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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 191 1 



Orchard Cultivation* 



W. Dreher, Macdonald College 



Stop cultivating and sow a cover crop other tilled and seeded 



before the season's growth stops in mid- 

 summer. From that time trees begin to 

 get ready for the winter by ripening 

 their wood, consequently all work tend- 

 ing to promote growth must stop so as 

 to allow the trees sufficient time to ma- 

 ture properly. By means of cover crops 

 the roots will be protected from frost. 

 The ground will better hold the snow 

 and allow its water to penetrate instead 

 of washing off the surface soil in spring 

 rains. These requirements, together 

 with that of checking the growth of the 

 trees in summer, are fulfilled by sowing 

 a crop about the middle or end of July, 

 which by winter will cover the ground, 

 forming a mulch of vegetable matter. 

 Besides these advantages it benefits the 

 trees by improving the physical condi- 

 tion of the soil and enriching it in plant 

 food when plowed under to form humus 

 early in spring. 



WHAT KIND OF COVER CROPS 



It remains to be determined what crop 

 to sow after cultivation has ceased. 

 This is a local question, and the fruit 

 grower wilt have to use his own judg- 

 ment for the choice. The experimental 

 farms, however, have experimented with 

 a number of crops, and can tell the ad- 

 vantages that each will give in certain 

 sbil.<s and undejr given climatic condi- 

 tions. From these the grower can 

 choose those he thinks will answer the 

 purpose best. He can also do that from 

 his own field crops of which he possesses 

 knowledge and with which he has had 

 experience. Clovers, peas, vetch, oats, 

 rye, buckwheat, or rape may be used. 

 The clovers, peas or vetch are to be pre- 

 ferred as they enrich the .soil in nitro- 

 gen. Crimson clover at the rate of 

 twenty-five pounds per acre or vetch at 

 the rate of one and a half bushels per 

 acre give two of the best cover crops. 

 These are sown broadcast and harrowed 

 in at the last cultivation early in July. 



TILLAGE VS. SOD 



It might at first glance appear that it 

 does not pay to give the orchard that 

 attention which involves all the afore 

 described operations and that satisfac- 

 tory results can be obtained by allowing 

 the trees to grow in sod. While some 

 growers in special conditions have re- 

 ceived fairly good retprns from ^;uch 

 orchards, the general experiments point 

 to the fact that tillage gives the best re- 

 sults. Just in what particular points it 

 gives better results can be best illus- 

 trated by quoting an experiment con- 

 ducted near Rochester, N.Y., by Mr. 

 W. D. Auchter in an orchard of nine 

 and a half acres of Baldwin trees. 



The orchard was divided into two 

 plots, of which one was left in sod, the 



• Extract from an address delivered before the 

 Quebec Pomologloal Society. •«»»"*o wo 



with an annual 

 cover crop. The trees in both plots re- 

 ceived as nearly as possible identical 

 treatment as to pruning, .spraying, fer- 

 tilizing and all other orchard operations 

 except the system of culture. 



The results after five years are sum- 

 marized as follows : 



The average yield on the sod plat was 

 for the five years 72.9 barrels per acre ; 

 for the tilled plat 109.2 barrels; differ- 

 ence in favor of tilled plat of 36.3 

 barrels. 



Actual count showed 434 apples per 

 barrel on the sod land, weighing 5.01 

 ozs. each, and 309 apples per barrel on 

 the tilled plat, weighing 7.04 ozs. each. 

 The advantage of tillage over the sod 

 mulch in the matter of uniformity of 



trees and crops is marked. The trees 

 in sod showed abnormalities in foliage, 

 branches, roots and particularly in fruit 

 bearing and in fruit characters. 



Among a number of other differences 

 in favor of the tilled plat was the dark 

 rich green color of foliage of the trees 

 in the latter, indicating that they werr 

 in the best of health. On the other 

 hand the yellow color of the leaves of 

 the sod trees told at once that something 

 was amiss. 



The average cost per acre for the t\\ ' 

 methods, not including harvesting, wa 

 Si 7.92 for the sod and S24.47 for tillage, 

 giving a difference of $6.55 in favor of 

 the sod. The average net income per 

 acre for the sod, was $71.52, for the 

 tilled plat $110.43, a difference of $38.91 

 in favor of tillage, an increase of 54 per 

 cent, for tillage over the .sod mulch 

 method of management. 



A Typical Unpruned Tree. Fig. 1. 



Training Neglected Suckers on Apple Trees 



A. McNeil], Ottawa 



An apple tree that has been pruned 

 back severely, and in consequence has de- 

 veloped a rank growth of suckers which 

 have not been properly pruned and 

 trained as they developed, forms after 

 three or four years a very serious prob- 

 lem in pruning. Merely to thin out the 

 suckers will not do, because those that are 

 left have long naked shanks with the 

 new growth and bearing wood if any has 

 developed, many feet in the air. 



Perhaps the best general advice that 

 can be given is to thin the suckers, and 

 make grafts close back to the large wood 

 on those that it is desirable to use as the 

 foundation for the new head. In no other 

 way can we be sure of getting the bear- 

 ing wood low down and close to the 

 heavy supporting wood. When the grafts 



have made a growth of one year they 

 should be cut back as previously describ- 

 ed and the remainder of the suckers mav 

 then be cut away altogether, and the 

 growth from the grafts will take their 

 place. 



It is quite possible, too, if the suckers 

 are not too large, the new growth if cut 

 back severely, will develop dormant buds, 

 and a new top can then be developed from 

 these, care being taken to prune back the 

 new growth, and thus not repeat the 

 error that one is striving to correct. 



Whether the method by grafting or 

 trusting to dormant buds would be the 

 better, can only be determined by actually 

 seeing the tree. But, speaking general- 

 ly, it can be advised that if the suckers 

 have grown to a diameter of three-quar- 



