October, 1910 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



in 



Water-sprouts — ^the first sign of neglect 



up. This may be done by shallow plowing, 

 but, on account of the roots being so near 

 the surface the cut-away harrow will pro- 

 duce better results. By going over the 

 ground several times in various directions 

 the cut-away harrow will put the soil into 

 fine condition. Where only a few trees 

 are considered, the soil may be broken up 

 with a spade. The main object of cultiva- 

 tion is to maintain a good supply of moisture 

 in the soil. This is accomplished by keeping 

 a fine soil mulch on the surface. Cultivation 

 should be continued persistently until mid- 

 summer, when a cover crop of rye or clover 

 should be sown. The latter is preferred 

 where it may be made to grow. This cover 

 crop is to be turned under in the following 

 spring. The turning under of a green crop 

 of this kind serves several useful purposes, 

 chief among which is the improving of the 

 physical and chemical condition of the soil. 



The fertilizer treatment for the first year 

 will consist chiefly in supplying potash, lime, 

 and phosphoric acid. In view of the stimu- 

 lating effect of the severe pruning and culti- 

 vation, it is not advisable to further stimu- 

 late growth by the application of nitrogenous 

 fertilizers. The other elements of plant- 

 food are necessary, however, for the de- 

 velopment of fruit and for carrying on the 

 vital processes connected with the develop- 

 ment of the tree. For the first year, then, 

 a suitable application would consist of 200 

 pounds of sulphate or muriate of potash 

 and 400 pounds of basic slag to the acre. 

 The quantity required for each tree may 

 be ascertained by dividing these quantities 

 by 30. The basic slag contains both 

 phosphoric acid and lime. 



This application should be made annually 

 and harrowed in in the spring, immediately 

 after plowing. Stable manure may be 



substituted for these chemicals, but, as a 

 rule, it is too strongly nitrogenous for the 

 first year of renovation. If a cover crop 

 of clover is turned under every year, there 

 will be little need of nitrogenous fertilizers. 

 If the cover crop should fail, however, an 

 application of 150 pounds of nitrate of soda 

 to the acre should be applied the following 

 spring. 



THE GRASS MULCH SYSTEM 



Good apples may be grown on trees that 

 are not tilled. A substitute for tillage is 

 what has come to be known as the grass- 

 mulch system. Instead of the loose soil 

 mulch, this system depends upon a mulch 

 of stable manure, straw, or other coarse 

 material, to prevent the evaporation of 

 moisture from the soil. If a liberal mulch 

 in the form of stable manure is applied, 

 good results may be expected. A large 

 wagon load to each tree is not too much. 

 The mulch should be appHed early in the 

 spring and should be spread out so as to 

 cover the whole surface of the ground. 

 There are many cases where it is neither 

 convenient nor practical to break up the 

 sod around the apple-trees, and in such 

 cases this system may be employed to good 

 advantage. While apples grown on sod are 

 usually somewhat smaller, they are almost 

 always more highly colored than those grown 

 on trees that have been under cultivation. 



SAN JOSE SCALE 



Probably more trees have been killed 

 outright by the scale than from any other 

 cause. With this insect so completely dis- 

 tributed over the country, spraying becomes 

 imperative in order to save the trees. For 

 the control of this pest in small plantations, 

 the most convenient remedy is the use of 

 one of the miscible, or so-called "soluble," 

 oils. These may be purchased at from 

 fifty cents to one dollar per gallon, depend- 

 ing upon the quantity, and each gallon may 

 be diluted with fifteen parts of water. This 

 should be applied just after pruning, or 

 any time before the buds burst. The im- 

 portant point about the work is to thoroughly 

 cover every portion of the bark. The insects 

 are so small that their presence is often un- 

 observed until much damage has been done. 

 The concentrated hme-sulphur wash, of 

 which there are many brands on the market, 

 when diluted at the rate of one to eight, 

 may also be depended upon to control the 

 scale. 



SUMMER SPRAYING 



Besides the winter spraying for scale, it is 

 usually necessary, if clean fruit is wanted, 

 to spray at least once or twice during the 

 summer for the control of the apple worm, 

 several kinds of leaf-eating insects, and 

 certain diseases that are always present. 

 This summer spray consists of a poison 

 and a fungicide. The poison most generally 

 employed is arsenate of lead, which is used 

 at the rate of three pounds to iifty gallons 

 of water. Bordeaux mixture has been the 

 standard fungicide of the past fifteen or 



Lichens or "moss" — the second stage of neglect 



twenty years, but on account of its russeting 

 effect upon the fruit, and its burning effect 

 upon the foliage, it is fast falling into dis- 

 favor. 



Some growers have omitted the fungicide 

 entirely, while others have come to use a 

 much diluted lime-sulphur wash. From 

 our present knowledge of the subject it 

 would seem that best results may be ob- 

 tained by using about one gallon of the 

 commercial lime-sulphur wash to fifty gal- 

 lons of the arsenate of lead solution. The 

 first application should be made just before 

 the fruit buds open; the second, just after 

 the blossoms fall, and the third about two 

 weeks later. The second application is the 

 most important, and, if only one is given, it 

 should be the one just after the blossoms 

 fall. 



THE SPRAY PUMP 



There are a good many spray pumps on 

 the market. The important point about 

 the selection of a .spray pump is to get one 

 with sufficient power to produce a fine spray. 

 The spray mixture needs to be appUed in 

 the form of a mist rather than a stream. A 

 good force pump mounted on a barrel is 

 sufficient. It will be necessary to have a 

 twelve or fourteen-foot extension rod so as 

 to reach the tops of the trees. Sometimes 

 with very high trees, it is necessary to use 

 a ladder or an elevated platform on a wagon. 



There is no operation connected with the 

 whole project that is especially difficult, 

 and any one with ordinary intelligence may 

 expect success from the renovation of old 

 apple-trees. As mentioned at the outset, 

 all that is necessary is courage, determina- 

 tion, and common sense. The courage 

 will be necessary when it comes to cutting 

 out superfluous trees and "'dehorning" the 

 remaining ones; the determination will be 

 especially needed when it comes to fighting 

 the scale, and common sense should dominate 

 the whole work. 



