September, 1909 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



63 



heart and raise the enthusiasm of the ama- 

 teur — a large and rapidly increasing element 

 of our population. The home of dwarf 

 fruit trees in America is the suburban garden. 



What a Commercial Orchardist 

 Thinks 



By G. T. Powell, New York 



AT Orchard Farm we have been making 

 a study of, and have for five years 

 been experimenting with, dwarf trees, to 

 ascertain how far they may be suitable for 

 commercial planting, using the Doucin and 

 Paradise as stocks for different varieties, to 

 the extent of nearly two thousand trees in all. 

 The Paradise apple is perhaps the smallest of 

 the dwarf types, while the Doucin represents 

 a larger type of the dwarf, and may be said 

 to be a half dwarf. These trees are not 

 generally recommended for commercial 

 planting by horticultural writers, for the 

 reason that very few have had experience with 

 them. 



With the very general spread of the San 

 Jose scale, and with a constantly increasing 

 number of imported foreign insect pests, 

 spraying with various materials for their 

 control has become a necessity. To attempt 

 to control the worst of these insects, as the 

 San Jose scale, the brown tail and gypsy 

 moths, the codling moth, and bud moth, 

 and the aphids, nearly one fourth of the year 

 in time has to be given to this special work. 



SOME REAL RESULTS 



Five years ago we bought two hundred 

 Paradise trees of the Red Astrachan variety 

 which are certainly most promising in what 

 they are producing. Last year (1908) 

 some of these trees, but four years planted 

 (and two years old when planted), yielded 

 one-half box (of forty pounds) per tree, 

 which sold in the Boston market for two 

 dollars and fifty cents a box, which is a 

 quicker return than is usually made from 

 peaches in the North. 



The Paradise trees may be planted ten 

 feet apart which will give 430 trees to 

 an acre and with anything like an average 

 production, equal to the trees that bore 

 freely in the fourth year, they indicate 

 possibilities. In order to realize the highest 

 value from the small trees they should be 

 propagated for production. First class stock 

 should be obtained in the roots, and the buds 

 to be worked upon them should be selected 

 from well known mature trees, that are 

 strong, vigorous, highly productive and the 

 best of their kind. This is important, as 

 small trees must be productive, if used on a 

 commercial scale. 



WHAT VARIETIES? 



We are testing a number of varieties such 

 as Northern Spy, Rhode Island Greening, 

 Sutton Beauty, Jonathan, Mcintosh, Duch- 

 ess, Sweet Bough, Wealthy, Fameuse, Fall 

 Strawberry, Maiden Blush, Seek-no-Further, 

 Esopus, Spitzenburg, and Cox Orange 

 Pippin. The last named is a rare English 

 apple of a very high quality, and it promises 

 to be one of the best for dwarf culture. At 



m 





■ • ■■*-.> ij. 



: mf - 





jfe.i '■■■ 







An old established dwarf tree. It covers but 

 little ground, and several such can be accommo- 

 dated in a small garden 



three years of age this variety has borne 

 superb specimens of fruit, one tree setting 

 one hundred and thirty-five apples the 

 present season. This being entirely too 

 heavy a crop to permit, it was reduced to 

 about eight. This tree began to set fruit 

 when but one year old. 



HIGH CULTIVATION ESSENTIAL 



It is not the slightest use trying to grow 

 dwarfs unless you stand ready to give the 

 most intensive cultivation, and the soil 

 should not only be good in the beginning, 

 but must be well fertilized in addition. The 

 method followed at Orchard Farm is to till 

 the soil until the 1st of July, and then sow 

 sixteen pounds of crimson clover seed per 

 acre, for a cover crop for the autumn and 

 winter. 



The dwarf tree is originally a European 

 fancy and entails much labor. However, 

 in pruning, excepting in garden work, 

 European methods need not be adopted for 

 they are too expensive. Trees in commer- 

 cial culture, trained on trellises are imprac- 

 tical. In planting, they should be set deep, 

 that is, the point of union with the bud and 

 stock should be not less than three and a 

 half inches in the ground. Paradise trees 

 should be grown to a height of ten feet, 

 with a diameter of nine feet; the Doucin 

 trees should be grown to eighteen feet in 

 height with a diameter of sixteen feet. The 

 roots of the dwarf trees are short, so, in order 

 to sustain the larger tope, and to prevent 

 their blowing over when heavily loaded with 

 fruit, they must be set deeply. A few roots 

 may push out from the budded stock, but 

 this is not objectionable, as indeed they will 

 help to sustain the trees, and hold them 

 firmly in the soil. 



THE ART OF PRUNING 



In order to keep the trees well to the dwarf 

 form, they must be severely pruned, and 

 this work is done mainly in the summer — 

 the last of June and early in July. At this 



time the inside branches should be removed 

 so as to give an open form, that the sun may 

 shine through all parts of the trees. The 

 trees should be low headed, starting the main 

 branches within eight or ten inches of the 

 ground. For the first few years the tops 

 should be well cut down to obtain a heavy 

 bush form, and to get a full development 

 of fruit spurs on the lower portions of the 

 trees. A high headed dwarf tree setting 

 its fruit up on top of the branches is of 

 little value, and is, moreover, something of 

 an anachronism. 



The shortening in of the annual growth 

 needs to be done with judgment and not 

 before the formation of the terminal buds. 

 If this is done too early the buds will make 

 a secondary growth, late in the season, which 

 is not desirable. While experience has not 

 been long enough to determine this point, 

 I incline to a severe shortening of the annual 

 growth in the spring, cutting back from one- 

 half to three-fourths. 



If this may be done in July without caus- 

 ing a new growth to start it will help to keep 

 the trees in a dwarf condition, as the spring 

 pruning tends to stimulate growth. 



When dwarf trees set a very full crop of 

 apples the fruit must be heavily thinned — 

 at least one half, or more, being taken off 

 under any circumstances. The thinning 

 should be done mainly through July. 



DWARFS FOR SPECIALISTS 



The planting of dwarf trees can be recom- 

 mended only to specialists, and to those who 

 love the finer horticultural work; they are 

 specially adapted to garden culture. The 

 fruit upon dwarf trees is of finer quality 

 than upon standards; it has a finer finish, 

 the skin is more delicate, and this gives a 

 more highly attractive appearance. 



Dwarf trees will not thrive under neglect, 

 and are not adapted to all kinds of soil, 

 rather prefering a rich loam to a heavy clay. 

 Dwarf trees possess many advantages but 

 experience has not been long enough to 

 give a definite opinion in comparison with 

 standards in point of profit per acre com- 

 mercially. The indications, however, under 

 intensive methods of cultivation are favorable 

 with the varieties thus far tested. 



Spraying dwarf trees with a barrel pump. The 

 whole outfit — -pump, barrel, hose, rod and nozzles 

 — costs about $13. It more than pays for itself 

 each season 



