THE TREE DOCTOR 107 



Keep well cultivated till first of August. Then sow oats. 

 These will make a good growth by fall, will dry the ground by 

 pumping out the moisture, and the frost will then kill them (I 

 am speaking of northern latitudes), and they will lie flat on the 

 ground, and the roots of the trees, thus protected, will not be 

 killed by freezing, as they were in Northern Ohio and Michigan 

 in the winter of 1903-4. If planted on a northern slope (this is 

 to hold them back in spring) a crop can be expected every 

 season. 



PRUNING. 



This is not generally understood. If properly planted, the 

 young trees make rapid growth and they keep on shooting out 

 from the terminal, or end buds. Photo 93 shows how to handle 

 the peach. You notice the shoot (this is last year's wood) that 

 has the knife hung on it. Below where the knife is fastened, 

 down to the left, are five fruit-buds ; above the knife are six. If 

 you cut off where the knife marks, as in the other sample, the 



Photo 93 

 Prune Where Knife Hangs. 



