REPORTS OF LOCAL SOCIETIES. 385 



The feeding roots are at the small ends of the roots, more than at 

 the large ends near the tree, and are always near the surface, there- 

 fore whatever fertilizer is applied should be spread evenly over the sur- 

 face, and left but a few inches under it, then the feeding roots will 

 easily reach it. 



An unproductive orchard may be made fruitful by making one 

 clean cut through the bark once around each tree when in blossom or 

 by wrapping the trunk with wire, letting it cut through the bark ; this 

 course will not injure the trees, but will check the growth so that the 

 tree will perfect the fruit buds for the next year. The operation may 

 need to be repeated, if the soil is rich and the trees thrifty, every two 

 or three years until a fruitful habit is formed. By this process the 

 growth of the trees will be reduced to the fruit standard, and all the 

 roots will remain in a healthy condition to perfect any crop of fruit set. 



PRUNING. 



In pruning it is better to cut only small limbs, and if it is done reg- 

 ularly it will not be hard to keep the tree in good shape. Cut out the 

 water sprouts and scrape the trunk with a three cornered scraper, 

 using the point to get all the old bark out of the forks of the main 

 branches. In some of the rapid growing varieties the wood grows 

 over the old bark, and the tree does not make a perfect joint and when 

 heavily loaded with fruit it is apt to split off and thus ruin the tree. 

 The trees should be washed in the spring with a thin wash made of 

 «oft soap and lime, and if a piece of rusty iron is left in the wash for a 

 few days it will be the better for the tree and also make the borer hunt 

 another tree, as iron is distasteful to him. 



The codling moth is one of the greatest enemies of the apple or- 

 chard. By hanging a basin tilled with a little sweetened water in the 

 trees about dusk, a great many of them may be captured ; a little vin- 

 egar should be added, as it is the ripe apple or cider smell that attracts 

 the moths to their liquid graves. The time for commencing this will de- 

 pend on the season, somewhere from the first to the middle of May, 

 and it should be continued until July, when the first brood of moths 

 will have been captured. By hanging out a basin as a tester about the 

 time the moths a.re expected, their arrival can be exactly determined. 

 As everyone knows the codling moth is the mother of the apple worm. 

 She flies abroad only at night, when she visits one branch after another, 

 depositing a little egg in the blow end of the apple, and as soon as her 

 stock is exhausted she dies. The eggs soon hatch and the worm eats 



H. R. — 25 



