of the branches. If it has five or six limbs I would take one or two 

 off', leaving three or four. If it is possible, we like to space these 

 limbs six inches apart, so that if the lowest begins at 18 inches from 

 the ground the highest would be nearly 3 feet. In the case of va- 

 rieties which tend to droop as E. I. Greening, I have left a few 

 trees with a leader for experimental jturposes, but in the bulk of 

 the cases we have merely the four limbs. 



I understand from others that it is going to be more difficult 

 to handle these trees successfully than it would be if the leader were 

 left. We shall know more about this matter later. 



