May, 191 1 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTUEIST 



III 



m 



^ters of an inch or over, grafting would 

 ' te the surest method. If less than three- 

 quarters of an inch, it is quite likely if 

 cut back to within six or eight inches 

 of the larger wood, this stub would de- 

 velop new wood. 



Pruning Trees 



Much interest is being manifested in 

 the Georgian Bay district in the better 

 care of their orchards. This interest has 

 been caused largely by the great success 

 that attended the work of the demonstra- 

 tion orchards under the supervision of 

 Mr. J. F. Metcalfe, representative of the 

 Department of Agriculture in this section 

 last year. This year the Georgian Bay 

 Fruit Growers, Limited, and an English 

 syndicate, of which Mr. Metcalfe is man- 

 ager, are buyirig up and renting or- 

 chards, and the farmers are waking up to 

 the fact that their orchards are worth 

 taking care of. 



The illustrations represent a sample 

 of the work done at Clarksburg by Mr. 

 C. Penrose, and his crew of pruners, for 

 the English syndicate. Fis:ure No. i is 

 a typical unpruned tree; Figure No. 2, 

 shows the same tree properly pruned. As 

 will be noticed, in thinning out the tree 

 care has been taken to take as few large 

 limbs out as possible. The small wood 

 has been thinned out around the outside. 



The Tree Shown on the Opposite Page After Having Been Properly Pruned. Fig. 2. 



and the centre opened up so that the 

 tree could be sprayed, and the sun get in 

 to color the fruit. Great care was taken 

 not to break off the fruit spurs and the 

 outside wood was all shortened back from 

 six inches to a foot. — G. F. M. 



Orcharding in the Oshawa District 



Elmer Lick, Mtnager Oshawa Froit Growers, Limited 



Friming is one of the most important 

 onerations in the orchard in spring. 

 March is usually the month in which 

 most of this work is done, chiefly for the 

 reason that the orchardist has more time 

 at his disposal at that season, but where 

 this has not been attended to earlier the 

 old adage applies here, "Better late than 

 never," and this work can be continued 

 through to June with no injury to the 

 trees, but, on the contrary, with great 

 imnrovement to the fruit. 



In this district there is very much 

 more interest exhibited in pruning than 

 ever before. Many of the old orchards 

 have been allowed to grow too high. 

 These have been cut back in order that 

 suckers may grow out from the main 

 limbs and be trained into new bearing 

 wood. Prune to get the head as large 

 as the distance between the trees, but no 

 larger, and then by annual heading in, 

 keep them down to this size. Clean out 

 the top and outside and keep the centre 

 full of bearing wood. In dehorning large 

 trees do not take out more than one-quar- 

 ter of the top in any one year, otherwise 

 the balance between the roots and the 

 branches may be destroyed. Paint all 

 cuts with the white lead and linseed oil, 

 using no turpentine. 



SPRAYING 



Spraying has been proved to be an ab- 

 solute necessity if we are to produce good 

 fruit, and lime-sulphur is the most con- 



venient and effective method of combat- 

 ting fungus diseases and insect pests. In 

 this district the majority of farmers and 

 fruit growers are using commercial 

 brands of lime-sulphur. For the dormant 

 spray, use one of the mixture to ten of 

 water ;• no injury will be done to a tree 

 until after the leaves are about a half 

 inch long, athough it is more effective 

 in combatting the blister mite, if applied 

 just as the buds are beginning to burst. 

 I do not think that in this district we 

 can do without a second spray, as the 

 strong dormant spray could not in aver- 

 age seasons be applied later than May 

 first, while the second spray for blight 

 should come on about May 10 or 15. I 

 use this spray at a strength of one of lime- 

 sulphur to thirty-five of water, and mix 

 two to two and one-half pounds of ar- 

 senate of lead to the forty gallon barrel. 

 This prevents early infection of the scab 

 fungus and poisons any leaf eating in- 

 sects which may be hatching out. The 

 third spray should be of the same strength 

 and applied just as the blossoms are 

 falling. Plenty of power should be used 

 and the spray driven well into the calyx 

 of the flower. I am satisfied that three 

 sprayings a year for three years will en- 

 tirely control the oyster shell bark lice. 

 If, however, they are very numerous, 

 the quickest method is to apply a spray 

 of the dilute lime-sulphur, one to thirty 

 or thirty-five of water, just when the lit- 



tle insects are hatching out, which is us- 

 ually about the first of June. Lime-sul- 

 phur at this strength is sure death to the 

 young oyster shell bark lice. In some 

 cases, a fourth spray about two weeks 

 after the blossoms fall, is advisable in 

 preventing infection of scab, but in the 

 majority of cases the three mentioned 

 sprays are found to be sufficient. 



CULTIVATION 



The orchard should be plowed as early 

 in the spring as the land can be worked, 

 and then cultivated every ten days or two 

 weeks until about the first of July, when 

 the cover crop should be sown. I do not 

 nractise cultivation close to the trees but 

 leave from one to three feet around the 

 trunk in sod, as I believe this sod is a 

 protection to the tree and a preventive of 

 collar rots. An additional reason is that 

 it takes money to cultivate close to the 

 trees, and as the feeding roots are some 

 distance from the trunk of the tree, it is 

 absolutely of no use except as an aid to 

 the appearance of the orchard, and when 

 a man is in the business from the dollars 

 and cents standpoint he cannot afford 

 to spend much money on appearances. 



COVER CROP 



Almost any crop may be used as a 

 cover croo. Clover has the advantage of 

 adding the expensive nitrogen from the 

 atmosphere in addition to its value as a 

 humus former. I prefer buckwheat, for 

 the reason that it is a sure catch, the 

 seed is cheap, and it will hold the snow 

 and leaves better than a shorter growing 

 crop like clover. 



I firmly believe that twitch grass has 

 as many good points as an orchard cover 

 crop as any other plant, although I 

 would hardly advise sowing it for this 

 purpose. No seed is required, for as 

 soon as the cultivator is stopped it comes 

 in of itself, makes a good growth in the 



