THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



to have fruit spurs start at the trunk of the 

 tree, taking whatever is removed from the 

 outside of the tree so that the sunHght can 

 get in to the fruit. Never do more prun- 

 ing than is necessary. Rather have an or- 

 chard not pruned at all than prune it too 

 severely. With little or no pruning the 

 tree will usually load heavily, and with the 

 application of fertilizers the fruit will come 

 to a fair size or a size that will carry to a 

 foreign market in good order. Heavy 

 pruning, on the other hand, forces the tree 

 into too much wood growth and very little 

 fruit of a large size that will not carry to 

 market in as good condition as medium- 

 sized fruit. 



PICKING THK FRUIT. 



Apples are much easier gathered from 

 t!rees that are loaded all through. There 

 is less danger of breaking such a tree in 

 pieces. The ladder may be placed against 

 the outside branches, then put through the 

 centre and the whole tree thus cleaned with- 

 out climbing through it, while the trees with 

 the fruit out far are frequently split with 



the weight of the picker, which should in a'i\ 

 cases be avoided. 



If the soil at the time of planting the trees 

 contains a liberal amount of humus and 

 plant food it will not be necessary to appl} 

 manure until the trees begin to bear. If 

 the young trees make too rapid growth they 

 will be more subject to blight and fungus 

 growth each season. If they are on land 

 deficient in plant nutriment a light coat of 

 manure should be applied, and when the 

 trees have come into full bearing stable 

 manure may be applied at the rate of lo to 

 20 tons to the acre with good results. When 

 the soil is deficient in humus and nitrogen, 

 and the danger to the trees will be lessened, 

 it will be found beneficial if it is supple- 

 mented with 50 o|r TOO bushels of unbleached 

 wood ashes and 300 to 500 pounds of 

 ground bone to the acre. If ashes cannot 

 be obtained 200 to 300 pounds of muriate 

 of potash may be substituted. The stable 

 manure may be spread on any time during 

 the winter and the fertilizers may be used 

 early in. the spring. 



PROMOTING WOOD GROWTH 



LINUS WOOLVpRTON, GRIMSBY, ONT. 



SINCE June is the month for wood 

 gro'wth it is the time for constant cul- 

 tivation of fruit plantations. Unless vigor 

 of growth in tree or plant is kept up in the 

 early summer there will not be sufficient 

 nutriment stored up for fruit and fruit buds 

 in the latter part of the season. In the 

 apple orchard, for example, unless about one 

 foot of new wood growth is made by the 

 middle of July fine apples need not be ex- 

 pected. 



My plan is to plow my orchard in the fall 

 and keep it worked in the spring until July 

 I with disc and harrows ; after that to cease 

 cultivation until after harvest. If growth 

 is too vigorous I seed down for a few years. 

 In rich, sandy loam, with plenty of moisture, 

 I find the apple tree goes too much to wood. 



and Baldwins go for years without produc- 

 ing a crop. Such trees should be put down 

 to grass for a term of years. The cherry 

 orchards should be cultivated in order to 

 keep up a healthy wood growth, but not 

 deeply. In most soils a good disc and a 

 good set of iron harrows will do the work 

 of thorough cultivation to a depth of about 

 three inches. 



The vineyard needs an occasional plowing 

 with a one-borse plow, finishing with the 

 horse grape hoe and the hand hoe. but if 

 plowed away the earth should be plowed 

 back again as soon as the hoeing is com.- 

 pleted. Respberries and blackberries need 

 similar treatment. The canes are often 

 nnich iniured by deep plowing away, which 

 should be carefully avoided. 



