122 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 1913 



I believe that in the past we have 

 grown our trees too fast and have prun- 

 ed them a great deal too much. To 

 develop a strong fruit-bearing structure, 

 a tree should not be unduly forced. It 

 may be observed that with trees that 

 have made a normal growth the bran- 

 ches are more tapering and more rigid 

 than those on rapidly grown trees. The 

 excessive growth is frequently due to 

 liberal fertilization and cultivation, but 

 is just as often due to severe winter 

 pruning. 



During the past six years I have had 

 under observation a young orchard that 

 has been developed under various sys- 

 tems of pruning, and I am forced to state 

 that the best shaped trees in the orchard 

 to-day are those that have not been 

 pruned since they were planted. Now, 

 we should not deduce from this that 

 under all conditions a young tree should 

 not be pruned. These trees were Bald- 

 win and Mcintosh, and were grown 

 under the grass mulch system. 1 was 

 fortunate enough to find another young 

 orchard that appeared to be about twelve 

 years of age and composed of Baldwins 

 and Spies. These trees had not been 

 pruned since they were planted. They 

 had been under cultivation part of the 

 time and in grass part of the time. The 

 Baldwins were in bearing, but the Spies 

 had evidently not started to bear. The 

 Baldwin trees were fine shaped speci- 

 mens, but could have been improved by 

 a moderate pruning. The Spy trees 

 were unsightly specimens, and their tops 

 presented a broom-like appearance. 



It is safe to say that some varieties 



would be better left unpruned until they 

 reach the bearing age, and that others 

 should have a moderate amount of prun- 

 ing, end that a large part of this prun- 

 ing should be done during the growing 

 season. The character of the soil, of 

 course, will exert considerable influence 

 upon the behaviour of a growing tree. 

 Trees grown on light soil require less 

 pruning than those grown on heavy soil. 

 Drainage, also, exerts considerable in- 

 fluence upon the behavior of a tree, and 

 the training of a tree on a well-drained 

 soil is an easier proposition than that 

 of training one on land that remains wet 

 late in the spring. 



SUMMEE PRUNING 



Summer pruning, as contrasted with 

 the regular practice, is the pruning of 

 trees while in foliage. Its influence upon 

 the tree in many respects is opposite to 

 winter priming. The latter, as mention- 

 ed before, stimulates wood growth, 

 while the former tends to lessen wood 

 growth. As a rule, any practice that 

 checks wood growth tends to induce 

 fruitfulness. Growers have taken ad- 

 vantage of this fact for many years. In 

 England the result is attained by root- 

 pruning. The method consists in dig- 

 ging a trench around the tree at some 

 considerable distance and severing some 

 of the roots. This interferes with the 

 food supply and necessarily reduces 

 growth. In the famous Ozark apple 

 region of Missouri and Arkansas the 

 same result is attained by ringing or 

 •rirdling the trunk or main branches of 

 the tree, thus checking the downward 

 flow of sap. The roots in this wav are 



partially starved and are, therefore, un- 

 able to induce a strong wood growth 

 the following season. The work is done 

 during the growing season, and, as a 

 result, the wound soon heals over. The 

 growers in the Pacific Coast region prac- 

 tice summer pruning to check wood 

 growth. A complete or partial defolia- 

 tion by insects, disease, or spraying in- 

 jury during the early summer seems to 

 have the same effect. 



Just why the checking of wood 

 growth should induce the formation of 

 fruit buds and how it exerts this influ- 

 ence is not well understood. The theory 

 has been advanced that there is some 

 inherent tendency on the part of the 

 tree to reproduce itself before it dies and 

 that when anything interferes with the 

 natural processes the tree prepares for 

 death. This is not a satisfactory ex- 

 planation, and it is hoped that the phy- 

 siologists may be able to throw some 

 light on the subject in the near future. 

 (To be continVfCd.) 



A Balanced Ration for Peach 

 Trees fZL- 



Wm. Amutrtng, Ni«gart-on-the-Lakc 



As a balanced ration for peach trees 

 on sandy soil I give a light annual dress- 

 ing of good manure, left undisturbed 

 over the roots and applied during late 

 December or January in each year. This 

 is supplemented with the following home 

 mixed commercial fertilizers, applied im- 

 mediately after mixing, about May first 

 in each year, and scattered carefully and 

 evenly around each tree by hand : 



Mix in your wagon box on the barn 

 floor, twenty-five per cent, pure fine, 

 ground bone meal and five p)er cent, fine 

 ground sulphur together first. .\dd forty- 

 five per cent, muriate of potash, fifteen 

 per cent. Thomas Phosphate Powder, 

 and ten per cent, coarse salt. 



The quantity for each tree is as fol- 

 lows : Infant tree from the nursery row, 

 one-half pound each ; one year old, three- 

 quarters pound; two years old, one and 

 one-half pounds; three years old, two 

 three pounds ; five years old, four 

 pounds. 



Varieties of Gooseberries 



W. T. Maceim, C.E.F., Ottawa 



.»\s the best varieties of gooseberries 

 for planting in western Canada, I should 

 recommend either the Pearl or Downing. 

 If a red skinned gooseberry is desired, 

 either the Josselyn or the Red Jacket 

 would be a good variety. I should sug- 

 gest planting gooseberries in the pro- 

 portion of fifteen hundred Downing or 

 Pearl and five hundred Red Jacket. 



The English varieties are very subject 

 to mildew, and although this can be 

 controlled in part by spraying, it is not 

 entirely satisfactory. I believe the 

 American varieties would off-set any ad- 

 vantage in price there might be in favor 

 of the English sorts in this country. 



