1905 FRUITS OF ONTARIO. 17 



All torn, bruised, or injured roots should be cut back, with smooth cuts, to 

 sound wood. Smooth cuts callous over quickly and new roots are the more read- 

 ily sent out. Trees obtained from the nursery, no matter how carefully they may 

 have been taken up, have lost the greater part of their root system, and in order 

 that they may make a satisfactory growth when transplanted the top must also be 

 cut back to a similar extent to restore the balance. This cutting back, however, 

 can be most satisfactorily done after the trees are planted, when they are held 

 firmly by the soil, and more careful attention can be given to shaping the head of 

 the young tree. Closely associated with the heading back of the top at the initial 

 pruning of the tree, is the question of determining the height at which the head 

 should be formed. On this, as in many other points of orchard management, there 

 is a variety of opinions. Some prefer high heads, because of the greater con- 

 venience for cultivation and working underneath ; while others prefer them low, 

 because of the greater convenience in pruning, spraying, and harvesting. There 

 are other reasons, however, why low headed trees are preferable; in exposed loca- 

 tions the trees and crop are less likely to suffer from violent winds, and in north- 

 ern localities the trees with short trunks and low spreading branches are much 

 less subject to injury from sun scald, the most serious tree trouble of the north. 

 At the Algoma Fruit Experiment Station it has been found advisable to start the 

 head not more than a couple of feet from the ground, while in the more favored 

 sections the custom is to have at least four feet of trunk. This is the height at 

 which the head is usually started on two or three year old trees as obtained from 

 the nursery, and for this reason it is better for the northern planter to get two 

 year old, rather than three or four year old trees, so that he can start the head 

 at whatever height he wishes. In this connection it may be stated that tree 

 trunks do not lengthen, except by pruning off the lower branches, so that at 

 whatever distance from the ground the lower branches are left, that will be the 

 permanent length of the trunk. 



Three branches are enough to leave to form the main limbs or framework 

 of the tree top. These should be evenly spaced around the trunk to give a well 

 balanced and symmetrical top, and they should also be placed on the trunk so as 

 to distribute evenly the weight of the top and avoid bad crotches which are 

 liable to split down with weight of crop. It is particularly important at this stage 

 that great care should be taken to train the young tree in the way it should go, 

 and much can be done in training and directing growth by heading back to buds 

 pointing in the direction we wish the new branch to take. 



Care of the Orchard after Planting. 



In a newly-planted orchard the trees occupy but a small portion of the land, 

 and they cannot be expected to give any returns for at least five or six years. 

 It is advisable, therefore, that some other crop be grown in the orchard which 

 will pay for the labor spent upon it till the apple trees come into bearing and 

 require all the space. It is by injudicious cropping, however, that young orchards 

 are often most seriously injured. It should not be forgotten that the apple trees 

 are the first consideration, and that whatever cropping is done in the orchard 

 must not interfere with them in the least. 



In some cases the spaces between the trees may be planted with small fruits, 

 such as raspberries, currants, or gooseberries, but these should not be planted 

 within nine or ten feet of the tree, nor should they occupy ground more than six 



or seven years. 



Hoe crops, such as corn, roots, potatoes, etc., have generally been recom- 

 mended as the best to grow in the orchard, because of the opportunity they 

 afford for cultivation. This may be all right as far as it goes, but these crops 



2 F.O. 



