FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT. 25 



or two year old peach, plum or apple. In ibis way, we get our orchard 

 planted with the minimum of expense and maximum of results. 



(A Voice — I suppose that means pruned!) 



Every tree should be root-pruned. I like to prune from the bottom 

 of the root and not from the top. I like to use a knife and not a pair 

 of shears. Wherever the root is cut it puts out a lot of new roots. 

 If we were to take up a tree which had been planted for several 

 months it would be found to have put out a bunch of new rootlets. If 

 the roots are cut from the bottom the new roots will start from the 

 •bottom and grow down. If they are cut from the top they are on the 

 surface where it is liable to be dry and instead of being where they 

 can have moisture and go down in the earth, they are liable to dry 

 up. Every mutilated and broken root should be removed or cut back 

 to the injury. Top-prune the trees after they are planted and not be- 

 fore. We can do a much better job after the trees are planted than 

 before and with not very much more work-indeed not any more. You 

 have the tree standing in the place in which is going to stand and 

 you can trim it accordingly. In planting a peach that has been budded 

 I always put the buds all one way. Where they start out there is 

 a curve and put that curve so that the top will point to the west, that 

 will make it look nicer, more uniform. That does not hold true of 

 apple trees and some other trees but it does of the peach. If the trees 

 are not too large, in planting the peach we trim to a switch and then 

 cut the switch off. If very large trees it is not always safe to do that 

 because they may not grow, without spurs left on the branches leaving 

 a bud on the branch so that they will start from there. 



If the trees are large, leave some spurs with buds; if small, cut to 

 a switch and then cut it off. We grow our trees too high as a rule. 

 I had rather have trees two feet instead of three. What I have said 

 applies more particularly to the peach. Apple, pear, plum and cherry, 

 we do not cut back to the switch, but leave eight inches of the top 

 on the tree. Where Ave get one-year sprouts w T e can work it differently. 

 We can trim to a switch; but on ordinary two-year old nursery stock, 

 we must leave some of the old top on. Of course, what I have been 

 saying here is mere A B C of tree planting and is doubtless of the 

 slightest interest to those who are in the habit of growing trees, be- 

 cause you know all about it. It was supposed that this talk was for 

 the beginner, and I have been talking with that idea in view. 



When you get the trees planted, they should be cultivated very 

 thoroughly up to the first of August. I like a corn crop in a young- 

 orchard the best of any crop I know of. It protects them from strong- 

 winds and does not take from the soil. Potatoes would be the last thing 

 1 would grow in a young orchard. 



A Member — "Do you have an novel way of draining the land?" 



Answer — "Ordinarily we would not plant on land that needed much 

 draining. I do not know of any way to prepare wet pieces of land for 

 an orchard. Possibly it can be done, but I do not know just how. The 

 only method of draining an orchard is by under draining. Sometimes 

 we have an orchard that is a little wet in one corner and we take 

 chances on that and put in tiles. However, about the only way is to 

 take a team and scraper and fill up these low places. I have never 



