84 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE PLUM AND CHERRY ORCHARD DURING MARCH 



AND APRIL. 



DEWAIN COOK, JEFFERS. 



This article will be devoted mostly to the plum orchard, as the 

 writer knows but little about the cherry except that most varieties 

 which we have tried have failed to produce fruit in paying quan- 

 tities. 



The trees in most of our plum orchards have been planted too 

 near together, and must have a freer circulation of air for the health 

 of the orchard and more sunlight for the perfection of the fruit. 



The person who grows plums after what he might call "nature's 

 way," that is, the thicket form with, perhaps, forest trees growing 

 near by that shade the plum trees and sap the ground about them, 

 must be content to gather only nature's fruit, that is, wild fruit. 

 The fine, large fruit that will satisfy the housewife of the present 

 day and finds a ready sale lipon our markets is largely the product 

 of civilization. We must cultivate, we must prune, we must 

 manure and mulch, and also fight insects and fungous diseases. 



Along the latter part of March or the fore part of April, we 

 start in to prune ; if the orchard is young we use a heavy pruning 

 knife, but if the orchard has been in bearing for several seasons we 

 use a light, short handled, sharp ax. Branches that are inclined to 

 assume a horizontal position are the first ones taken out, because 

 they are usually more or less in the way when working among the 

 trees. Where we find two branches crossing each other to their 

 mutual injury, one of them is taken out. Then we go on the inside 

 of the top, cutting out all weak and partly dead branches, preferring 

 one strong limb to two or three weak ones. Now if the pruning 

 has previously been somewhat neglected there will still be left a 

 large number of dead spores on the lower part of the large branches. 

 To take these off with the pruning knife is a tedious job, but they 

 are quickly taken off with the short handled ax. This completes the 

 pruning. 



We always carry a sharp jack knife when in the orchard, and 

 when we seen signs of borers working in the trees we use the knife 

 and out come the borers. March and April are as good months 

 as any to do this work in. 



It is also a good time to haul stable manure and mulch the or- 

 chard, putting on enough to kill any sod that may be formed, but 

 no more, as there is some danger in mulching heavily at this time, 

 for if the roots of the trees are encased in ice at the time they are 

 in bloom the result is pretty certain to be the loss of that season's 

 crop. 



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