Page 24 



BETTER FRUIT 



July 



FRUIT CLEANER 

 AND GRADER 



The machine that puts the profit into the fruit business. 

 For descriptive matter and testimonials address 



OREGON FRUIT CLEANER CO., THE DALLES, OREJ.S.A. 



The Setting and Dropping of Fruit 



[Cir 



ONE of the (liscouragciiu'iils in fruit 

 growing is tlie uncerlainly wliicli 

 attends tlie formation and devel- 

 opment of fruit buds. Failure to set 

 fruit, even though the trees bear an 

 abundance of blossoms, the diopiiing of 

 immature fruits, the biennial bearing 

 habit of certain apples, and unfavorable 

 weather at blooming time are common 

 and seemingly unpreventable draw- 

 backs to profitable fruit growing. The 

 biblical injunction "to dig about and 

 dung the trees" may be obeyed both 

 literally and figuratively, and yet the 

 trees may fail to blossom, or to set a 

 crop, or the fruit drops, or wind, rain, 

 cold or frost may destroy the embry- 

 onic fruits. Indeed, seemingly, the bet- 

 ter the culture, the greater llie retro- 

 gression in sexual reproduction, and 

 the forces set in motion by the culti- 

 vator in no way nullify the elTects of 

 bad weather. Roughly, these problems 

 fall under two heads: First, those hav- 

 ing to do with the formation of fruit 

 buds; second, those having to do with 

 the development of the buds. 



Can the fruit growei- influence the 

 formation of buds? Though he cannot 

 wholly control the formation of buds, 

 he can at least greatly influence their 

 formation. We may lay down as the 

 first principle having to do with the 

 formation of fruit buds one founded on 



•cular of New York Agricultural Experiment Sta 



the experience of fruit growers with 

 practically every fruit: that plants de- 

 velop fruit buds only where there is a 

 store of food materials in twigs and 

 branches. Another statement to much 

 the same effect is that plants will not 

 form fruit buds when the food material 

 is being largely used in the production 

 of new wood and new leaves. Many 

 facts and horticultural practices sub- 

 stantiate the statements just made. 

 Thus, trees unduly luxuriant in growth 

 do not set fruit; plants without sufli- 

 cient food for both wood and fruit 

 bearing do not as a rule produce fruit; 

 in warm, damp climates trees and vines 

 grow to great size and with much foli- 

 age, but bear little or no fruit; pruning, 

 which is favorable to wood growth, is 

 antagonistic to fruit pro(kiction. Plants 

 that are producing too much wood and 

 foliage and too little fruit may be sub- 

 jected to several treatments to induce 

 them to l)ear fruit. 



Regulation of the water supply some- 

 times induces the formation of fruit 

 buds. In the irrigated regions of the 

 West vegetative growth may be stoi)ped 

 by withhohhng w;der and the setting of 

 fruit buds (bus i)e niateriall\ influenced. 

 It is a nudter of common observation 

 everywhere that a dry season is more 

 conducive to the formation of fruit buds 

 for the ensuing season's crop than a 



tion] 



wet one. The water supply in unirri- 

 gated regions may be regulated only 

 through drainage, but fortunateh drain- 

 age may often lie made an im|)ortant 

 means of inducing early fruit fulness 

 and a fruit-bearing habit. Other things 

 being equal, trees on wet, sodden soils 

 do not bear fruit earh in life and do 

 not set fruit regularly and in proper 

 quantities. Under such conditions there 

 is insufficient food for either wood or 

 fruit pioduction. The remedy is ob- 

 vious and the subject needs no further 

 discussion. 



Much can be done in securing the 

 proper foriuation of fruit buds by giv- 

 ing the trees an ainuidance of light. 

 The outside row in an orchard, where 

 the trees have most light, usually bears 

 the tuost fruit. It is true that these 

 isolated trees have more food and mois- 

 ture as well as more light, and because 

 of these two factors, also, many buds 

 set. Yet light must be coimted as im- 

 portant, and is to be secured by projjcr 

 si)acing and by developing open-headed, 

 well-i)riine(l tiees. 



The food supi)ly has much to do with 

 the formation of fruit buds, and prob- 

 ably the most rational procedure imder 

 average orchard conditions to induce 

 fruit l)earing is to regulate the supidy 

 of food. With the widely varying con- 

 ditions of different orchards, this is not 



