Miscellaneous. 3o0 



WHAT IS A WELL-RIPENED TREE? SHOULD THE LEAVES 



FALL EARLY? 



Oh, dear, here I am up against another snag! I have told you. 

 before, about that block of plum trees which have not had any culti- 

 vation for two years, liow thrifty they are, etc. Well, I notice they are 

 not ripening up their wood properly. They have most of their summer 

 clothes on yet (Nov. i6), while those immediately next to them of the 

 same variety, which have been cultivated have ripened their wood, thrown 

 off their leaves and behaved themselves properly. I know it is not a good 

 sign when trees hold their leaves very late; however, it may come out 

 all right with my uncultivated trees, but I assure you I do not like their 

 behavior; I watch the result with considerable interest. 



W. H. Skillman. 



We think that Mr. Skillman is borrowing trouble about those trees. 

 Our observation is that the leaves hang longer where the ground is 

 mulched than when thorough cultivation is given. W^e are unable to 

 explain why this is so, but with us it seems to be a fact. We like to 

 have leaves hang to the trees as long as possible. The fact that they 

 hang in this way does not prove that the tree is making new wood. It 

 is the surest way for the tree to ripen. Let's see what others say : 



WHAT J. H. HALE SAYS. 



When I first began raspberry growing years ago, the old chaps used 

 to talk about canes maturing early, so as to be hardy and pull through 

 the winter all right, but I soon discovered, especially among the tendei 

 red varieties, that where great damage was done by freezing in the 

 winter it was usually worse on those early-matured canes. The only 

 real live fresh ones I could find in the spring that were sound clear to 

 the tip, were the latest to develop and those that had held their foliage 

 up to freezing time in November. Later observation of trees of all 

 kinds makes me always suspicious of the early dropping of foliage. I 

 like to see trees of all kinds hold their foliage late in the fall. I know 

 it means a m'ore vigorous and healthy wood and abundant strong fruit 

 buds that are less likely to winterkill. Now I do not mean by this that 

 I want to give orchards late fall culture and make new wood very late, 

 for this, of course, means tender wood that is sure to be injured by 

 the winter's freezing. Vigorous growth should cease in this latitude 

 in August or early September, but trees that are vigorous and free from 



