376 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Prof. Beach: There are differences among varieties that 

 way, just as we find among strawberries. Ordinarily the straw- 

 berry forms its fruit bud so as to have strawberries in June, 

 but we have so-called everbearing variations that will give us 

 fruit in August, September and October. Then, too, the same 

 variety acts differently in different seasons. After a prolonged 

 period of summer drought some kinds of fruit trees will blossom 

 after fall rains come. 



Mr. Hawkins: Is it injurious to cut apple limbs as large 

 as one to two inches in diameter late in the fall, or this time of 

 the year, and does it pay at all to trim old orchards? 



Prof Beach: Perhaps I ought not to try to answer that 

 question because there are Minnesota men who know Minnesota 

 conditions that can answer it better. I should say that I would 

 prefer not to do heavy pruning of that kind until after the 

 severities of winter are past, because there is danger of climatic 

 injury to the exposed tissues. As to whether or not it is better 

 to prune the old orchard trees, I would either prune them or 

 blow them out, I wouldn't leave them as they are. 



Mr. Kellogg: How do you account for the heavy fruit in 

 that experiment orchard year after year? Orchards generally 

 bear themselves to death in one year. 



Prof. Beach : I might say the trees haven't been overloaded 

 generally/ We have given the tree an opportunity to make fruit 

 buds every year ; that is to say, we have kept the foliage healthy, 

 and we have tried to make the soil conditions satisfactory, main- 

 tain fertility and keep a good, constant supply of moisture for the 

 roots. In other words, we have given the tree a chance to make 

 fruit buds every year and at the same time to carry a crop of 

 fruit every year. 



Mr. Drew: In regard to tiling, I had a notion to remove 

 some tiling that passed by some cottonwoods, and when we took 

 the tile up we found that it was filled full of roots. 



Prof. Beach: Roots of cottonwoods, elms and willows will 

 go a good ways to get a drink. Apple roots don't go so far. I 

 think there is little danger of apple roots filling the tile unless 

 there is a constant flow of water. Where you have tile taking 

 off the surface water only, that is, only the ordinary run-off, 

 probably there will be no difficulty of that kind. 



Mrs. Franklin: I would like to ask a question. A neigh- 

 bor's apple tree just came into bearing last summer, and when 

 that intense hot weather came on the leaves all dried and fell 

 off, as did also the fruit. Do you think there is any danger of 

 that injuring that tree for future fruitage? There were quite 

 a number of trees that were affected similarly. These were 

 affected the worst, and the leaves just shriveled right up; the 

 trees looked like they do in the middle of winter, without a sign 

 of life. 



Prof. Beach: How old was the tree? 



