April, 1911 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



83 



k 



Root Pruning of Fruit Trees 



Geo. W. Tebbs, Hespeler, Ont. 



F the heart be right, then the re- 



I 



((f 



I suiting life will be pure and good, 

 has been said often of men. It is 

 also true in the tree. The real secret of 

 fruitfulness lies at the root literally. 

 Let the root be right, and there will be 

 large fruit, beautiful to look upon, and 

 an abundance of it. 



Further, it does not always follow that 

 if a man have a good head, his life will 

 be productive of the most good to others. 

 The tree may have ever so well shaped a 

 head, but positive benefit does not neces- 

 sarily follow unless it results in fruit 

 bearing; and this comes from an abund- 

 ance of fibrous rootlets. 



INCREASE BOOT DEVELOPMENT 



How often is root development gross- 

 ly neglected? From the time the nur- 

 sery stock is purchased, when only too 

 often the tree is rammed into the ground 

 in any old way, with 

 its roots frequently 

 doubled under it as 

 though it is to de- 

 velop into an acrobatic 

 contortionist. Little 

 care is taken of the 

 roots, the chief source 

 of the strength of the 

 tree. 1 think some- 

 times that our "nur- 

 ses" who dig the stock 

 from the "nursery" 

 forget the fact that a 

 young tree does not 

 have roots that run 

 down like a carrot to- 

 wards the Antipodes, 

 but that for a distance 

 of, say, three feet, 

 from the stem there 

 is a whole mat of 

 fibrous roots. 



In a hurried filling of orders these are 

 occasionally torn away. At least, such 

 has been my impression when I have 

 examined them upon their arrival. It 

 is well if there are such webs of roots 

 around your young stock. .They will be 

 well nourished, being near the surface, 

 and the full influence of the air will keep 

 a constant supply of food ready. But 

 how may trees that are inclined to be 

 the reverse of this be made to form a 

 mass of roots? How may the roots be 

 kept near the surface? The lifting and 

 replanting once or twice will accomplish 

 this. This operation will break the 

 stronger roots and exuberant leaf action 

 is checked. Beyond paring the ends of 

 all broken roots with a sharp knife no- 

 thing more need be done. The tree is 

 simply taken out and put back. The 

 moving from the parent nursery to the 

 purchaser's orchard will effect this in 

 the first instance, and only occasionally 

 is a second removal necessary. 



To create an abundance of surface 

 roots some people go round the town 

 buying up surplus paving stones from an 

 overstocked indigent corporation, and 

 build a pavement under the tree. This 

 is absolutely unnecessary. Mulch well, 

 pulverize well, and you will have a soil 

 full of air and moisture. The roots will 

 then multiply and will naturally remain 

 where there are so many good things to 

 be taken advantage of. 



First of all then get the soil into good 

 condition for holding moisture through 

 long periods of drought, and let the roots 

 get plenty of air. If the trees have to 

 be lifted a second time, my experience 

 has been that showery weather in the 

 autumn, about the time the leaves are 

 ripe, is the best time. Begin at least 

 three feet from the tree, and spade to- 

 wards it. 



Results of Rootpruning 



An unproductive Duchess Apple Tree in the Orchard of Mr. G. W Tebbs, 

 Hespeler rendered fruitful by means of rootpruning. 



But what about trees that are too 

 large to move? There are thousands of 

 trees in this Province that are not satis- 

 factory, and yet they are too good to 

 be destroyed. In these cases I would 

 advise root pruning. Make a trench 

 round the tree about one half of the way, 

 doing one half one year and one half the 

 next, preferably during the "off" years 

 of the tree or when fruit spurs are least 

 in evidence. Root pruning is not done 

 by a haphazard butchery of the roots 

 with the edge of the spade. A knife or 

 small pruning saw should be used. The 

 growing roots are much softer, and con- 

 sequently easier to cut than the branch- 

 es. As far as po.ssible make upward 

 cuts, as it will direct the new fibres to- 

 wards the surface. 



Make an effort to get at the strong 

 roots which run down into an unproduc- 

 tive subsoil ; cut out some of them at 

 least, as they only produce wood. The 

 accompanying illustration shows a 



"Duchess" apple on my place that was 

 absolutely unproductive, but which grew 

 wood by the yard each year. I tried root 

 pruning, with the result the first year 

 after, as seen by the blossom, and a 

 good harvest was afterwards gathered. 



Value of Bees in an Orchard 



J. W. Clarke, Csioiviile 



From my experience as a fruit grow- 

 er and beekeeper I place great value on 

 bees as a reliable means of proper fer- 

 tilization of the blossoms. Some sea- 

 sons we have more or less damp, muggy 

 weather with little breeze to carry pol- 

 len. In such seasons bees have their 

 usefulness in fertilizing fruit blooms. 

 The undeveloped, one-sided fruit we 

 often see in such seasons is due to im- 

 perfect fertilization. 



I believe that every one growing fruit 

 should have at least one or more hives 

 of bees, if for no other purpose than the 

 proper pollination of the bloom. Each 

 orchard should have a few hives in it, 

 as in cold or windy weather the bees do 

 not go far from home. 



PEOFITABLE INVESTMENT 



Not only will the bees prove a pay- 

 ing investment in distributing the pol- 

 len, but with very little care will make 

 honey enough for the family and some 

 to sell. Swarming can be controlled by 

 ventilation and modern methods of 

 handling. 



Trees Injured by Mice 



Considerable damage has been done 

 to fruit trees during the past winter by 

 mice. If attended to at once the injury 

 can be much lessened. Where the in- 

 jury is slight or even if the outer bark 

 is all eaten off, if there are strips of the 

 inside bark still left, cover with graft- 

 ing wax and bank up where possible 

 with earth to keep the bark moist and 

 to prevent drying. The hot sun will 

 soon destroy the life of the under bark. 

 Where these shreds of live bark are near 

 together, this will be all that is neces- 

 sary to be done. 



TREATMENT OF GIRDLED TREES 



Where the bark is entirely eaten off, 

 girdling the tree, paint the wood thor- 

 oughly with a good lead and oil paint, 

 and as soon as the sap begins to run. 

 cut scions and carefully insert them in 

 the live bark at top and bottom, wax- 

 ing thoroLtghly and tying firmly. A 

 scion should be put in about every two 

 or three inches around the damaged 

 part. In such cases it is wise to cut 

 back the top severely, as the evapora- 

 tion from the top will be greater than 

 the capacity of the scions to carry the 

 moisture from the earth. In this way 

 valuable trees can be saved that other- 

 wise would be a total loss. 



Prune fruit trees regularly each year. 



