342 State Horticultural Society. 



League. Let's pledge ourselves to call for apples in some form when- 

 ever we eat a meal at a public table. Organize our friends, and see if we 

 can't get millions of people to keep calling for apples ! Demand them 

 either raw, baked, or in sauce, pudding or pie. If the proprietor doesn't 

 serve them, tell him he i^ a back number — '"or words to that effect." Make 

 the heaviest run on raw apples, for that will encourage the use of the best 

 varieties. Just make yourself an agent for the advancement of American 

 apples. — From Rural ISTew Yorker. 



SHAPIXG OF ORCHAED TREES. 



1. There is considerable difference of opinion among good orchard- 

 ists as to high or low heading of trees, says H. E. Van Deman, in "Rural 

 ISTew World." The most favor low heads, especially for the western 

 states. While many good orchards are headed four and more feet high in 

 Pennsylvania and farther east, there are many very good ones that are 

 not so. The general tendency among the best fruit growers is towards 

 lower heads in all sections. ISTo rule can be laid down as to any specific 

 height at which to head all varieties of any one species, much less a com- 

 mon rule for all species, because there are such different styles of gi'owth. 

 I like an apple tree to start its head from two to three feet from the 

 ground, and to send out its branches one after another on all sides of a 

 central stem as far up as they may be induced to do so. This divides the 

 strain caused by future crops. A jSTorthern Spy tree, which is of upright 

 habit, should not be allowed to begin to branch as high as a Winesap or a 

 Rhode Island Greening, which are of spreading habit. It may be nec- 

 essary, in many cases, to head in some of the lowest branches, as their 

 tips are bent to or nearly to the ground in future years. But this is much 

 better than to have the tree too high. 



The main reason aiven bv most of those who contend for hiffh 

 heads is that they may plough right up to the trunks. This I do not 

 wish to do after the first few years, for there is no benefit in doing it. 

 The feeding roots are not there, and the brace roots should not be dis- 

 turbed. Xo weeds of consequence can grow under the shade of a well- 

 branched tree. A wide cultivator will reach well under the limbs anv- 



