ORCHARD NOTES. 75 



Those orchards which were not pruned last spring should be 

 treated at once; all dead wood being- removed and injured 

 branches being shortened, to give the new wood a chance to 

 develop. In many cases, too, if a vigorous growth was made 

 last season, cions may be set which will aid in re-forming a 

 good top. 



To prevent future injury in this way, avoid allowing the trees 

 to be over loaded with fruit. The fact that as many barrels of 

 fruit may be secured, with much less strain on the vitality of the 

 trees, as a result of systematic thinning, has been fully demon- 

 strated ; and the price received for such thinned fruit will usually 

 be enough higher to pay cost of labor. In fact the fruit must 

 be harvested at some time, and it is wiser to remove wormy and 

 deformed fruit in August, rather than in October. 



Proper cultivation and feeding will go far toward putting 

 trees in condition to withstand a severe winter; but in no case 

 should cultivation be continued later than August ist to loth. 

 A cover crop of some kind sown at the time of last cultivation 

 will often aid in checking late growth of trees. 



Young trees which fail to mature their wood before cold 

 weather, frequently suffer. Such trees should have the young 

 wood pinched back about the time of the first frost, — about the 

 middle of September at Orono ; two weeks later in the southern 

 part of the State. 



MICE). 



More complaint as to winter injury by mice was heard during 

 the past season, than since 1891. Whole orchards of bearing 

 age were ruined. The attention of the writer was called to trees 

 ten inches in diameter which were almost completely girdled. 

 This condition was of course due to the very severe winter with 

 the prevailing deep snows from early December till late in 

 March. While so much trouble may not be experienced again 

 for some years, it is liable to occur at any time ; and the careful 

 orchardist will not only repair past injuries but, -as far as pos- 

 sible, prevent future ones. 



Any ordinary case of girdling by mice may easily be repaired 

 by " bridge grafting." This consists simply in trimming the 

 edges of the mangled bark back to where it is firm and healthy^ 

 and inserting cions at intervals of an inch or two around the 

 girdled portion. This is done by raising the bark, both above 



