Tramp down snow around the trunks to forestall injury from mice. Shake 

 the branches after a heavy snow or ice storm to prevent breaking 



Practically ruined by ice. Could have been prevented by promptness in 

 shaking the limbs. It will take many years for the trees to recover 



Incidental Care of the Fruit Garden — By s. w. Fletcher, 



REMEDYING THE ACCIDENTS OF WINTER — PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF 

 SUNSCALD — INJURIES FROM RABBIFS — WHY YOU SHOULD PRESERVE THE BIRDS 



Virginia 



ASSOCIATED with the four operations 

 most necessary in the average fruit 

 garden — tillage (or its substitute, mulching) ; 

 pruning and training; fertilizing; spraying — 

 are some others of less general importance, 

 but often equally necessary to success in 

 special cases. The gardener who is most 

 successful has a watchful eye for these details. 

 The incidental care of the fruit garden is 

 naturally less capable of being formulated 

 into rules and advice than the principles, 

 for each locality has its local problems. 



STAKING AND SHADING YOUNG TREES 



In localities having strong winds during the 

 summer, it may be necessary to stake some 

 of the smaller newly set trees, but if they are 

 planted deeply this precaution ought not to 

 be needed. If young trees are bent over by 

 the cultivator, or in any other way, staking 

 will help to remedy the difficulty. The 

 method of planting trees obliquely against 

 the wind, so that they will be blown up 

 straight, is common. It is preferable to 

 drive two stakes, one on each side of the tree, 

 and tie it with strips of burlap, cloth, or other 

 soft material, removing the stakes as soon as 

 the trees are established. Older trees that 

 have blown over may often be brought back 

 into good form in this way. A little staking 

 may save some trees from becoming mis- 

 shapen for life. 



PROTECTION FROM SUNSCALD 



In some parts of the country, especially in 

 the Mississippi Valley, in California, and 

 other Western States, young trees need to be 

 protected from sunscald. This is not caused, 

 as many still suppose, by the hot summer 

 sun, but by alternate freezing and thawing 

 of the bark in early spring, when severe cold 

 is apt to be quickly followed by warm sun- 



shine. The injury is mainly on the south 

 and southwest sides of the trunk; sometimes 

 the larger limbs are injured, especially after 

 a heavy pruning. Some varieties are in- 

 jured worse than others. The effect upon the 

 tree is easily recognizable. Brownish blisters 

 are raised, the bark begins to blacken and 

 decay, and eventually may slough off and 

 leave the wood exposed. Borers are apt to 

 begin work in these exposed places. 



The preventives of sunscald are low head- 

 ing, and shading. Fruit trees are commonly 

 headed one-half to two-thirds lower in the 

 West than in the East, mainly for this reason. 



Avoid very heavy pruning in regions where 



Bridge grafting, a bad -wound made by mice in 

 winter. The cions are cut wedge-shape on each 

 end and slipped beneath the bark 



72 



there is danger of sunscald; it is especially 

 dangerous to take out many limbs from the 

 middle of the tree, leaving the centre open. 

 Newly planted trees (which are most liable 

 to injury) should be shaded. In California 

 and some other parts of the West it is cus- 

 tomary to thrust a "shake" — a board 

 three feet long and six inches wide — into 

 the ground on the southwest side of the tree, 

 so that it shades the trunk from the after- 

 noon sun. In the Middle West young trees 

 are commonly enclosed with some kind of a 

 "tree protector." These are of wood, 

 paper, wire netting, laths, and other material. 

 The light-colored protectors are preferred. 

 Straw, tied about the trunk, affords a cheap, 

 effective protection. A roll of mosquito wire 

 netting is excellent, but does not last long. 

 Serviceable veneer protectors, from one to 

 three feet high, may now be bought very 

 cheaply. If the tree is headed low, and in- 

 clined slightly toward the south when planted 

 no protector may be needed on the hardier 

 varieties. Leave the protector on no longer 

 than is necessary, as it is apt to make the 

 bark tender, and it offers a convenient hiding- 

 place for insects. 



INJURIES FROM MICE, RABBITS, AND GOPHERS 



In all parts of the country field mice are 

 likely to girdle newly planted fruit trees. 

 The amateur is likely to overlook these 

 small enemies until after a severe winter, 

 when he finds half his young trees ruined. 



Two things can be done: the mice may 

 be kept away, and the injury may be repaired. 

 There are as many things recommended 

 for keeping mice from girdling fruit trees 

 as for keeping away borers. Most of them 

 are vile-smelling or poisonous washes, which 

 are supposed to keep away the mice or to 

 kill them when they begin to eat. Few 



