Pruning, Planting, and Getting 

 Ready for Winter 



WHEN the crops are all harvested, there is still 

 plenty of work to be done in the orchard. 

 Planting new trees may be attended to after the 

 leaves fall- and until the ground freezes; but, for 

 most fruits, I do not advise fall planting except 

 south of New York, though it may be done 

 as a matter of convenience. In the Southern 

 States, where the conditions are different, fall 

 planting can be made successful; but in the North, 

 the main difficulty is heaving. The roots do not 

 have sufficient time to grow large enough to hold 

 the tree or plant in place, and freezing and thawing 

 may throw them out. This can be prevented to 

 a certain extent by placing a mound of earth, 

 or heavy mulch, close around the trees after 

 planting. Hardy trees, adapted to the climate, 

 if weU planted in late fall, generally go through 

 the winter successfully. 



Raspberries and blackberries are best planted 

 in the fall just as soon as the leaves are off, but 

 be sure to plant them in well drained soil that does 

 not heave very much by freezing and thawing. 

 Strawberries can be quite successfully planted 

 in October and November, if the bed is heavily 

 mulched after planting. When bedded and not 

 potted plants are used, it is a waste of material to 

 plant earlier, for only part of the plants will be well 

 rooted. However, in a cold climate, there are good 

 reasons for doing nearly all transplanting in the 

 spring, and the fruit grower can find plenty of 

 other work that needs to be done in the fall. 



The best time and the only right time to prune 

 grapes is in the late fall and early winter. When 

 the crop is harvested begin to prune, having some 

 general plan or system in mind. Some modifica- 

 tion of the Kniffin system is good for a general plan. 



In the family vineyard I do not prune as closely 

 as do some commercial growers; I like considerable 

 fohage, because the more leaves on the vines the 

 greater the feeding surface, the larger the growth 

 of cane, and the larger the crops. I put up three 

 wires on the posts, the first two feet from the 

 ground and the others about two feet apart. I 

 carry the main stem to the top wire, where it is 

 headed T-shaped, and laterals are also trained 

 along the lower wires. After the three vines are 

 estabhshed on the wires, I prune by cutting off 

 the season's growth of wood to form spurs. The 

 cut is made a few inches from the main vine 

 established on the wires. It must be understood 

 that fruit grows only on the new wood, and a 

 sufficient number of spurs should be left to pro- 

 duce wood for next year. Some varieties require 

 closer pruning than others. 



When pruning grapes in the fall, the strongest, 

 healthiest wood of the same year's growth can be 

 selected for propagation. Cut so as to leave two 

 or three eyes on each piece. Park these in a box 

 of soil and keep in the cellar until spring when 

 they may be set out in a propagating bed. 



During November the tender varieties of cane 

 and vine fruits, should be layered and covered 

 with soil. Raspberries are the most easily bent 

 down and covered. Do not pinch back at any 

 time m the summer, but allow the vines to grow 

 naturally, then dig away the soil on one side, 

 bend the cane carefully down to the ground and 

 cover with a few inches of soil. In Delaware 

 Co., N. Y., I have found that Cuthbert and Marl- 

 borough raspberries are not entirely hardy on low 

 rich soil and do not always go through the winter 



without injury. I also lay down the \'ines of 

 Niagara grapes because they sometimes winter-kill. 



People who are trying to grow semi-hardy fruits, 

 hke peaches and apricots, where the chmate is 

 too cold for them should protect them in some way, 

 especially if they are growing on low ground. 

 About the best way I know of to winter peaches 

 in this locality is to train them against the side 

 of a building, cover the branches with a thin layer 

 of straw and tack burlap over the straw. Tender 

 trees on treUises can be protected in the same way. 



