March, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



73 



washes are uniformly successful, although 

 some work all right in certain sections. 

 The most practical method for the home 

 fruit grower is to bank the trees with soil 

 from six to twelve inches high each fall, con- 

 tinuing this until the trees are six or seven 

 years old. Mice will not climb these mounds. 

 The banking also serves to steady the trees 

 in the wind, and provides drainage. Be- 

 fore leaving the tree for the winter, level 

 off the hole from which the soil for banking 

 is taken. 



If banking is not done, it will be necessary 

 to remove all litter, as mulch, weeds, sod, or a 

 cover crop, for a foot each side of the trunk. 

 When snow comes, tramp it around the base 

 of the tree. These precautions usually pre- 

 vent mice from getting at the tree. A roll 

 of wire netting, such as is used for protect- 

 ing a tree from sunscald, will also protect 

 it from mice. 



Rabbits are a nuisance to the fruit garden 

 only in thinly settled parts of the country. 

 I counted seventy-five of them one morning 

 in a large orchard in the state of Washing- 

 ton. Preventives are of two kinds: protect- 

 ing the body of the tree with wire netting, 

 as for mice; and applying an obnoxious or 

 poisonous wash. In the East a boy and a 

 dog are more effective against them than 

 most washes. 



Gophers make trouble in some fruit gar- 

 dens, and are much more difficult to handle 

 than rabbits, as a rule. They may be poi- 

 soned by putting a few grains of strychnine 

 into a piece of fruit or vegetable, the poison 

 being inserted into a knife cut. Place these 

 baits far down into the fresh burrows with 

 a long-handled spoon. Various gopher 

 traps are offered for sale, and may catch 

 some if the trapper has patience. The 

 trap should be inserted into the hole its full 

 length, pressed into the soil, and lightly 

 covered with grass or weeds. 



REPAIRING GIRDLED TREES 



If a tree is so badly girdled that there is 

 little prospect of its closing the wound by 

 the growth of callus, it may pay to bridge- 

 graft it. Only choice trees would repay this 

 trouble. In early spring, when cleft-grafting 



Whitewashing softens the bark and promotes 

 vigorous growth. Strong soapsuds or lye are 

 equally effective 



is done, trim the edges of the wound down to 

 green bark, cut cions as for cleft-grafting, 

 but wedge shape at each end, and long enough 

 to reach across the wound. Insert one end 

 under the inner bark flatwise on the upper 

 side of the wound, and the other end under 

 the bark on the lower side of it. Put the 

 cions within two inches of each other, pref- 

 erably closer. Tie strips of cloth tightly 

 around the upper and lower ends of the 

 cions so as to bring the two cambium layers 

 together firmly. Cover the whole, both cions 

 and exposed wood, with melted wax. Rub 

 off shoots from the cions. The cions should 

 grow together, and completely bridge the 

 wound in a few years. Other bad body 

 wounds can be treated in the same way, 

 provided they are not too long or too old. 



HOW TO HANDLE BIRDS THAT STEAL FRUIT 



In many parts of the country certain birds 

 are a nuisance to the gardener when the 



fruit is ripening. Cherries, strawberries, 

 grapes, and Japanese persimmons are most 

 commonly attacked, but none of the soft 

 fruits are exempt. The chief offenders, 

 aside from the robins, are various finches, 

 and sometimes quails. Some of these 

 disbud the trees in winter, and some eat the 

 fruit. Aside from humane considerations, 

 which ought to be sufficient to secure pardon 

 for the offenders in most cases, the bug- 

 killing services of the birds are usually 

 worth more to the gardener than the fruits 

 they eat. In some parts of the country the 

 birds that attack fruit are often poisoned, 

 and unavoidably some harmless birds with 

 them. It is not necessary to resort to this 

 method in the fruit garden. 



Three things may be done to alleviate the 

 bird nuisance: the first is to grow enough 

 fruit so that the birds can have a share. 

 This is a charitable, easy-going sort of plan, 

 but it commends itself to many people. If 

 Russian mulberries are planted near cherries, 

 the robins will leave the cherries and go to 

 the mulberries. Other people, perhaps 

 more energetic, demand some means of 

 scaring off the pests. Scarecrows are some- 

 times serviceable, but a keen-witted robin 

 usually sees through this transparent de- 

 vice. One of the best ways is to fire off 

 blank cartridges at the birds; the noise 

 will scare them away for a time. The most 

 successful method is to cover the fruit plants 

 with bird netting. This can be bought 

 cheaply, and lasts several seasons. It can 

 be used most easily on strawberries, but can 

 also be used to cover cherry, Japanese per- 

 simmon, and other trees on which the fruit 

 is badly pecked by birds. The use of bird 

 netting in the fruit garden is entirely prac- 

 ticable. Probably it could not be made 

 practicable in a commercial orchard, but 

 it will save much disappointment to the 

 gardener, and he can enjoy the robins during 

 the remainder of the year. 



SCRAPING, WHITEWASHING, SOAPING, AND 

 SLITTING THE TRUNKS 



If fruit trees have received good care, es- 

 pecially if they have been sprayed with 

 Bordeaux or lime-sulphur, there is no ad_ 



Prevent trees from splitting before too late. A brace of iron bolts, 

 nuts screwed on the ends. Don't girdle the limbs 



A living brace in an apple tree. Two suckers, one from each limb, were 

 twisted together when small and have grown together firmly 



