FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



29 



discharged throngli the nozzle. The efiScacy of the spray as a fungicide 

 is not materially lessened thereby. 



Spraying is an insurance. The man who succeeds, is the man who 

 sprays every year. He insures his crop against the possibility of destruc- 

 tion by insect and disease. He strengthens his trees, so that they are 

 more resistant of disease. In the average of years his work pays. Buy 

 a good pump, make Bordeaux mixture properly, apply it in time, apply 

 it thoroughly, and you are profitably insured. 



The priming qucslion. — This problem does not touch you as closely 



Fig. 2. Picking and Grading Apples in the Orchard. 



and perhaps is not as important in this State as it is in the older fruit- 

 growing regions. As trees grow older, the necessity for pruning is 

 driven home more clearly. We usually realize, in the case of the matur- 

 ing orchard, that our pruning efforts should have been commenced many 

 years ago. Ordinarily the trees are neglected for a number of years, 

 and then pruned all too vigorously, with disastrous results. The 

 branches of the tree top become accustomed to partial shade, just as 

 an entire tree becomes accustomed in the forest to shady conditions. 

 If the tree top is suddenly opened up by a too severe pruning, it suffers 

 from sun scald just in the same way that the protected forest tree suf- 

 fers when its companions are cut down. Pruning should begin with the 

 setting of the tree, and be continued annually. In this way no very 

 heavy pruning is necessary in one season. The heavier pruning should 

 be done during the dormant period. Trees may be revitalized consider- 

 ably by heavy pruning back. As they grow old, vital energy leaves the 

 branches and they die, If these dead, or dying, branches are left on the 

 tree, they absorb in some degree the vigor of the organism. They should 



