THE UNPRODUCTIVE ORCHARD. 



apples. 



NE of the most discouraging 

 features of fruit growing is 

 unproductiveness on the part 

 of orchards of bearing age of 

 The Baldwin has developed this 

 fault to an alarming extent in some fine 

 orchards in the Niagara peninsula which 

 have been planted twenty-five or thirty 

 years. The Kitchen orchard for example, 

 over thirty years planted has never given 

 more than three or four real good crops 

 and is now being taken out root and 

 branch. The E. J. Wolverton orchard is 

 following after much the same fault, 

 although in 1896 it yielded a tremendous 

 crop. As we remarked in our last article 

 (p. 344) on unproductive orchards, this 

 evil may result from soil uncongenial to 

 the apple ; viz., a sandy loam, of such 

 natural depth and fertility that the wood 

 growth is stimulated rather than the 

 fruit production. This is substant- 

 iated to some extent by the produc- 

 tiveness of the same variety on clay soil 

 under good cultivation, where the fruit 

 is also better colored. Bailey suggests a 

 startling possibility in his Principles of 

 Fruit Growing, namely that after years of 

 unproductiveness, trees may perhaps be- 



come so fixed in this bad habit of unpro- 

 ductiveness that no amount of good treat- 

 ment can make them bear satisfactorily. 

 Another explanation may be in the propa- 

 gation of the variety. We all know that 

 certain trees in an orchard have a tend- 

 ency towards scanty fruit bearing, and 

 cions cut from such a tree would perpetu- 

 ate the fault. Nurserymen seldom con- 

 sider this, and cut their scions indiscri- 

 minately, and possibly this may explain 

 the wide spread unproductiveness of the 

 Baldwin. 



Now for a remedy. First let us say 

 we would recommend digging out the 

 orchard unless it is comparatively young. 

 There is too much value in the fine 

 trees of fifteen or twenty years growth, 

 to throw it away in a brush heap and 

 then begin de novo with new plantings. 

 We would advise top grafting with a 

 variety that is productive. The Ontario, 

 for example, has all the excellence of 

 Spy as winter export apple, and is almost 

 over productive of large even sized fruit. 

 If the unproductive Spy was top grafted 

 with it or some other first class produc- 

 tive variety no doubt the result would 

 be most satisfactory. 



The Report of the Commissioners 

 on the San Jos£ scale has just been 

 published. The following are the sug- 

 gestions made : — 



' ' That the utmost care be taken to prevent 

 the scale from spreading. 



That valuable trees be not destroyed when 

 it may seem possible to save them without 

 serious risk of infesting neighboring orchards. 



That the owners of orchards, especially 

 those who are directly interested by infesta- 

 tion or exposure, be enlisted as far as possible 



by and with the official workers in the effort 

 to exterminate the scale. 



That a brief circular of instruction in re- 

 gard to the most important facts in the life 

 history of scale-insects, and of the San Jose 

 scale in particular, and the approved methods 

 of treatment be prepared at once and sent to 

 every orchardist in the infested areas. 



That a plan, something like that submitted 

 herewith, be adopted, to encourage every 

 owner of an orchard in the Province to make 

 a careful inspection of his orchard next win- 

 ter, with a view to discover whether or not 

 there is any San Jose scale in it." 



390 



