STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 71 



of acres are being planted annually to find their market directly 

 across the lake in the cities of Milwaukee and Chicago. These 

 lands, however, have been but recently reclaimed from their origi- 

 nal forest growth of pine and maple and are rich in all elements of 



plant life. 



PLANT FOOD IS PLANT LIFE. 



We have ever believed in the most liberal feeding possible for all 

 fruits that are produced, but we believe this often requires the exer- 

 cise of greater intelligence than is possessed by the average farmer, 

 and we rejoice that our experiment stations are affording informa- 

 tion and aid that is enabling the fruit grower to apply science to his 

 work as never before. 



AVe for years labored under the impression that the more barn- 

 yard manure we could give our plum trees the better. It was a 

 mifetakc, too much nitrogen and too great a growth of immature 

 wood with a corresponding growth of fungi as the result. Latterly 

 we have asceitaiucd that potash and ])hosphoric acid give us a 

 hardfr, better wood, more rugged foliage and fruit buds better 

 fitted to pioduce a heavy crop of fruit. Wood ashes alone are very 

 valuable, and if called upou to decide the question as between wood 

 • ashes and barn-yard manure, we should certainly take the ashes. 

 The question is of len asked me, when would you apply them and in 

 what quantities? I should say at any time when we had leisure, 

 and all that we can get money to pay for. 



PRUNING. 



Judicious pruning and thorough thinning of the fruit are each 

 important factors of the work we have in hand, and neither can be 

 ignored except at an incalculable loss in the future- of our orchards. 

 "Train up a child in the way he should go" comes in with equal 

 force when applied to the growing young plum orchard. 



Beginning with the second year after planting, the young orchard 

 should be looked over carefully annually, and the previous year's 

 growth should be cut in, removing from one-fourth to one-half of such 

 growth, thus forming a strong compact head and the development 

 of the fruit spurs near the body of th^ tree, where the future crop 

 may be carried with safety against violent storms and lessening the 

 liability of the limbs being broken and split into pieces. 



It should be borne in mind that the wood of the plum lacks the 

 tension which is found in the apple and pear, hence, will not stand 



