484 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a picture of two of our young orchards set out that way and the 

 distance apart to set them will depend on the variety. My trees are 

 about twciity feet apart. 1 wouldn't advise you to grow trees that 

 close, but such as yellow Transparent and \Vagner we i)lant about 

 twenty feet apart. Such small trees will never grow to- 

 gether. A little further apart will, of course, give you more room 

 to cultivate, but in sod; if you are going to let the ground stay bare, 

 then by all means have the trees planted so they shade the ground. 

 If you have the trees set close together they will take out extra 

 moisture. The old orchards down there are trimmed too high. I 

 have seen some you could drive horses up against the trunks. I 

 don't believe in setting trees that have the first limb started three 

 or four feet from the ground. I want the limbs to start out not 

 more than two or three feet from the ground. I don't care if it is 

 only a foot. Such trees will begin to bear younger than if the limbs 

 are up higher. One reason why I prefer to start limbs down there, 

 you don't get the blossoms and the fruit on young wood on apple 

 trees. The older limbs form fruit buds a year or two sooner than 

 new limbs higher up. I don't prune my trees as much as some 

 people for the simple reason that I don't believe it pays me. If I 

 could do it myself, I would do it, but I don't want a man to prune 

 in my orchard who knows nothing about it. I don't do much prun- 

 ing, especially after the trees get to a good age. I believe you will 

 have a better crop of apples than if your tree is pruned out very 

 thin, the frost won't injure the buds as quickly. I have known my 

 trees to have a good crop of apples while my neighbors would have 

 none because we had plenty of limbs and they did not freeze out. 

 It is true that you may have too many apples on these trees when 

 you have so many limbs, but the next best thing is to thin the 

 apples. As the tree grows older you will get those limbs out, or they 

 separate. 



MR. PRICKETT: Are they not in the way at picking time? 



MR. COX: You don't want to get up in the tree, but get up on 

 a ladder to pick. You don't want them so thin that you can climb 

 anywhere. I know my practice don't suit a whole lot of people, but 

 I find by experience that the other people don't do any better. You 

 don't have to follow my advice. What you want to do is to go up 

 in your own head and think out your own proposition and apply 

 the principles that are best adapted to your conditions. I said the 

 trees begin to bear earlier. It is true. You can also spray your 

 trees lots better than if it is a way up and you can thin your fruit 

 lots better and can pick them lots easier and cheaper and are not 

 nearly so apt to have them blown off in a wind. I don't know how 

 true it is, but will give it for what it is worth. Mr. Vergon of 

 Delaware, Ohio, says that he has no borers in his trees with such 

 low heads, as the eggs do not hatch in the shade. 



SPRAYING- 



If you bring these trees up to bearing age, you cannot grow very 

 good apples without spraying. You must spray now. If you are 

 going to spray, you want to know what to spray for. If you have 

 San Jos6 Scale in your orchard you don't want to go in there and 

 spray with a fungicide — arsenate of lead, or something of that kind. 

 We used to have a little San Jos^ Scale in our orchard. Got it 



