APPLE CULTURE. 



57 



due to punctures oi insects and other minute 

 animals. For example, a palm imder his 

 observation was spotted yellow by mites 

 through the poison injected at time of punc- 

 ture; the carnation leaf-spot or stigmonose 

 is produced by the punctures of certain plant- 

 lice ; the tufted branching- characteristics of 

 yellows, observed on some plum nursery 

 stock by Mr. Waite, was found to be pro- 

 duced by a parasitic mite; and the galls so 

 frequently found on many trees and shrubs 

 are abnormal growths produced directly or 

 indirectly by the poisoning of adjacent tis- 

 sures. 



It is true that in most cases of plant 

 poi-joning by mites or insects that the results 

 are mostly localized, and, as Mr. Cook says, 

 "there is a wide gap between progrescive 

 change in a spot less than a quarter of an 

 inch across and one which covers a whole 

 peach tree, but the difference may be one of 



degree and not of kind." He supposes that 

 " the mite elaborates in its salivary or other 

 glands an enzyme or other active compound 

 to which the tissues of the peach and closely 

 related fruits are peculiarly susceptiable, and 

 which produces in them a permanent and 

 ultimately fatal debility accompanied by de- 

 finite constitutional symptoms." 



Now, the question naturally arises in the 

 mind of the peach grower : supposing this 

 theory to be the correct one how are peach 

 yellows to be treated ? I doubt very much 

 if any other remedy than the present one 

 will be adopted, but much could be done to 

 lessen the intensity of the disease by "the 

 destruction of the wild relations of the peach 

 which may be found to harbor the offending 

 creatures." To say the least, Mr. Cook's 

 theory is a very suggestive one, and ought 

 to receive the careful consideration of all 

 fruit grrowers. W. Lochhead. 



APPLE CULTURE. 



PRUNING. 



fO grow apples successfully requires 

 skill and study. There are two kinds 

 of apples, small and large, it is the 

 latter ones which we all strive to grow. 

 There are many ways to produce them, but 

 pruning (not in itself alone though), is one 

 great essential. This simple looking oper- 

 ation is one which is sadly neglected. Thou- 

 sands of dollars are annually wasted through 

 lack of attention to this matter. We may 

 take a drive through an apple section and 

 see many an orchard a veritable brush heap. 

 There are some who profess to understand 

 this art, but are in reality hewers and slaugh- 

 terers, slaying indiscriminately limb after 

 limb, branch after branch, without regard to 

 symmetry or the growth and development of 



the tree and its fruit. There is a science 

 and a philosophy in pruning which is at the 

 same time difficult. No set of rules can be 

 set forth, each must study for himself to 

 master this art. The first thing to under- 

 stand is the principle of vegetable growth ; 

 you must have something definite before 

 you. When you sever a twig, branch or a 

 limb it is necessary to know the why and 

 wherefore, not only how it affects the present 

 appearance of the tree but the effect in a 

 future year. 



When the tree has become so full of brush 

 that you cannot pick the fruit, and neither 

 plough nor cultivate the ground on account of 

 limbs straggling along theground, as we often 

 see in ill regulated orchards, then it seems 



