1294 



FRUIT-GROWING 



FRUIT-GROWING 



reason for allowing orchards to stand in sod in the old 

 times was the difficulty in plowing beneath full-grown 

 trees. Those persons who desu-ed to plow and till 

 their orchards, therefore, advocated very high pruning. 

 The difficulty with these old orchards was the fact that 

 the land was allowed to run into dense sod. Heavy 

 plowing in an old orchard indicates that the plantation 

 has been neglected in previous years. Orchards that 

 have been well tilled from the first do not require much 

 laborious tillage, and the roots are low enough to escape 

 tillage tools. There has been- a development of tillage 

 tools which will do the work without necessity of prun- 

 ing the tops very high. The practice of tilling orchards 

 has increased rapidly. At first it was advised by a few 

 growers and teachers, but the movement is now so 

 well estabUshed that it will take care of itself, and in 

 the commercial orchards the man who does not till 

 his orchard is the one who needs to explain. On the 

 Pacific coast, the importance of tillage is universally 

 recognized because of the dry summer climate. The 

 necessity of tilling orchards has forced a new ideal on 

 the pomologist; and when he goes to the exjjense of 

 tilling he feels the necessity of giving sufficient care in 

 other directions to insure profitable returns from his 

 plantation. It is true, to be sure, that orchards some- 

 times thrive under sod treatment, but these are special 

 cases. 



Of the same purpose with tillage is irrigation, — the 

 purpose to fit the land for its work. Great fruit regions 

 in the western half of the continent are on an irrigation 

 basis and a special Mterature on fruit-raising under 

 such conditions is now appearing. This irrigation 



that trees wiU bear without pruning. This, therefore, 

 puts a premium on neglect. The old practice allowed 

 the tree to grow at will for three or four years and to 

 become so full of brush that the fruit could not be well 

 harvestea, and then the top was pruned violently. 

 The tree was set into redundant growth and was filled 

 with water-sprouts. This tended also to set the tree 

 into wood-bearing rather than into fruit-bearing. By 

 the time the tree had again begun fruit-bearing, the 

 orchardist went at it with ax and saw and a good 

 part of the top was taken away. It is now under- 

 stood that the ideal pruning is that which prunes 

 a Uttle every year and keeps the tree in a uni- 

 formly healthy and productive condition. The prun- 

 ing of trees has now come to be a distinct purpose, 

 and this ideal must gain in definiteness and precision 

 so long as fruit trees are grown. The practice pro- 

 ceeds on established principles, and is not of the nature 

 of discipline. 



(5) Now that there is demand for the very best prod- 

 ucts, it is increasingly important that fruits be thinned. 

 The thinning allows the remaining fruits to grow larger 

 and better, it saves the vitality of the tree, and it 

 gives the orchardist an opportunity to remove the 

 diseased specimens and thereby to contribute something 

 toward checking the spread of insects and fungi. Thin- 

 ning is exceedingly important in all fruits that are 

 essentially luxuries, as peaches, apricots and pears. It 

 is coming also to be important for apples and for others 

 of the cheaper fruits. In the thinning of fruits, there 

 are two rules to be kept in mind: (o) Remove the 

 injured, imperfect or diseased specimens; (b) remove 



1593. Value of fruits and nuts in the United States in 1909, as displayed by the census. 



practice for fruit is another expression of the idea that 

 in the future nothing is to be left to chance so far as it 

 is within the power of the grower to prevent it. For 

 certain intensive fruit-culture, particularly of berries, 

 special irrigation practices are appearing in the East, 

 and often they make the difference between failure 

 and success. 



(4) As competition increases, it is necessary to give 

 better attention to pruning. It is unfortunately true 



sufficient fruit so that the remaining specimens stand 

 at a given distance from each other. How far apart 

 the fruit shall be, depends on many conditions. With 

 peaches it is a good rule not to allow them to hang 

 closer than 4 or 5 inches (sometimes 7 or 8 inches), 

 and in years of heavy crops they may be thinned more 

 than this. This extent of thinning often removes 

 two-thirds of the fruits. It nearly always gives a larger 

 bulk of fruit, which brings a higher price. Thinning is 



