THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 35. JULY, 1907. No. 7. 



THE APPLE ORCHARD IN JULY AND AUGUST. 



R. A. SCHUTZ, LEROY. 



There is no time during the life of an apple tree that its strength 

 and vitality is taxed so much as in July and August, and if the 

 apple tree is not properly cared for up to this time these two months 

 will prey upon its strength and weaken it to such an extent that it 

 will become subject to blight, sunscald or other fungous diseases 

 so prevalent at that season of the year ; and then if the tree fails 

 to live through the winter it is said that it was winter-killed, which 

 is often a mistaken idea. We often have a continued drouth during 

 these months, and if the apple trees have not been properly culti- 

 vated or mulched the trees will become so exhausted that they will 

 fall an easy prey to a severe winter, and then the obituary will read, 

 "winter-killed" — a mistaken idea ! 



Now there is no known cure for winter-killing or blight — but 

 a; preventive is better than a cure, and the best Known preventive 

 is to place the tree in the best physical condition possible. How 

 can this be done? In the first place, if the trees be young they 

 should be thoroughly cultivated, as we cultivate a good crop of corn, 

 and bring to the surface a dust blanket to assist the capillary action 

 of the soil and bring the moisture to the surface, and thus water and 

 feed the roots, and promote the health and growth of the trees. But 

 should the orchard be in bearing, which taxes the trees to their 

 utmost, then the trees should be properly mulched, not only around 

 the trunk of the trees, but from one tree to another, thus enriching 

 the soil and feeding the tree through all of its roots. 



I will now give you my experience on mulching and trimming 

 apple trees, even from early spring, to assist them during the crisis 

 of July and August. • A number of years ago, before I had learned 

 to grow my own trees, I bought 350 apple trees, two-year-old trees. 

 The nurseryman of whom I bought the trees instructed me to 

 plant the trees twelve feet apart, in rows running north and south, 

 and the rows twenty feet apart. I should trim them very little but 

 let them, grow as nature had designed. Thus the trees would shade 



