No. 1. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 555 



lie said, ''I put it up that way because I lost a piece of pipe when 

 I crossed the river, and had to put it up that way or not at all." 

 That is just the way with the orchard; theory and practice do not 

 always agree. I was glad to hear the report of that Professor — by 

 the way 3'ou have so many professors here that I am beginning to 

 wonder whether you have any real, everyday practical men — I mean 

 orchardists — that he had from ditlereut sections of the state, show- 

 ing a tendency to thin out the apples, when half grown, just as we 

 do peaches and plums to secure better fruit. That shows decided 

 progress over five or ten years ago. But we must be making 

 progress all the time. We are spreading out more in all orchard 

 matters, and we must keep up with our progress by improved 

 methods in every branch of our work. 



Here comes the question, how^ shall we get the heads of the old 

 trees down where we can properly spray and thin the fruit? That 

 is the question, how to cut the old high headed trees down so we 

 can get at them and how to spray so as to get the best results. Mat- 

 ters of this kind were not discussed ten years ago, but we will have 

 to do it from now on, and we will do it. Most of the old trees stand 

 twenty, thirty, forty feet in the air, and at least one-half the top 

 must come oil". A few of the nurserymen are beginning to adopt the 

 method of lower headed nursery trees, following the hints from the 

 growers who will have them. If you cannot get the lower headed 

 trees from your nurserymen, get yearling whips, and make your head 

 where you want it. "We cannot any longer ail'ord to climb ladders 

 to get our fruit. For the outside of the tree a short ladder may be 

 used, but the best way is to trj^ and grow our orchards so low 

 headed that we can do away with ladders altogether. I have in 

 Georgia considerable of a peach orchard; it covers a thousand acres, 

 and we sometimes gather more than two hundred carloads in five 

 weeks, and nary a step-ladder, or any other kind of a ladder have we 

 used in that orchard, and I don't propose to use any in my orchard 

 in Connecticut. 



Then comes pruning. The gentleman this afternoon spoke of 

 turning up the roots of the trees, by plowing, but made a discrim- 

 ination between the peach and the apple. That is just the point; 

 there must be some discrimination between pruning and the old 

 promiscuous slashing, once in four or five years will not do for the 

 modern orchard. A little bit at a time, is the way to prune. There 

 is no hard and fast rule, but the way that will let the sunlight and 

 air in is the best way. I use a good many Italians on nay place in 

 Connecticut. They are natural tree pruners, and once I give them 

 an idea of what is wanted I get good results. 



The question of culture comes next. Now, the question is a very 

 important one, whether culture of the mind of the orchardist, or the 

 land in which his orchard is planted. We want thorough prepara- 

 tion before jjlanting. We must not only have good top plowing, 

 but we must have a sub-soiling if it is anythingexcept gravelly or 

 light sand. We w^ant as thorough preparation of land for the new 

 orchard as we want for the garden, and when the trees are once 

 growing, we want thorough cultivation early in the spring of each 

 and every year. That is where we often fall down. Most farmers 

 have so much else to do in the spring that the orchard must often 



