854 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Annual applications of good barnyard manure at the rate of 20 loads per acre are 

 advised. Where barnyard manure is not availaljle an application of 400 lbs. each of 

 ground bone, acid phosphate and muriate of potash per acre is recommended for full 

 bearing orchards. The varieties Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Northern Spy, 

 Ben Davis, and Fameuse are especially recommended for market purposes. Where 

 an orchard is made up of a large number of varieties it is recommended that these 

 should be grafted over with 3 or 4 of the better sorts. 



Apple growing on grassy hillsides {Rural Neiv Yorker, 60 {1901), No. 2702, 

 pp. 753, 754). — An account is given of the successful culture of apples on hillsides 

 near Syracuse, N. Y. The trees are grown in sod and no cultivation given. With 

 this method of treatment 11-year-old trees were found bearing 15 to 18 bu. of fruit, 

 and apple trees bearing paying crops at 6 years from setting. The first 10 years the 

 trees are mulched with the hay cut lietween and around the trees; after that the 

 grass is allowed to lie where cut. The trees are headed low, 18 to 24 in. from the 

 ground. No pruning is practiced. The advantages of this method of culture are 

 briefly summed up as follows: Early bearing, easy picking, easy spraying, easy to 

 fumigate if necessary, high color, annual crops on young trees, a short fall for the 

 fruit upon a mulch, almost all windfalls salable as picked apples, less labor and 

 attention. 



Plum culture, F. A. Waugh {Vermont Sta. Bui. S9, pp. 19-28, figs. .5).— In this 

 bulletin the author has summarized his extensive investigations with plums as applied 

 to the cultural practices, varieties, etc., best suited for Vermont. Prai^tically all por- 

 tions of the State are suited to plum culture. Strong 1-year-old trees are satisfactory, 

 but 2-year-old trees are generally advised, especially of Domesticas and Damsons. 

 Spring setting is generally recommended, and trees should be set 15 ft. apart each 

 way, with the exception of Burbank, which should have 20 ft. or more. When the 

 trees come from the nursery the loose and broken roots should be cut off, the top 

 pruned to a straight whip, and the whij) cut back to a height of 2 or 3 ft. The first 

 year 4 to .6 of the side branches, which come out and are well distributed around the 

 trunk, are preserved, while the remainder are removed. The tips of these branches 

 are cut back late in August or the first of September to stop growth and harden them 

 up. All water sprouts are removed. The second spring the l^ranches should be cut 

 back to a length of 6 to 18 in., the pruning being closest with the weaker trees. 

 From 1 to 3 new branches are allowed to grow on each primary branch. The third 

 year the trees should bear a moderate crop. The orchard should be thoroughly cul- 

 tivated byjilowiug the soil between the trees every spring and keeping it thoroughly 

 cultivated until the middle of summer and then sowing to some cover crop or allowing 

 weeds to grow. A moderate amount of barnyard manure should be appliccl every 

 other year, and wood ashes used on soils deficient in lime. The work of the station 

 has shown that it is a1)solutely essential, in order to secure good crops of plums, to 

 mix 2 or 3 varieties in the orchard. Most plums are self-sterile to their own pollen, 

 and in order to secure pollination of the blossoms and a set of fruit this mixing of 

 varieties is necessary. Black knot should be cut out of the orchard as soon as it 

 appears. Brown rot or ripe rot of the fruit can be controlled by spraying. For 

 shipment to distant markets the 6-basket carrier is recommended. For market pur- 

 poses Burbank, Abundance, Red June, Lombard, Bradshaw, and Chabot are recom- 

 mended for planting in the Champlain and lower Connecticut valleys. For the 

 colder portions of the State Stoddard, Hawkeye, Smith, De Soto, American Eagle, 

 Cheney, and Surprise are recommended. 



Prunes and prune culture in Western Europe, with special reference to 

 existing conditions in the Pacific Northwest, E. R. Lake ( U. >V. DepL Agr., Divi- 

 sion of Pomology Bui. 10, jrp. 23, ph. 70).— Some 50,000 acres of prune orchards are 

 now under cultivation in the States of Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. About 20 

 per cent of the trees belong to the Agen (California, Petite, or French) variety, while 

 the remainder are largely Italian prunes. 



