ROEDING'S FRUIT GROWERS' GUIDE 



POINTS TO BE OBSERVED 



It is the consensus of opinion among commercial 

 growers that trees should be planted from twenty-five 

 to thirty feet apart in orchard form. Crab apples 

 may be planted closer. Trees should be .cut back to 

 twenty inches from the top of the ground after being 

 set, except in the higher altitudes, where the snow in 

 settling would cause the branches to break off, thus 

 making it advisable to head the trees at not less than 

 two feet from the ground. Apples are very much sub- 

 ject to sun scald and to the attack of the flat-headed 

 borer the first few years after trees are set out. When 

 headed low, protected with tree protectors, permitting 

 of free circulation of air, and by giving the stem a coat- 

 ing of whitewash to which has been added soap and 

 crude carbolic acid, little danger need be apprehended 

 from either of these evils. The wash is made in the fol- 

 lowing manner: Dissolve one-half gallon of soft soap 

 in one-half gallon of hot water, adding one-fourth pint 

 of crude carbolic acid. When mixing add five gallons 

 of hot water and enough lime to make a mixture the 

 consistency of paint. 



SHAPING THE TREE 



In forming the head of the tree no branches closer 

 than one foot from the surface of the ground should be 

 allowed to grow. The following winter they should be 

 cut back at least one-half and thinned out so as not to 

 leave more than four branches to form the framework, 

 and these should be distributed in such a manner as not 

 to crowd one another as the tree develops. Each one 



A four-year-old Apple tree with a well balanced head. 



The same tree with the leaders and laterals shortened in. 

 It has reached the point where it is in shape to produce a 

 crop of fruit. 



of these branches should be regarded as a subdivision 

 to maintain the wood supply to eventually form a per- 

 fectly vase-formed tree. The second winter not more 

 than two laterals should be allowed to grow from the 

 framework branches, and if there is a tendency to 

 crowd, not more than one, and its growth should again 

 be shortened very severely. The tendency as far as 

 possible should be to prune to an outside bud for the 

 first two winters' pruning. With the head now prac- 

 tically formed, the orchardist must shape the tree in 

 accordance with its 'development, leaving and shorten- 

 ing in the inside laterals if they show a tendency to 

 spread out, or if the inclination is to assume too upright 

 a form, cause them to spread by leaving the outside 

 laterals. The cutting back of the trees and judicious 

 thinning prevent the long bare branches so noticeable 

 in trees which have not been systematically pruned 

 every winter. The effect of this method of pruning is 

 to cause the structural branches to be sturdier, the load 

 of fruit is carried closer to the trunk and even with a 

 very heavy crop of fruit the necessity of propping is 

 eliminated very largely. Props are an expensive item 

 and they also interfere very materially with the harvest- 

 ing of the crop, so that a method of pruning which will 

 dispense with them is worthy of very careful consid- 

 eration. 



ROOTS 



The stock generally used for budding or grafting the 

 apple is Mains communis, common apple. These stocks 



