LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 457 



the side to resist the principal winds. A barrel stave set up south of the 

 tree will serve a good purpose to protect the trunk, when young, from the 

 sun. 



The head should be formed pyramidally, with a straight central leader 

 and branches on all sides. Prune so as to correct any bad tendency of the 

 variety to be too spreading or too upright. 



Some years two-thirds or even nine-tenths of the apple crop is infested 

 with the codling moth or apple worm, which makes it unfit for anything 

 but hog-feed. 



Now this may be almost wholly prevented by spraying the trees at the 

 time of the fall of the blossom or within a week thereafter with London 

 purple or Paris green stirred in water. (Full directions as to how this 

 should be done will be found in bulletin No. 53 on an earlier page in this 

 volume, H. G. R.) This spraying kills enough other insects to pay for it 

 beside the codling moth. 



In gathering the fruit, treat it like a crop of eggs. Eemember that bruis- 

 ing spoils it. Before packing for market sort carefully into first and second 

 grade and culls, rejecting from the first grade all fruit that has any imper- 

 fection. 



Mr. Stowell : Is not one pound of Paris green to 160 gallons of water too 

 much? 



Prof. Taf t : No, but one pound to 200 gallons is enough. 



Mr. Friend : In setting different varieties it is better to put trees of a 

 kind in blocks together rather than to string them out in long rows sand- 

 wiched among rows of other varieties. 



Does not spraying with Paris green kill the bees? 



Prof. Taft: If so it can be avoided by postponing the spraying till after 

 the blossoms have fallen. 



Mr. Johnson: Do not wood ashes harden the soil? 



Prof. Taft : A light soil, yes ; heavy soils, not. Apply the ashes in the 

 spring broadcast every year or two in a bearing orchard or in a young one if 

 the trees show too slow a growth. 



Mr. Wachs: Is salt a good application? 



Prof. Taft: Chloride of potassium at $2 per cwt. is better. 



Mr. English : What is the difference between a 10-inch and 42-inch hole 

 in setting out trees? 



Prof. Taft : In the small hole the tree will grow very little. For most 

 nursery trees a two-foot hole is big enough. Solution of copperas is a good 

 protection against fungus and scab. 



Mr. Haw: How much would you prune back in the spring, trees that had 

 been heeled in in the fall? 



Prof. Taft: It depends on the tree and the condition of the roots. Make 

 roots and top proportionate to one another. Peaches I trim to a single 

 switch at setting, and head back one-third every second year; this thins the 

 crop. Pears only prune enough for shape. The less the better. 



Mr. Haw: Is pruning trees when they are frozen bad? 



Prof. Taft : It is generally thought so. They heal over best when cut in 

 June. Grapes I prune any time after the leaves fall till March or April, 

 whenever there is no frost in the wood. 



Mr. Johnson: Is land slanting one foot in five rods too flat for orchards 

 ;in the matter of drainage? 



