No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 373 



4 bushels of fruit. Tliese trees had been manured during the first 

 two years of their life. The soil is sandy and they have been kej)t 

 cultivated all the time, absolutely clean tillage. The trees bave 

 not been pruned at all. Alongside is a small apple orchard, trees 

 were planted four years ago. Some of the Hubbardston trees had 

 from 75 to 120 apples each, which made a good crop for so young 

 a tree; in fact, it was necessary to thin them two or three times 

 to prevent their over-bearing. While the limbs and tops of these 

 trees may have appeared close, this weight of fruit is giving them 

 the necessary spread, and limbs which would appear too close are 

 now pulled down, so that they do not need to be removed. The 

 permanent trees in this orchard are Baldwin and are the same age. 

 Almost every tree had from 30 to 40 apples on. The results thus 

 far secured by leaving the trees alone are such that we are encour- 

 aged to do less and less pruning. 



The way of pruning is very important. Leave 4 limbs six inches 

 apart on the trunk if you can. We find we can do it. Do not cut 

 the terminal buds off these limbs. Eemember they are the ones 

 which will come into growth first and if removed the tree will 

 probably be all of ten days longer in getting the latent buds into 

 leaf, and tbat ten days cannot be recovered. We must get leaf 

 growth — in order to get root growth. The sooner the tree gets 

 into business after it is planted the better. In some cases when 

 we cannot get the branch where we want it wf^ hiwo yrf f\ '>iul in iha 

 trunk. We have tried yearling buds and some two-year-olds and like 

 the yearlings very well. At the end of four years they seem to 

 be just as far ahead as the two-year-olds. They are very easy to 

 plant. One block of 1,000 were put in this year at the cost of about 

 1| cents each for planting. 



PRUNING OLD TREES 



In the case of trees at the bearing age which have been neglected 

 and allowed to become quite thick, we found it advisable to prune 

 such only during the bearing year. Pruning them late in the season 

 after the blossoms have fallen. In this way we have avoided any 

 tendency of water sprouts. We find we can take much more wood 

 out with safety than if we prune in a year that the tree is not bear- 

 ing, and in the case of all varieties which bear every other year 

 normally, such. as Baldwin, I would rather wait (me year and prune 

 heavily when they are bearing. There is one rule we give in regard 

 to the amount of wood which shall come out of a tree. It is this: 

 1. Remove all dead wood and badly diseased limbs. 2. Eemember 

 that the sun must reach all parts of the tree sometime in the day 

 If it cannot reach a limb, either that limb or some other must come 

 out. Another rule is this: If it is a question of an upper or lower 

 limb; save the lower. 



We have a bearing orchard of about 6^ acres of trees scattered 

 over ten acres. It had been neglected and was about 33 years old. 

 The trees were 33x33 feet apart. They were all touching "and were 

 too thick. The orchard was in sod and Avas rented for pasture for 

 the sum of .f25.00 per year and the most the crop had sold for was 

 175.00, according to the statement of the tenant. I paid the tenant 



