June ipip 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 5 



antiseptic dressings on the wounds. 

 Corrosive sublimate, used at the 

 strength of one part of corrosive sub- 

 limate (Bichloride of Mercury) to one 

 thousand parts of water, is as good as 

 any material that can be used. Paint- 

 ing with thick white lead paint also 

 gives good results. Thin paints usually 

 result in injury by killing back the 

 tissue around the edge of the wound. 



Broken Trees. 



Every possible precaution should be 

 exercised to prevent the stone-fruit 

 trees being broken or split by an over- 

 load of fruit or by storms. Badly split 

 or broken branches can seldom be 

 brought back into place and so secured 

 that growth and fruit production will 

 continue satisfactorily. Badly broken 

 branches can often be cut back, as in 

 dehorning. These quickly renew their 

 part of the top with watersprouts, 

 which will soon become normal fruit- 

 ing wood. 



The only form of support that is used 

 with success is the individual prop for 



Figure 1. 



each large limb. Proper thinning will 

 reduce to a minimum the number of 

 props that are necessary and usually 



enables the tree to carry its load un- 

 aided. 



Bleeding Wounds. 

 The accumulation of gum on the 

 trunk and large branches is the result 

 of bleeding, which is usually caused by 

 mechanical injuries, breaking the bark, 

 winter injury, insects or disease; or by 

 a combination of two or more of these 

 conditions existing at the same time. 

 The most common treatment is to re- 

 move the cause of trouble and cut back 

 the injured area to sound wood and 

 bark and disinfect the wound. 



Top Working. 

 The buds are cut, usually after mid- 

 summer, from well-matured twigs, not 

 more than one-fourth inch in diameter 

 and twigs measuring three-sixteenths of 

 an inch are better. If the leaves are 

 still attached the blade should be cut 

 off as soon as the twig is cut. The leaf 

 stem serves as a handle for the bud 

 during the operation of setting it. The 

 buds are cut by placing the edge of the 



Continued on page 11. 



Large Cut in Pruning the Cherry Tree 



By Elihu Bowles, Prosser, Washington 



IT has been about ten years since I four years ago did I do more 

 began making cuts in cherry trees than experiment on half-dead 

 larger than could be made with the trees. Now I make it a very 

 pruning shears, but not until three or prominent feature of the prun- 

 ing work. I am, how- 

 ever, still observing 

 effects, good and bad, 

 and am ready at any 

 time to abandon the 

 practice when results 

 demand it. It may be 

 wise to consider it yet 

 in the experimental 

 stage, but so far the 

 results are very satis- 

 factory. 



A few weeks ago I 

 had a telephone call 

 from a man wanting 

 to know how to prune 

 his cherry trees, which 

 had grown too tall to 

 be profitable. A part 

 of the conversation ran 

 like this: 



"Do vou cut the big 

 limbs? 



"Yes; cut what you 

 don't want. 



"Three or four 

 inches? 



"Yes; six or eight. 



"Six or eight? 



"Yes; six or eight. 



"Well, how old are 

 your trees? 



"Fourteen." 



The receiver shortly 

 banged. It seemed that 

 the man had decided lie had no 

 time to waste with a member 

 of the Ananias Club — one who 

 could cut a six or eight-inch 

 limb from a fourteen-year-old 

 tree. Well, I felt like Geoigc 

 Washington, but was a little 

 curious to know if my estimate 



1 IiaRJ, 1- Si 



tree in cher 

 ington, ^^ns 



low inn liow tall, 

 y orcliard of M. 

 removed without 



upj ii.;li( l>r;uii.h in it'iitiT of 

 E. Bowles at I'rosser, Wash- 

 injuring the life of the tree. 



FioiBF. 2 — Thirtecn-ycar-old cherry tree in Mr. Bowles' 



orcliard on wiiidi two very licavy cuts were made to remove 



superfluous wood and eliminate the "starved center." 



was high; as I had never made a meas- 

 urement. 1 afterwards measured a few 

 cuts of these diameters in inches: 7.8, 

 7.5, 7.6, 7.2, 7. 



About nine years ago I cut down a 

 tree I tliought was entirely dead. The 

 next spring a shoot sprang from the 

 stump — now it is a thrifty, well-formed 



