20 



SUCCESSFUL I'KUIT CULTURE 



Orchardists are now training their trees with a 

 head niucli lower than formerly, because of the many 

 advantages of the low-headed tree. The pruning is 

 more easily done, the trunk is less exposed to the hot 

 sun and drying winds; thinning and spraying can be 

 more easily done, the fruit will be more easily and 

 cheaply gathered and the fruit that falls to the ground 

 M'ill be less injured in the fall, and with modern tools, 

 like the spring-tooth harrow or the cutaway orchard 

 harrow, as good work can Ise done as if the heads were 

 trained five or six feet high. Figure 8 illustrates a 

 well-formed low-headed tree and Figure 9 shows the 

 same tree in blossom. 



TIME FOR PLANTING 



The best tiino for setting out apple trees will 

 depend somewhat on the season. When the trees are 



isij*^^ 



Fig. 10— Two Methods of Heeling=In 



taken from the home nursery, or can be obtained near 

 home, so that they will be but a few hours out of 

 the ground, and when they ripen their buds by the last 

 of October or early November, the fall is the best time 

 for planting unless on land very much exposed to cold, 

 drying winds. But if the trees grow late in the fall 

 and are purchased from nurseries at a long distance 



