CARE AND SKILL IN THE ORCHARD 177 



the low trees recommends them. After all rotten apples, 

 pruned limbs and other refuse have been cleared up about 

 the orchard, the tree should be given a thorough spraying. 



If possible, one should choose a warm day for this 

 operation, so most of the insect pests crawling out to lie 

 in the sunlight will be exposed to the action of the spray- 

 ing solution. Special attention should be given old knots 

 and rough spots about the trees, as in these places the 

 fruit pests deposit their eggs for next season's crop and at 

 the same time many of these pests themselves are har- 

 boring: safe retreat till winter is over. 



There are several reasons for this fall spraying. It not 

 only destroys the insect pests, but their eggs, also, which 

 have been laid. After the spraying, the trees will be left 

 healthy and clean and free from the pests, while they are 

 developing their next season's crop. 



Fall is the best time in which to fertilize the orchard, as 

 a goodly portion of the fertility elements will have pene- 

 trated down to the root of trees before the ground freezes 

 up and the work of rejuvenation will have been well be- 

 gun when the spring opens. 



Where the orchard is young it will, of course, have to 

 be plowed after giving it a good coat of manure, straw, 

 cornstalks, etc. This is much more productive of good 

 results the following season than where the orchard is 

 fertilized during the spring. 



With the exception of raspberries, which should be at- 

 tended to early in the spring, all the small fruit bushes 

 should be pruned, sprayed and fertilized during the late 

 fall months. This will include gooseberries, currants, 

 blackberries, grape vines, etc. 



All fruit bushes or orchard trees which are where rab- 

 bits can reach them should be wrapped in thick paper, 

 gunny sacks, cornstalks, screen wire or the regular tree 

 protector, made of veneer, this protection extending 

 twenty-four inches from the ground. 