It will reduce the labor next spring if all the 

 weeds are pulled out of the strawberry bed in the 

 late fall, before the ground freezes. The best time 

 to mulch the strawberry bed is when the ground 

 first freezes, although it can be done whenever 

 growth has stopped, if the ground is firm enough 

 to drive on. Probably the ideal mulching mate- 

 rial is cut rye, wheat, oat, or buckwheat straw, 

 although uncut straw does very well. Strawy 

 manure — that from the horse stable is best — • 

 may be used, and is desirable if the soil lacks 

 fertility, but it generally seeds the soil to weeds 

 and grass, which makes it difficult to run the bed 

 another year. One can generally use what is 

 most available for mulching — leaves held down 

 by branches or corn stalks, refuse vines from the 

 garden, evergreen branches. Use anything that 

 will prevent the ground from thawing and freez- 

 ing in the spring, and throwing out the plants, 

 and also will retain moisture in summer, for these 

 are the two main reasons for mulching strawberries. 



If one prefers to prune fruit trees before cold 

 weather, when it can be done more comfortably, 

 begin with the apple trees as soon as the fruit is 

 harvested and the leaves have fallen. 



Currant bushes that need pruning should be 

 pruned in the late fall; and for the small garden, 



A screen of tin. such as this, protects a tree against 

 rabbits, field mice, and also borers 



184 



it is well to prune to the tree form. This should 

 have been planned for when the bush was planted. 

 When pruning for the tree form, cut off all but the 

 strongest stem, then let this grow naturally, 

 cutting off only side branches, when too close 

 together, in a way that makes a well balanced 

 and symmetrical tree. One reason for pruning 

 currants in the fall, is that the young wood that 

 is cut off can be used for propagating if preserved 

 until spring, in the same way as grape cuttings. 

 Gooseberries can be pruned in the same way, 

 but as they are not so easily propagated by cut- 

 tings as the grape and currant, the amateur may 

 fail with them. Gooseberries are most easily 

 propagated by layering; therefore gooseberries, 

 may be pruned whenever the wood is dormant. 

 More, but smaller, fruit wiU be obtained by letting 

 both currants and gooseberries grow naturally 

 in the bush form. 



New York W. H. Jenkens. 



Protecting Trees From Rabbits 



MY FIRST experience in protecting trees from 

 borers, rabbits, field mice, etc., was with 

 a planting of ten acres of young apple, peach and 

 pear trees. The trees were hardly established 

 before borers were at work, and digging them out 

 was about the only successful method of removing 

 them. In early winter rabbits began to gnaw 

 the tender bark and many of the apple trees were 

 girdled and thus destroyed. We immediately 

 began a campaign against the rabbits by shooting 

 and trapping them. Although the number killed 

 was large there was no apparent diminution in 

 the number, so we tried using washes, etc. Few 

 were really effective for any length of time. None 

 that I know of is so effective as to justify the labor 

 and expense of the frequent applications necessary. 

 Some washes commonly recommended are really 

 injurious to young trees. 



The first thing that we tried that proved to be 

 of real lasting benefit was a wrapper of wire screen. 

 This was made by rolling a piece of wire screen 

 around a broom handle to shape it, and then plac- 

 ing it around the tree. This protected not only 

 against rabbits but also field-mice, which are so 

 often destructive when the snow hes deep. If 

 properly put on, the screen protectors effectively 

 prevent either mice or rabbits from reaching the 

 tree, unless the snow drifts about the tree suffi- 

 ciently deep to render them ineffective. 



After experimenting with protectors for a num- 

 ber of years, we at last hit on a plan that seemed 

 to discourage the borer as well as the mice and 

 rabbits. For the last two years we have used 

 tin — not new and expensive tin but old tin pro- 

 cured from roofs, etc. We cut it into strips the 

 proper size and place it about the tree in the 

 same manner as the screen protectors are put 

 on. The tin does not rust out in a year or two, 

 as does the screen, and has the added advantage 

 of protecting against the borers. The fact is 

 that the dark space between the tree and the 

 tin makes an ideal hiding place for spiders, 

 and I have yet to examine one in summer time 

 that has not been filled so full of spider webs 

 as to make it practically impossible for an adult 

 borer to get in there to lay her eggs. The tins 

 should be carefully put on, however, to prevent 

 injury to the growing trees, and be neither too 

 tight nor too loose. Canker worms and coddling 

 moths are likely to hibernate behind them if left 

 undisturbed for too long at a time. 



Frank C. Pellett 



