14 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



top "with unsightly non-productive branches. We plant trees enough to give 

 every household in tlie land an ample supply of good fruit, yet, to many, the 

 apple is still a luxury. We say, then, that tlie care of the orchard is the main 

 thing in securing an am])le supply of fruit. 



First, as contributing to increased production, let us speak of a selection of 

 sites for our orchards. A AYarm soil and a southern exposure are often selected 

 for tliis purpose. Tiiis no doubt conduces to a rapid growth of -wood, yet it 

 frequently renders the crop i)recarious. In Micliigan, protected as we are by 

 surrounding lakes, we rarely lose the crop from frost after blossoming, yet of 

 all locations, conducive to this end, situations protected from the north wind, 

 and open to the sun on the soutli, are most liable to this calamitv. 'j'lic warm 

 sun in February or March sometimes swells the buds prematurely, and a cold 

 frost following seals their fate. Besides this, the action of the sun upon the 

 trunk of the tree, in such situations, is very marked. The shaded side of the 

 tree in midwinter remains frozen, while the south side is thoroughly thawed. 

 In summer the north side, protected by the tree itself, remains at tlie minimum 

 temperature, while the south side, under the unobstructed action of the summer 

 sun, experiences a temperature of 120 to 130 degrees. 



This unequal action changes the nature of the sap, and blight and gradual 

 destruction of the exposed side follows. Tiiis difficulty is aggravated by the 

 trunk leaning to the east or the northeast, and by the folly of some orchard- 

 ists who persist in training the tops so high that a span of horses seventeen 

 hands high may draw the plow under the tree without touching branches. We 

 think tiuit this liability to bliglit is increased by training trees with trunks 

 too long, thus exposing more body to the sun and depriving the trunk of the 

 shade of the top. Upon sites having a slight inclination to the north, the pre- 

 maturely warm sun of March, or the heat of midsummer is materially modified, 

 then if pains be taken to secure the erect growth of the tree, or if any inclina- 

 tion of the trunk when small be advised, if it be slightly inclined against the 

 prevailing wind, the sad effect of sunburning upon our orchards may be obviated. 



In a setting of over twenty-five hundred apple trees upon my own premises, 

 I have lost none from sun-blight, exce])t in cases where the trunks were long, 

 or so much inclined to the northeast as to carry the top so far over as to afford 

 no shade to the trunk. There are, of course, objections to training trees too 

 low, yet, all things considered, I incline to the opitiion that the advat\tages of 

 low trees are more numerons than the objections. But our orchards are already 

 set; we have followed the common method of high trunks; we have possibly 

 carelessly permitted the trees to loan to the east. What shall we now do to 

 prevent sun-blight? I submit whether wrapping the trunk with tough paper 

 loosely tied would not afford protection till the top shall be large enough to 

 shade the trunk. Possibly the end could be better attained by standing a 

 piece of board against the trunk of the tree on the southwest side, and fasten- 

 ing the top to the tree by a loose string so tluit tlie wind will not disturb it. 

 In tliis or in some similar way hundreds of valuable trees may bo saved, and 

 thus the i)roductiveness of our orchards increased. Again, the i)rodnetion of 

 fruit can be increased by avoiding that waste of fruit material, now lost in 

 negligent ])runing. 1 have no desire to make tlie saw and the pruning knife 

 the chief figures on tiie coat of arms of the successful orchardist, nor would 

 I have them absent entirely. They l)otli do a good work, but let that also 

 be a timely work. What are the mammoth brushheaps, contiguous to our 

 orchards, but a commentary upon work done, only too late. AViiy waste the 



