Pase 8 



BETTER FRUIT 



January, ipso 



FiGVKE 8. A common type of trunk and lower 

 framework of a Home Beauty tree. 



into their lieaviest fruit production. 

 The Winesap is a vigorous growing tree 

 while young; but, when heavy fruit 

 production begins, the tendency of the 

 tree is to over-bear and lose vigor. This 

 must be corrected by sutOcient pruning 

 to prevent an excessive development of 

 fruit wood and the maintenance of a 

 good supply of young growing shoots. 

 Pruning alone can not secure the best 

 results with this variety; but thinning 

 of the fruit and improvement of soil 

 fertility and tillage must be depended 

 upon to secure the annual production of 

 extra fancy fruit. The Stayman Wine- 

 sap is less inclined to over-bear, but 

 in other respects is very much like the 

 Winesap tree. 



Esopus — The Esopus (Spitzenburg) is 

 difTicult to prune to the best form. The 

 tendency of the tree is to produce long 

 branches and to produce the fruit on 

 short spurs distributed along these 

 larger branches. Young, vigorous grow- 

 ing shoots that are headed back fre- 

 quently fail to produce three or four 

 side branches as desired, but produce 

 one and sometimes two branches which 

 assume the direction of the original 

 branch. Every effort possible is usual- 

 ly necessary to cause this variety to 

 produce sufTicient side branches to 

 carry a good crop of fruit. The variety 

 also has a strong tendency to biennial 

 crop production. Thinning the fruit and 

 careful, regular annual pruning with 

 good cultural care will do the most 

 possible to overcome this unsatisfactory 

 tendency. 



Wagener — The Wagener tree must be 

 treated very much the same as the 

 Spitzenburg in as much as it funda- 

 mentally develops in the same way. 

 Careful thinning of the fruit of this 

 variety is necessary to avoid biennial 



fruiting. Another peculiar characteris- 

 tic often manifest is the tendency of 

 the tree to produce a heavy crop of 

 fruit on two or three large branches 

 while the remaining part of the tree 

 will I-ave very little, if any fruit. Care- 

 ful thinning and regular annual prun- 

 ing will do the most possible to cor- 

 rect this habit. 



Yellow Newtown — This variety often 

 puzzles the grower with its tendency 

 to produce many long slender branches 

 with a strong upward tendency of 



Figure 9. The fruiting branches of a Rome 

 Beauty tree. The enlargements of the branches 

 marked by B are the points at which the fruit 

 was produced last summer. The buds marked 

 A are blossom buds for the next spring's crop. 

 Note the long twig growth beneath each of last 

 season's fruit spurs. 



growth. Careful thinning of the larg- 

 est branches with light heading back 



and encouragement of small side 



branches will produce the best 

 results. 



Wounds. 



Wounds heal by the growth of the 

 adjacent cambium layer and bark, 

 which gradually spreads over the 

 exposed area. The more rapid the 

 growth of the plant in that area, the 

 more rapid the healing. Stubs of 

 branches left by pruning heal slowly 

 because they are usually removed 

 from the line of travel of the sap 

 which feeds the new developing 

 tissue. Not only the fresh cut wound 

 that is exposed must be healed, but 

 the entire stub should usually be 

 considered as the area to be healed 

 in the growing process. This makes 

 it doubly important to prune care- 

 fully in removing large branches 

 and to make the cut as close as 

 possible and almost parallel to the 

 main branch or trunk. 



Wounds made in the process of 

 cutting away diseased parts of trees 

 should always be disinfected, and 

 for this purpose there is nothing 



better than a 1 to 1000 solution of corro- 

 sive sublimate (mercuric chloride). It is 

 now prepared in tablets, one of which 

 dissolved in a pint of warm water, 

 gives the desired solution. Grafting 

 wax and similar preparations are often 

 used on stubs left by removing 

 branches but this material is of doubt- 

 ful value. The use of common white 

 lead paint is growing more in favor 

 and seems under the greatest range 

 of conditions to produce most uniform- 

 ly satisfactory results. The practical 

 value of any dressing for wounds lies 

 in the extent to which it disinfects the 

 wound without injury to the tissue, 

 and prevents excessive drying. 



Broken Trees. 



Branches broken by an overload of 

 fruit or by a storm can seldom be re- 

 paired with good results. Small 

 branches that do not leave large enough 

 open spaces in the trees to be a serious 

 loss should be cut back to side branches 

 or to a parent branch. The neighboring 

 branches will, if permitted, soon fill 

 such spaces. Large branches, when 

 broken should be cut off smooth with 

 a saw and the following winter top 

 grafted. If the work is well done the 

 open space left will be filled in two 

 or three years by the new wood. This 

 form of renewal can very often be 

 quite satisfactorily used and reduces 

 the loss from such breakage to the min- 

 imum. 



Large branches that are split from 

 the trunk of mature trees can often be 

 lifted back to their original position 

 and fastened there with a bolt through 

 the base. Guy wires should then be 

 attached to the branches higher up to 

 help hold the load. The bolt used 

 should have no larger head than is posi- 

 tively necessary to hold the weight and 

 should be sunk into the wood. This 

 will enable the wood to heal over 



Figure 10. Base and framework of a Gaiio tree. This 



shows a type of framework that is common, but the 



individual tree has too short a trunk to be 



satisfactory. 



