jpi6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page p 



bugs, or at least make it (listastel'iil for 

 them. At any event tlie Vednlia did 

 not control this insect and it was nec- 

 essary to devise some means of arti- 

 ficial control. .Spraying with oil emul- 

 sions and using crude oil as higli as 

 35 to 40 gallons per 20U-gallon tank 

 failed to control this insect, and the 

 pears were sticky and smutty by pick- 

 ing lime, due to the work. Experi- 

 ments last year showed that a miscible 

 oil, used about 12 gallons per 2(l(l-gallon 

 tank in combination with several gal- 

 lons of cresol soap (extra) to increase 

 the welting power and penetration, 

 controlled tliis insect admiiably and 

 succeeded in killing most all of the 

 eggs. In aildition to this the treatment 

 stimulated the trees very materially, 

 and they came out in bloom ten or 

 fourteen days ahead of unsprayed 

 trees, and set a much heavier crop. 

 Laundry soap applications in combi- 

 nation with home-made distillate-oil 

 emulsion killed the scale cjuile readily, 

 but the friiil buds also, and was al)an- 

 doned by the owner of the orchard in 

 favor of the miscible oil and cresol- 

 soap combination. This condjination. 

 or one such as miscible oil in combi- 

 nation with liciuid whale-oil soap, 

 could pr(il)al)ly lie adjusted and used 

 to advantage in the Northwest for fall 

 applications of the Woolly Aphis, and 

 also for Scale insects where great wet- 

 ting power and penetration is de- 

 sirable without increasing the oil con- 

 tent very malerially. In fact the oil 

 content can be cut down below normal 

 for these fall applications after the 

 extra soap is added. 



Lime - sulphur solution and Black 

 Leaf 40 have been used to advantage 

 in the Northwest and elsewhere for 

 scale, fungus and aphis. Wilson, in 

 "Biennial Crop I'est and Horticulture 

 Report" for 1913, reconunends coml)i- 

 nation of lime sulphur 1-10, plus Hlack 

 Leaf 40, 1-000, just after the fruit 

 buds open to destroy the Aphis stem 

 mothers. This also has the advantage 

 of being a scalecide. 



It is often necessary to know what 

 mixtures do not combine. Never mix 



I'lf.l'RK '>i — The sjinie tree shown In l''i);urc S3 iUU'r pinnins. Pinning has 



CDnsistfd mainly in llif removal of de.nil branches and dead fruit spurs and 



a rall'ur severe thinning out of the reniiiining live ones 



lime-sulphur solution with boi'detiux, 

 nor use lime-sulphur solution with any 

 oil emulsion. In the latter case oil 

 emulsion is broken down by the action 

 of the lime, which forms a ctdcium 

 soap and free oil results, which will 

 cause injury. Neither is it possible to 

 mix lime sulphur, oil emulsion and 

 arsenate of lead together. Never mix 

 home-made lime sulphur and stdt with 

 arsenate of lead, but the connneicial 

 lime-sulphur solution can be and is 



used quite extensively with the lead. 

 .Sometimes, however, an improperly 

 bahinced lead containing free arsenic 

 will form a black precipitate (lead 

 sulphide) when mixeil with the lime- 

 sulphur solution. Tri-i)hmd(ic arsenate 

 of lead docs not cause this to so great 

 an extent as Ihe sttmdard lead. Black 

 Leaf 40 can be used with a good bor- 

 deaux mixture, but do not combine 

 free nicotine such as Nicofiime 40 with 

 bordeaux. 



Pruning the Bearing Prune Tree 



By Professor V. R. Gardner, Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis 

 [Note— Illustrations 4a to i>2, inclusive, in connection with this article appeared in the February edititm of "Better Fruit.". 



UNTIL the prune tree reaches bear- 

 ing age there seems to be very 

 little need for training oi- i)iim- 

 ing it in a way dillerent from thtit com- 

 monly employed with the apple or pear. 

 The aim in each case is to develop 

 {piickly a good, strong frtimework to 

 .support the fruiting wood and the fruit 

 crops of lider yeais. When the lime 

 comes, however, to bring Ihe tree into 

 bearing lis i)runing should be some- 

 what dillVrent from thai of Ihe 

 pomaceous fruits, foi- it has .a fiiiiling 

 habit that is (|iiile disliiut from theirs. 



How the Fruit-Spurs of the Prune Are 

 Formed 



In order to explain why certtiin 

 pruning iirticlices are desirtible with 

 the prune, il is ncccss;ir> Unit there 



first be a correct understanding of its 

 fruiting habits. Accordingly at this 

 point it will be well to consider how 

 and where the fruit-spurs of the prune 

 tree are formed. A well-grown jjrune 

 tree four or live years old will have, 

 before lis winter pruning, from ten to 

 twenty-five or thirty strong, vigorous 

 shoots of the past season's growth. 

 These will vary in length from eight or 

 ten to fifty or sixty inches. Some 

 spring from three or four-year-old 

 wood, or even from the niain triuik. 

 Most of them, however, spring from 

 last year's branches. As a ride trees 

 of the iigc indicated i)ossess more 

 shoots than il seems desirtible to re- 

 tain, ;ind it is generally considered 

 good iiraclice to remove some of them. 

 We will assume that this is done ;iml 



that, in accordance with Ihe common 

 praclicc, most of those that are to re- 

 mtiiii are headed back moderately. 

 When growth begins in the spring the 

 terminal buds of all the unheaded 

 shoots are almost certain to start to 

 vegcttite and from them are produced 

 new shoots, thus incretising Ihe sijread 

 ;iml height of Ihe tree. In the case of 

 Ihe hetuled shoots, usiialh' several of 

 Ihe lateral buds netn- the end start to 

 develop new shoots that increase the 

 height iinil si)rc;i(l of Ihe tree in the 

 same way ;is shoots from terminal buds. 

 But il is not only termiiuil Iniiis and a 

 few lalertil buds near Ihe upper end of 

 last year's shoots thai start in the 

 spring. .\ great main of the lateral 

 buds slarl. Ihougli generally it is only a 

 few of the more favorahlx idaceil ones 



