STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. • 99 



Station took charge. In regard to fungus control, the bordeaux 

 was doubtless no less effective. But here, also, too much dam- 

 age had been done before the application. The foliage, more- 

 over, sapped of its vitality by lack of plant food and already 

 injured by insects and fungi, exhibited a characteristic injury 

 that bordeaux very frequently produces under the conditions 

 just mentioned. 



About the last of June the trees received a moderate applica- 

 tion of chemical fertilizer, containing the three necessary ele- 

 ments, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash, and especially rich in 

 the first named. 300 pounds were applied to the acre. Appar- 

 ently the witch grass received all the benefit of this, judging by 

 its thrifty condition wdien the speaker arrived in September of 

 that year. The trees had to all appearances profited nothing. 



That fall all the trees received their first pruning. The im- 

 mense amount of tangled growth that formed the tops of the 

 trees made necessary a plan of pruning somewhat different 

 from that which one would conduct in an orchard in thrifty 

 condition. Had all the wood been removed that season that 

 was necessary for the proper shaping and thinning out of the 

 orchard, the result would have been a stimulus to wood growth 

 that would doubtless have delayed the production of fruit for 

 several years. It was, therefore, decided to extend over a peri- 

 od of three years the pruning that might properly be done at 

 that time, thus gradually shaping the trees to the desired heads 

 and at the same time allowing greater opportunities for the for- 

 mation of fruit-buds by avoiding undue vegetative stimulus. 



No trees in any number were removed in this first season. 

 It was desirable to see what response even the greatest cripples 

 would make to one season of thorough care. 



The keynote of the campaign of 1910 was cultivation, and 

 this was begun as early as the ground could be worked. All the 

 orchards on the farm, except certain experimental plots, to be 

 discussed later, were put under the plow. The thick sod of 

 witch grass, tough as a carpet, was finally well subdued by the 

 plow followed by the cutaway and spring-tooth harrows. Culti- 

 vation was as continuous as the conditions of the season de- 

 manded, a fine soil mulch being maintained and the weeds kept 

 down until the end of July, when cultivation ceased. A cover 

 crop of rye was sown in one orchard, winter vetch in another. 



