The Apple in Oregon : Part II. 137 



will be farmed to renew the crop the following year. The seed, after lying 

 dormant during the summer and being thoroughly mixed with the soil through 

 the tillage operations, will germinate with the first fall rains and one year 

 with another the plant makes a good stand before cold weather sets in. 



With a small orchard, and on a soil moderately supplied with humus and 

 nitrogen, vetches for silage purposes might be grown with a double effect. By 

 cutting the crop about the first of May, putting it in the silo and plowing 

 under the stubble the double benefits of a cover crop and a forage crop might 

 be obtained three years out of five in Western Oregon. Some seasons of mod- 

 erate rainfall a drawback to this practice would be encountered in the excessive 

 dryness of the surface soil induced by the growing cover crop. This condition 

 would render plowing and pulverizing the soil more difficult and expensive. In 

 such instances the whole crop could be turned under while the soil is still 

 mellow. 



For early spring pasturage or for humus, other plants may be used, as 

 •wheat, winter oats, rye and kale. Even though the soil may not need the humus 

 of a cover crop, such a crop on the soil during the resting period of the trees 

 is an advantage to the orchard and the orchardist. A crop growing on the 

 soil during our warm, wet winters, gathers for its use a ' quantity of food 

 material that otherwise would escape through the leaching or surface washing. 

 This crop can be pastured in the early spring months and such pasturage would 

 be net gain less the cost of putting in the crop. Orchard lands that are suf- 

 ficiently supplied with humus and as well drained as they should be for such 

 purposes, would in no wise suffer by being pastured with sheep or swine during 

 the early spring months. Other stock is liable to do more or less damage to 

 the tops of the trees, especially in the young orchard, and accordingly shoudi 

 not be allowed in the orchard. Care must be exercised in pasturing young orchards 

 with sheep or swine, for in the event of shortage of the food crop, they will attack 

 the trees and may do much damage by girdling. 



PRUNING. 



■'Pruning is commonly resorted to only for the purpose of increasing the vigor 

 of feeble trees, or to regulate or improve the form of healthy and luxuriant 

 trees." — Doicning. 



"The course to follow in pruning will depend upon which of the two lead- 

 ing objects, vigor of growth or fruitfulness, is in view. Pruning at one season 

 will produce one result, while pruning at another will yield a different result, 

 hence prune in winter for wood and summer for fruit." — Warder. 



Bad pruning of the apple is disposed to give an alternate production of 

 fruit." — Passy. (See Figs. 20 anu 21.) 



Pruning and training should go hand in hand in orchard-making. To prune 

 is to remove surplus or undesirable wood ; to train is to evolve an ideal or 

 correct form as a result of the pruning, but it should be remembered that 

 the form will vary not only with the several kinds of trees but also with the 

 different varieties of the same kind, as is well illustrated, for example, by the 

 Northern Spy and Grimes Golden. The pruner must have the ideal form in mind 

 and then prune accordingly. A brief discussion of the philosophy of tree growth 

 may serve to aid the beginner in getting a better idea of how to proceed in the 

 work of pruning. In the first place it must be kept well in mind that the tree 

 is a community organization. Each bud is measurably independent — it is an 

 individual. Every individual is struggling to make the most of its opportunities. 

 Every bud that is enabled to develop into a branch becomes an important factor 

 in the plant's economy, and its importance will depend upon the magnitude of 

 its growth, and this depends very largely upon position and period of formai- 

 tion. Every tree is endowed with an impulse to grow upward and outward. 

 This impulse is governed very largely by the influences surrounding the tree as 

 light, heat, moisture, wind, food supplies and room. One of the chief influences 

 determining the form of the top is light. Every bud, every shoot, every branch, 



