September, 1910 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



20 = 



ter grade of fruit. Poor, slack pack- 

 ing lias done more to hurt the grape 

 market than any other cause. We need 

 more of the golden rule principle put 

 into effect if we expect to realize the 

 maximum profits from our fruit. Hon- 

 esty is the best principle always. 



The car lots are handled by individ- 

 uals, associations or grape companies. 



Many cash buyers buy direct from the 

 f, rower and sell in car lots. Large com- 

 panies and associations have represen- 

 tatives in all the large cities who look 

 after the business. Very few grapes are 

 consigned. Grapes picked in trays for 

 wine or unfcrmented grape juice are de- 

 livered from the vineyard to the car or 

 wineries. 



The Vase Method of Training Fruit Trees 



W. J. L. Hamilton, South Salt Spring, B. C. 



To train fruit trees to the vase form, 

 treatment must be commenced directly 

 the trees are planted in their stations. 

 I state this advisedly for, in my opinion, 

 no orchardist should plant any but year- 

 ling trees, which, once planted, should 

 be cut off close to a bud, at about 30 

 inches above the ground. 



.Set out in the fail (on the British Col- 

 umbia coast) and pruned as above, once 

 growth commences a number of shoots 

 \yill start from the buds up the stem. 



About five of these should be selected, 

 .so placed as to form an evenly balanced 

 head, the lowest of them some fifteen 

 inches above the soil, and the top one if 

 possible the top bud. .At any rate the 

 tree top should be cut off immediately 

 above the top shoot selected, if the high- 

 est bud is unsuitably placed. 



OU Frait Tree Partly Reaewed 



.Ml other shoots should be rubbed off. 

 This is all that can be done till the next 

 season, when about one-third of the 

 growth of these side shoots should be 

 cut back — always to a bud. 



During the following summer this top 

 bud left on the shoot should be permitted 

 to grow and another suitable bud, situ- 

 ated nearer the main .stem on each shoot, 

 should also be allowed its full scope. 

 This will give us ten shoots in all, which, 

 being trained properly at equal distances 



all around the tree, will form the frame- 

 work on which the fruit bearing spurs 

 will be formed. 



All other buds should be permitted to 

 grow to say six or seven buds during 

 the summer, and, whilst the shoot is still 

 green and tender, it should be nipped 

 off close to the fourth bud. This, check- 

 ing growth, tends to produce fruit bear- 

 ing spurs. 



Each sea.son after this, the ten main 

 branches should, in the winter, be cut 

 back, leaving about two thirds of the 

 season's groAvth, and in each case the 

 terminal bud lelt should, next summer, 

 be permitted full growth, whilst all 

 others should be pinched back to the 

 fourth bud. 



By this method the ten main branches 

 will be closely set all along their length 

 with clusters of fruit bearing spurs, and 

 all redundant growth of shoots, wher- 

 ever it occurs, should be checked. 

 Otherwise, it will both shade the fruit, 

 and -SO prevent its full coloring, and will 

 also spoil the form of the tree. This 

 applies to the coast. Further inland 

 more freedom of growth of the side 

 shoots is admissible where the sun is so 

 strong as otherwise to cook the fruit. 

 Whilst young the tree can be tied into the 

 cup or vase shajx; by means of tarred 

 cord such as "Marlin." 



W'"hen the growth has attained sulli- 

 cient proportions a galv.inixed screw eye 

 should be inserted into each of the ten 

 branches at ten feet from the ground, 

 and a No.- 13 galvanized wire should be 

 fastened, one to each eye, the free ends 

 all meeting in the centre of the tree 

 where they all fasten into a galvanized 

 ring, thus all supporting one another. 

 Ihis prevents the snow or wind or weight 

 of\ fruit breaking down the tree. 



All fruit that cannot be reached from 

 the ground can be picked from a plank 

 passed through the centre of the "cup" 

 of branches, just above the wire sup- 

 ports, each end of the board resting on 

 a step ladder or trestle to carry its 

 weight. If the tree had a centrnl stem 

 this would be impossible and tiie sun 

 would not have the same free access to 

 the fruit to color it. Al.'^o the tree would 

 not be so easily sprayed, nor would the 

 fruit be so cheaply thinned or gathered, 

 while the repeated use of the necessary 

 ladder would inevitably damage the; tree. 



A Renewed Peach Orchard 



A. G. Pettit, Grimtbj, Out. 



Old peach orchards can be success- 

 fully renewed by cutting off the lops and 

 allowing new growth to take its place. 

 One good limb or two small ones should 

 be left for the first year in order that a 

 crop may be secured from the trees dur- 

 ing the period of renovation. The other 

 limbs should be cut off to mere stubs of 

 four or fi\e feet in length from the main 

 trunk. 



A few years ago, when I started in to 

 renovate an old peach orchard, my neigh- 

 bors thought that I was working its 

 ruin. The trees had become much too 

 thick in the tops and had been planted 



Old Fruit T/ee, Wholly Renewed 



too closely for the character of the .soil 

 on v»hich they were to grow. They had 

 been planted 17 and 18 feet apart, where- 

 :is in real good soil, they should be at 

 least 20 feet or better still 24 feet apart. 



Every other tree was dealt with the 

 first year. The next year, the others 

 were subjected to the treatment. By 

 practising the process of renovation in 

 this way, one scarcely notices the differ- 

 ence in the yield since the large limb, 

 or if it be two small limbs, having al- 

 most the full benefit of the root system 

 of the tree, will produce largely of fruit 

 of extra fine quality. The second year, 

 the new growth will bear a crop, thus 

 the cropping is continuous. 



My old orchard renovated in this way, 

 is to-day as good a producer as my other 

 orchards, the crop being both in quality 

 and quantity as good as that produced on 

 four or five-year-old trees. 



The peach trees may be renovated in 

 the manner indicated at any time of the 

 year that it is most convenient. I did 

 the work in late winter and early spring, 

 which perhaps is the most favorable time. 



