ORCHARD HEATING. 181 



replacing the balance of the soil. If the ground is extremely dry it 

 would be advisable to fill the holes with water a few hours before plant- 

 ing, allowing it to soak away before the trees are set. 



FORMING THE HEADS AND PRUNING. 



The young trees should be well formed, straight and clean, of good 

 size for tbe age, and of good shape for the variety. Allowance must be 

 made, however, for the variety. Varieties like the Northwest Greening 

 and Ben Davis make larger and more symmetrical trees at the same age 

 than Duchess, Genet, and some others. The variety habit of the tree 

 should be kept in mind, judging its quality. Slender and crooked trunks 

 and stunted or unhealthy trees should never be planted. Two or three- 

 year-old stock is best for planting. The mistake of setting large trees — 

 three, four, or five years old — is often made. Such trees suffer more from 

 transplanting and the heads already formed are as a rule not desirable. 



Usually mare than half of the original root system is left in the nur- 

 sery row .when trees are dug, and the tops must be pruned back to corre- 

 spond, or the tree will not be balanced. In order to save the life of the 

 tree, if the spring is at all dry, this pruning must be done, as a small 

 part of the original root system cannot supply the whole top with mois- 

 ture and plant food. The pruning back of the top should be as severe, 

 if not more so, than the root pruning in digging, since the roots must be- 

 come adjusted to their new quarters before their activities begin, while 

 the tops experience no great difference in this respect. Pruning to shape 

 the head as desired is important at this time. The mistake of starting 

 the head with too many limbs is very common. For most varieties not 

 more than five limbs, well distributed, are sufficient. A whorl of limbs 

 on a small tree may not appear objectionable at this time, but when 

 those limbs have grown to six inches or- more in diameter the mistake 

 IS apparent. The tree should be headed low and the limbs should be 

 well distributed, no two coming out opposite or nearly opposite each 

 other. 



ORCHARD HEATING. 



C. G. Marshall. 



Many commercial orchardists in all parts of the country are asking 

 if it really pays to equip orchards with artificial heating devices. Al- 

 most every Nebraska grower would say that it did not pay to heat last 

 spring (1911). The writer is interested in an eastern Nebraska orchard 

 that is equipped with modern oil burning orchard heaters which were in 

 operation a part of one night last spring. Until picking time we were of 

 the opinion that no good came from it, as trees outside the heated area in 

 our orchard set fruit and almost every apple tree in eastern Nebraska 

 that put out blossoms set and matured fruit. At harvest time, however, 

 the effects of the artificial heat were certainly apparent in this orchard. 



