APPLE 



APPLE 



331 



mon thing to find a man devoting his entire energy to 

 the growing of two varieties of apples. 



Orchard management. 



Most of the orchardists practice annual spring plow- 

 ing. In some of the lighter soils, disking takes the 

 place of plowing, but the present tendency is to plow 

 and harrow down the soil very thoroughly. With the 

 heavy loams the plowing is generally followed by hght 

 harrowing, supplemented by the use of the clod- 

 masher, corrugated roller or briUion. After the ground 

 is placed in good condition, frequent cultivations are 

 made. One of the best tools to use in such cases is 

 the Kimball weeder; this stirs the soil and prevents 

 drying or baking of the surface soil. Often as many as 

 eighteen harrowings are given diu-ing the summer- 

 time. By the middle of August or at such time as 

 the young trees have made sufficient growth, cultiva- 

 tion ceases, but with the heavier-bearing orchards 

 cultivation is generally continued up to the harvesting. 

 With the lighter soils, such as many of the volcanic 

 ash, after the ground has been plowed in the spring, 

 the tendency is to compact the ground more by the 

 use of subsoil packers or by dragging the ground with 

 floats. Such soils tend to blow out constantly and it is 

 only by these methods that the moisture can be re- 

 tained in the surface soil. 



Irrigation. — Irrigation becomes more and more a 

 factor to the Pacific Coast apple-grower east of the 

 Cascade Mountains where the rainfall is less than 1.5 

 inches. Irrigation is made to supplement tillage. The 

 water is appUed by the furrow or rill system, and as 

 soon as possible after irrigation the ground is thor- 

 oughly harrowed and, after becoming smooth, is kept 

 in good shape with smoothing harrows. Irrigation is 

 practised more with trees fifteen years of age and up 

 than with young trees. 



The growers are finding out that an abundant supply 

 of moisture either through intensive tillage or irriga- 

 tion tends to make the trees produce larger crops, makes 

 them annual bearers, increases the individual size of 

 the specimens and tends to make the fruit more elonga- 

 ted and of a liveUer, brighter color. In some cases too 

 much moisture is used, resulting in soft, poorly colored 

 fruit of poor shipping qualities. 



Fertilizers. — At the present time no commercial 

 fertilizers are being used. The growers, however, are 

 taking hold of cover-crops very enthusiastically. 

 Vetch becomes a principal crop, — the forage or Oregon 

 vetch in the region where the chmate is mild, and the 

 hairy vetch where the climate is severe. The vetch is 

 generally combined with rye, oats, or wheat, and is 

 drilled in by the latter part of August, about forty 

 pounds of vetch and ten pounds of rye being the com- 

 mon amount to use to the acre. Under normal con- 

 ditions, from 2 to 3 feet of growth can be reahzed by 

 early spring. 



Shade-crops. — In the irrigated sections where the 

 tcndencj- to use shade-crops is becoming common, 

 alfalfa and the clovers are the principal crops grown. 

 There is a great diflerence in ojiinion among the 

 growers whether alfalfa is a suitable crop to use as a 

 shade-crop, clovers being more commonly used. Some 

 growers practise growing clover for two years, cutting 

 it and allowing it to mat on the ground; while other 

 growers disk the clover under each year and allow it to 

 re.seed itself. The practice of growing shade-crops is 

 yet so new that it will be a number of years before the 

 growers unite on some practice, but a larger percentage 

 of growers are resorting to shade-crops each year. 



Thinning. — Nearly all varieties of apples are thinned 

 very carefully. The thinning generally begins as soon 

 as the drop is over, in .some places before the drop takes 

 place. The apples are thinned at various distances, 

 according to varieties. The red apples are generally 

 thinned one to a spur. With yellow apples, there is a 



tendency to leave two specimens on certain spurs but 

 to remove all the fruit from the remaining spurs. The 

 growers think that when this method is followed there is 

 a tendency to maintain the trees as annual bearers. The 

 distances apart vary extremely. Winesaps are thinned 

 from 8 to 10 inches apart, whereas the larger varieties 

 of apples are thinned rather sparingly, as they often 

 have a tendency to overgrow if thinned too vigorously. 



Pruning. — Most growers practise annual pruning. 

 The trees are started very low, the head being 9 to 18 

 inches from the ground. Most of the growers resort to 

 what is known as the open, goblet or vase tree. In this 

 tree, most of the branches issue from one point and the 

 trees are kept open constantly by rigorous pruning. 

 The growers think that more light is allowed to play 

 around the fruit by such a system and that a better 

 color is developed. During the first three years, the 

 trees are cut back very rigorously each spring, but as 

 they become older less heading-back is resorted to and 

 more thinning-out is practised. Many of the growers 

 are now leaning more to the modification of the center 

 tree, growing what is known as the modified center tree, 

 the leaders being allowed to grow for a few years and 

 then being suppressed. This system gives a better dis- 

 tribution of the branches and makes a stronger tiee, and 

 it also gives a larger fruiting area. Some growers 

 contend that varieties like the Yellow Newtown do 

 better if trained as leaders. 



There is much sentiment among the fruit-growers 

 on the Pacific Coast in favor of summer pruning. In 

 their enthusiasm, many of them are overdoing sum- 

 mer pruning. On the stronger loams certain varieties 

 like Yellow Newtown are slow in coming into bearing, 

 but on the lighter loams and higher altitudes come into 

 bearing in three to five years. In such cases summer 

 pruning is not resorted to. 



Pollination. — Pollination has become a subject to 

 which the Pacific Coast growers are paying a great 

 deal of attention and the orchards are now being 

 planted in oblong blocks of two to si.x rows of a 

 variety. It is felt that where this is practised, a larger 

 set of fruit is secitfed, that there is a greater uniformity 

 in the crop and a tendency for increase in size of speci- 

 mens. Formerly trees were planted in large blocks, but 

 the heavy shedding of fruit has caused the growers to 

 abandon this system and plant so that interpoUina- 

 tion can take place. 



Frost-fighting. — Frost-fighting is resorted to in many 

 of the mountain valleys that are early and subject to 

 damage from frosts. The most common method for 

 controlling is smudging with oil in pots. The last few 

 years many growers have been very successful in sav- 

 ing the crops under adverse conditions. See Orchard 

 Protection. 



Spraying. — Practically every grower has a spray 

 calendar which he follows very carefully. Power outfits 

 are used extensively and high pressure is maintained. 

 In all the older orchards, high platforms are built on 

 the spray outfits so the trees can be thoroughly covered 

 with spray. The principal diseases are the mildew, 

 found more in California and southern Oregon; apple 

 scab; apple tree anthracnose, or black spot. These are 

 about the only diseases that receive much attention. 

 Of the insect pests, the codlin-moth and aphis are the 

 most serious. The codhn-moth is distributed over the 

 entire district with the exception of the coast regions, 

 which arc free from this insect pest. The green aphis 

 attacks the young trees injuriously, and for the past 

 two years the brown aphis has been of serious menace 

 to the fruit. In some regions the brown aphis is now 

 doing more damage than the codlin-moth. The scale 

 insects, for the present time, receive very little atten- 

 tion, as they are so easily controlled. Occasionally the 

 red-spider and borers give considerable trouble. 



Packing. — The apples are all packed in boxes known 

 as the Northwest Standard, 103-2 " llJ-2 x 18 inches. 



