iThe Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXIII 



APRIL, 1910 



No. 4 



Small Fruits in the Young Orchard 



I 



WHAT would you do with four acres 

 of land if you wanted to engage 

 in fruit raising? It is such a 

 question as this that one is frequently 

 called upon to answer. Speaking to a 

 recent enquirer my reply was: "I would 

 plant it out in young apple trees and be- 

 tween the rows would grow small 

 fruits." This answer would, of course, 

 not be applicable in every case, as the 

 question of climate, soil, markets and 

 like conditions must be taken into con- 

 sideration. But speaking from the ex- 

 perience gained during the past six years 

 in developing an orchard in the Clarkson 

 district, this would be my answer. 



In giving this opinion I would at the 

 same time sound a note of warning; viz., 

 that while the growing of small fruits 

 in my orchard has been carried on suc- 

 cessfully and profitably, it is impossible 

 to say yet how far the future life of the 

 fruit trees has been impaired by this pro- 

 ess. In other words, while the ground 

 crop has proved a success time onlv will 

 show whether the main point aimed at — 

 the developing of an orchard — could not 

 have been better secured by ?ome other 

 practice. 



For the purpose of bringing this sub- 

 ject before you in a practical way, let 

 us take as an illustration one of the four- 

 acre orchards on my farm. This was 

 planted out in standard apple trees with 

 fillers of cherries, plums, pears and 

 peaches in the spring of 1904; the apple 

 trees were set out in rows forty feet 

 apart in a field that had been in clover 

 the previous year. In 1905, one-third of 

 the land was laid out in strawberries and 

 raspberries, and the remainder in a hoe 

 crop. In igo6, an additional area was 

 added to the strawberry and raspberry 

 plantation. The same practice was fol- 

 lowed in the year 1907. By that time, 

 therefore, the entire four -acres either was 

 bearing a small crop of fruit or was 

 planted in readiness for the subsequent 

 years. I estimate that the hex- crop pro- 

 duced from the land in these years was 

 sulFicient to pay for the cu'tivation. 



The fruit gave me a gross selling val- 

 ue as follows: For 1906, $282.68; for 

 '907. ^393-.'?o; for 1908, $1018.90; for 

 1909, $1336.64 — a total of $3031.52. 



•A pappr read at the last convention of the 

 Ontario Fruit Growers' Association. See illus- 

 tration on next page. 



L. A. Hamilton, Lorne Park, Ontario 



From this deduct for commission, ex- 

 press and cartage, twenty per cent., 

 $606; picking, $420; packages, $175; 

 fertilizers, $160; plants, $50; trees, $50; 

 planting, $20 — a total expense of $1481. 

 This leaves a profit of $1550.52. I have 

 already said that I put the value of the 

 vegetables grown as a set off against 

 cost of cultivation. 



With one exception, viz., that I spray 

 the strawberries \v :fh Bordeaux mixture. 



Elevates and Instructs 



Editor, The C.-^nadian Horti- 

 ciLTURiST. — Whilst your paper 

 gives most valuable and practical 

 articles on all branches of horti- 

 culture, I wish to congratulate 

 you especially on being the pio- 

 neer Canadian paper to attempt 

 to elevate the national character 

 by instructing the populace on the 

 aesthetics of garden work. I al- 

 lude to your articles on ornamental 

 and decorative gardening gener- 

 ally. "The boy is father of the 

 man," and if the boy of the pre- 

 sent generation is brought up 

 amongst refined surroundings, 

 and induced to take an interest in 

 them, however far he may stray 

 from these ideals in his youth, so 

 surely as he gets his own home, 

 will his early training return, and 

 thus be [jerpetuated in the gener- 

 ations to come. — W. J. L. Ham- 

 ilton, South Salt Spring, B. C. 



I have followed the general practice of 

 growers in my district. The strawlx;r- 

 ries are heavily mulched with straw man- 

 ure for a winter covering, and two crops 

 are invariably gathered before the plants 

 are plowed up. The second crop on the 

 strawberry bed in this orchard yielded 

 this year over 12,000 boxes from an acre 

 and a half. They were as fine a sample 

 as I have ever grown. I consider the 

 second crop more profitable than the 

 first. 



In the meantime, how have the apple 

 trees fared? They have made a strong 

 growth, the loss from all causes not ex- 

 ceeding ten per cent. This year, in ad- 

 dition to a crop of cherries, pears and 

 plums on the fillers, two of the apple 

 trees, an Ontario and a Duchess, fruited 



81 



for the first time, giving, although few 

 in number, perfect samples. I have been 

 told that the growing of raspberries in 

 an orchard is not considered good prac- 

 tice. I have nothing as yet to show that 

 they have been injurious to the young 

 trees. Seven Spy apple trees were 

 left standing after I put the pruning axe 

 to the old orchard. These trees yielded 

 twelve barrels of wormy apples in the 

 year before the raspberries were planted ; 

 whereas, this year after living in the 

 company of raspberry bushes for five 

 years they gave me fifty barrels of sound 

 apples, while the raspberries backed them 

 up by adding 6000 boxes to the crop. 

 This convinces me that apples and rasp- 

 berries will feed off the same p'ate pro- 

 vided the food is there. 



To sum up briefly the accounts show 

 that by the practice of growing small 

 fruits in the young orchard I have reared 

 an orchard to the bearing point 

 without costing anything and have a 

 handsome profit of over $1500 to its 

 credit from the ground crop of small 

 fruits. 



Pruning Raspberries 



Charlei F. Sprotf, Barnabj Lake, B. C. 



In the winter following the planting 

 of a raspberry plantation, if the plants 

 have grown well, one has to decide what 

 system is to be adopted for holding up 

 the canes that are to fruit the following 

 year. One way is to stake each plant. 

 If this is done by putting the stake in 

 between the plants and bending each 

 plant over to a stake the fruiting canes 

 are not mixed up with the suckers. 



The best and most economical way of 

 holding the suckers and fruiting canes 

 in place is by a wire trellis system. Ev- 

 ery twenty-five feet drive a post in the 

 centre of the row and stretch tightly a 

 wire (heavy baling wire will do) on each 

 side of the post from end to end, stapling 

 it about four feet from the ground. Tie 

 the canes not more than three together 

 to the wires, bending them over slightly 

 so that the fruiting canes are away frorti 

 the new canes, and cut the tops of the 

 raspberries off about five or six feet from 

 the ground. Do not leave more than six 

 of the strongest canes to a root. Some 

 growers recommend this bending over 

 of the tips of the raspberry in an arch — 



