I 



The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXIV 



APRIL, 1911 



No, 4 



AK\0WLKDC;K of this practice 

 is becoininf^ more and more im- 

 portant, for upon it depends 

 iarijely the success of the fruit 

 grower. The demand for good 



fruit, especially apples, has increased 

 \ery much in the past few years on both 

 the home and foreign market, and there 

 is no reason why a greater number of 

 people in this province should not spe- 

 cialize in this branch of agriculture which 

 has proven to be so profitable to our 

 neighbors in the province of Ontario and 

 to the grower of British Columbia. 



The argument that the growers of 

 Quebec cannot compete successfully with 

 those of the provinces just mentioned on 

 account of unsuitable soil and climatic 

 conditions is unfounded, for nowhere 

 else can some of the hardy varieties be 

 grown and produced so well as in this 

 province. A good many farmers pos- 

 sess fruit trees which yield fair returns ; 

 but to make fruit growing a profitable 

 business the trees must be properly 

 cared for, and if any one of the opera- 

 tions is more important than another, I 

 should say it is cultivation. The method 

 that has in principles been recognized to 

 be the best by all successful fruit grow- 

 ers and at Experimental Farms is the 

 following : 



PREPARATION OF THE GEOUND 



Where ordinary field crops, such as 

 cereals and hoed crops yield profitable 

 returns, then the soil will be rich enough 

 for an orchard generally speaking. The 

 required conditions are the same as for 

 these, namely, a good friable loam soil 

 of good depth, tilth, and drainage. The 

 required conditions, except the last, can 

 be obtained by thorough plowing and 

 subsequent tillage. Experience has 

 taught us that land in fine tilth has pro- 

 duced better crops than untilled land, 

 even if the latter did contain more plant 

 food. The reason is that tillage unlocks 

 plant food, makes it more readily avail- 

 able, and regulates the moisture holding 

 capacity of a soil which is a very im- 

 portant factor in fruit growing. If the 

 soil is not deep and the subsoil compact 

 it will be necessary to work the latter 

 also to some depth, and drainage with 

 tiles will ameliorate such soils most efifi- 

 ciently. .Should the chosen piece hpve 

 been in sod for .some time it will be 



Orchard Cultivation' 



W. Dreher, Macdonald College, Que. 



found best to grow hoed crops on it for 

 a year or two, and this will give the far- 

 mer an opportunity to become acquainted 

 with it and make all necessary improve- 

 ments. It must be borne in mind that 

 the ground should give suitable mois- 

 ture conditions, and this capacity is in- 

 creased by adding humus to light soils 

 and draining waterlogged land. More- 

 over, it is of equal importance that the 

 roots shall be able to penetrate the soil 

 easily ; therefore, it must be friable and 

 well and deeply plowed. Heavy lands 

 are improved by the addition of vege- 

 table matter. Once a soil has been, so 

 to speak, transformed into suitable con- 

 ditions of food and moisture and the 

 trees have been planted, it remains to 



Must Have It 



"No use being in the fruit busi- 

 ness without The Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist. One might as well 

 quit both as one. Please find en- 

 closed one dollar for two years' 

 subscription." — Watson C. Orr, 

 W^inona, Ontario 



•Extract from an address delivered before the 

 Quebec Pomological Society. 



maintain these conditions, and this leads 

 us to the question of subsequent culti- 

 vation or tillage. 



OtTLTIVATE THE WHOLE AREA BETWEEN 

 THE TREES 



Measuring the length of roots of 

 young trees and comparing that length 

 with the width of the crown it has been 

 found that the roots occupy an area 

 twice as large as the crown does, it fol- 

 lows that if the trees are planted the 

 usual width apart their roots will ulti- 

 mately occupy the whole area between 

 the rows ; moreover, the roots most ac- 

 tively engaged in taking up food are the 

 youngest ; those that are farthest away 

 from the trunk. The.se facts show that 

 in order to obtain the best results the 

 whole area occupied by the roots must 

 be cultivated, and this holds equally true 

 for a young orchard, because in that 

 case the ground must always be in such 

 a state as to allow the roots to expand 

 rapidly and grow at a depth when mois- 

 ture is always available, and where they 

 shall be protected more or less from the 

 plow or frost. The sooner and the bet- 

 ter cultivation is practised the better the 

 results obtained later — and that with 

 considerable less work. 



The next important point to be kept 

 in mind is that all cultivation should be- 

 gin as soon as the ground can be work- 

 ed to advantage. The season of wood 

 growth begins early in spring and ends 

 in the middle of summer. Consequently 

 the ground should be in such condition 

 as to permit the trees to make a vigor- 

 ous early start and continue to furnish a 

 readily available supply of food and 

 moisture during the summer. 



DEEP PLOWING 



The first step in subsequent orchard 

 tillage consists in plowing deeply, dimin- 

 ishing the depth close to the trees. The 

 depth will vary also according to the 

 condition of the land at the start, heavy 

 lands will need deep cultivation, taking 

 precautions not to touch them while too 

 wet, as puddling would be the result. 

 On the other hand, lands already friable 

 need not be plowed deeply. If there is 

 sod on the ground, it is advisable to 

 plow it under early in the spring, for 

 this will cau.se its more rapid decomposi- 

 tion. If there is no sod, and the land 

 needs humus or manure, this is also a 

 good time to plow it under. In order 

 to get a level culture, plow one year to- 

 wards the trees and the next away from 

 them. Thus the first step consists in 

 improving the physical and chemical 

 condition of the soil, the second, how- 

 ever, is to hold the moisture in the 

 ground, or at least to prevent its rapid 

 evaporation. 



The ground left expo.sed after plow- 

 ing begins to settle, becoming more or 

 less compact, and a .straight path is 

 thereby formed for the underground 

 water to pass into the air. This would 

 also exist if grass is growing for the 

 large leaf area would transpire a great 

 deal of water. Therefore, the remedy in 

 the first case is to form a dry soil mulch 

 on the surface, whereas the loss of water 

 in the second case can be prevented by 

 not growing grass, but following a sys- 

 tem of cultivation. The best mulch is 

 prepared by breaking up the surface soil 

 into very small particles to a depth of 

 not more than three to four inches after 

 plowing. This corresponds to the hoe- 

 ing of crops which checks this rapid eva- 

 poration, destroying weeds at the same 

 time. This operation must be repeated 

 in the orchard quite often, if possible, 

 every 10 days, or at least after every 

 rain. 



