234 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Question — If you had an orchard in hearing, of course it would 

 be forming fruit buds for the next year while the present crop is on 

 the trees. Now, would it do to irrigate that orchard after the apples 

 reach the size they would be at the time the fruit buds are forming for 

 the next year? 



Mr. Wilcox — By irrigating an orchard after the apples are half- 

 grown you can increase the actual size of the fruit fully one-fourth, 

 and that is the very period at which the fruit buds are forming for 

 the next year. That rule will apply to all kinds of fruit. Strawber- 

 ries during the fruiting period should be irrigated at least every other 

 day. We irrigate one day and pick the next. Another thing, you 

 not only increase the size of the fruit, but you increase the yield of the 

 tree. We never have an "off" year; our trees bear year in and year 

 out. The trouble is we ruin our trees by growing too many apples 

 on them. 



Question — Would you irrigate after the fruit was picked and the 

 leaves had dropped so as to put the trees into good condition for winter? 



Mr. Wilcox — Yes, sir; we irrigate in November. 



Question — In this country would it be likely to bring the trees 

 forward too early in the spring to have the ground saturated in No- 

 vember? 



Mr. Wilcox — No, sir. 



Question — It would do no harm to irrigate now, would it ? 



Mr. Wilcox — It would be all right to go out to-day and irrigate. 



Mr. Hartley — About what is your average annual evaporation? 



Mr, Wilcox — We lose one-third of our water from evaporation. 



Mr. Fort — In northern Indiana this year if I saw one barrel of 

 apples lying under the trees I saw 10,000. The apples were nearly 

 ripened, but it kept getting drier and drier until the trees were com- 

 pelled to drop their fruit. Do you have any trouble of that kind in 

 your country, Mr. Wilcox? 



Mr. Wilcox — The apples never fall for us; no, sir. In regard to 

 retarding the blossoms by means of moisture, I want to say that there 

 is nothing in that theory whatever. We have made thorough demon- 

 strations in western Colorado, where we piled up ice two feet deep for 

 six or eight feet all around a tree and then mulched it to keep it 

 frozen, and I tell you there wasn't fifteen minutes difference in the 

 blossoming of those trees. [Laughter.] 



