16 



had two and three year old trees in good form, I would prune 

 them about the same as I always would. If they were older, I 

 would cut them back fairly well. If they were very much 

 weakened in vigor and nearing the end of their bearing age, I 

 would cut them back severely. 



Mr. Mayo. I. would like to ask what your idea is in putting 

 in a new orchard where you have an old one. 



Mr. Blake. Would you plant a new orchard on the site of 

 an old one? 



Mr. Mayo. Yes. 



Mr. Blake. I would rather not do it for one or two years. 

 I think it would pay to put that land to some other crop for 

 a year or two and get it back into uniform shape. After the 

 trees are planted, it is not as easy to improve the soil. How- 

 ever, it might be possible, if the land was in a high state of 

 cultivation, to grpw an orchard there immediately after one 

 has been taken out, but I think it would be best to rotate it 

 for a year or two. 



Mr. Knowles. You spoke of dormant pruning giving vigor 

 to the tree. Now, up in New England here so much of a peach 

 tree will winterkill that we do not know which is going to live 

 and which is going to die. We hardly know" which branch is 

 going to bear and which branch isn't going to bear until towards 

 spring, and sometimes we are compelled to wait to ascertain 

 those facts before we can do any pruning at all, or we may 

 simply cut off the branches that are going to live and leave 

 those that are going to die, or cut off the branches that are going 

 to bear and leave those that are not going to bear, in dormant 

 pruning. 



Mr. Blake. Well, when you have winter injuries late in 

 the season, it does disarrange your program some. You do not 

 know in November or December what you are going to have 

 left in March or April, and sometimes it is necessary to prune 

 rather late in the spring. But by late winter and early spring, 

 you should know something about what your trees are likely 

 to do. 



Mr. Campbell. If a person has a roadside stand, what 

 would you recommend planting to come in between main vari- 

 eties of the Greensborough, Carman, Belle and Elberta? 



