APPLES 



303 



of position, or that crowd too tliickly in 

 the center and obstruct the light too 

 much. Heavy limbs that, helped by the 

 prevailing winds, are twisting strong lat- 

 erals out of position should be cut and 

 allow the limb to right itself. 



Tipping the side fruiting branches 

 slightly during the summer has a tend- 

 ency to help the setting of fruit spurs. 



The low temporary fruiting branches 

 can be used for a few years until they 

 have been superseded by higher limbs 

 when these first useful limbs can be cut 

 away and leave a clean open frame work, 

 proof against blossom infection. 



Clyde B.\rnum. 

 I^hoenix. Oreiinn. 



Forcing Xewtowns Into Bearing 



(Rogue River Valley) 

 The writer had quite a large block of 

 Newtown apples growing in a heavy, 

 black deposit soil, which was very rich in 

 plant food. The trees had reached an 

 age of eight years and were large, healthy 

 ■and beautifully shaped, but not a single 

 fruit bud had appeared. The ninth year 

 started with the same conditions when 

 it was decided to radically change the 

 methods of growing these to see if they 

 could not be brought into bearing. These 

 trees had been pruned regularly each 

 year and the wood growth was enormous. 

 This being the fact, pruning was discon- 

 tinued and not a bianch was cut. At 

 the end of the season the trees were a 

 mass of brush but still no fruit. The fol- 

 lowing season one or two large branches 

 were removed from trees needing it and 

 some of the brush removed from others, 

 care being taken not to cut out much 

 from any one tree and never to head back. 

 At the beginning of the third season a 

 few blossoms were noticed, but the soil 

 was so strong that it seemed to push the 

 growth of the trees into wood instead of 

 fruit, no matter what was done. It was 

 then decided to plant the orchard to bar- 

 ley. This was done and the entire block 

 seeded right up to the tree trunks. The 

 grain was allowed to ripen, and threshed 

 out over 40 bushels to the acre. 



This block was not ploughed and when 

 spring came the barley had come up as 



a volunteer crop and the trees had a 

 good sprinkling of blossoms. It was de- 

 cided to try and save both the apples and 

 the intercrop of grain, so about four fur- 

 rows were ploughed next to the trees and 

 this was kept cultivated. When the grain 

 was prime for hay it was cut. Immedi- 

 ately afterwards it was plowed and cul- 

 tivated so as to keep a good mulch to 

 conserve the moisture in the soil. This 

 was necessary as irrigation was not used. 

 When the apples were picked the trees 

 averaged about two boxes each and the 

 fruit was all good size and quality. 



In the spring the soil was ploughed 

 and has been cultivated and kept free 

 from all growth between the trees as 

 the trees were well set with fruit. 



It must be borne in mind that the soil 

 conditions were such as to produce a 

 strong, heavy growth of wood, and the 

 discontinuance of pruning did not act 

 quickly enough to arrest this as desired. 

 Therefore it required the additional crop- 

 ping between the trees to check this 

 growth of wood. The block is now in 

 bearing and will undoubtedly continue to 

 bear and we still follow the rule to prune 

 lightly and not head back. 



A. C. Allen. 

 Hollywood Orchards. 



REJUVEyATING OLD ORCH.VRDS 



With renewed interest in the fruit in- 

 dustry, there has arisen a question as to 

 the practicability of renewing or rejuve- 

 nating old orchards. There are orchards 

 in some states which have reached an 

 age of more than 50 years and show every 

 evidence of neglect. Will it pay to at- 

 tempt rejuvenation? That depends on 

 the circumstances, but in general I would 

 say it will not, and for the following 

 reasons : 



First: The trees can never be made to 

 bear as good fruit as new trees that have 

 been properly cultivated and have never 

 been neglected. 



Second: New trees can be grown at 

 about the same cost, or perhaps at less 

 cost than that of expensive pruning and 

 rejuvenating the old orchard. 



Third: In these old orchards are many 

 vacant spaces where trees have died. In 



