117 



An orchard ladder, properly constructed, is a very handy 

 appliance when pruning trees and gathering fruit. 



Orchard ladders of several designs are made. Some consist of 

 a pole of a fibrous kind of timber, such as stringy-bark, bound with 

 a, strong band of hoop-iron a foot or so from the top end ; this will 

 prevent the pole, which is sawn to that point, splitting when the 

 two lower ends are stretched and the rungs fastened. 



Hinged, four-footed step-ladders, like the one here illustrated, 

 are, as a rule, clumsy appliances, which are inconvenient on hill- 

 side or uneven ground, besides 

 being heavy and easily dislocated. 

 Those found ready-made for sale 

 in shops are often so lightly made 

 as to be of little use in the orchard. 

 Yarnish or wax paper is found 

 useful for preventing wounds, 

 caused by the removal of a large 

 limb, cracking and decaying owing 

 to exposure ; it also promotes a 

 more speedy healing. For that 

 purpose gum shellac is often used. 

 It is made by dissolving in a little 

 strong alcohol as much gum shellac 

 as will make the varnish of the 

 An Undesirable Fruit Ladder. consistency of paint. This varnish 



is kept in a well-corked flask, with 



a [mouth wide enough to admit a brush, and is thus always ready 

 for use. It is applied over the cut surface, well pared with the 

 knife. Other good coverings for wounds made in pruning are also 

 common white lead paint, grafting wax, coal tar, in the order named. 

 The last-named is often a hindrance, while pine tar is even some- 

 what detrimental to healing. 



CUTTING TO A BUD. 



It is important before cutting off a branch of a tree or a rod of 

 a, vine to make sure that the last bud left on the plant, and which 

 is intended to prolong the growth of the plant, is a sound, plump 

 one, likely to grow, or whether it has accidentally been rubbed off or 

 otherwise destroyed. Such a terminal bud should be a leaf bud, 

 and not a fruit bud. 



Leaf buds differ from fruit buds in being more elongated, 

 flattened, and more pointed in the same species of plants ; they 

 are either single, or give growth to single shoots, or double and 

 even triple, when grouped in small clusters, two or three together, 

 ;as in the case of stone fruits, they produce either leaves or 

 branches. 



