342 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1913 



In a comparatively short time, we had 

 developed many lateral branches contain- 

 ing an abundance of beautiful green foliage. 

 Quite frequently, almost every day at first, 

 our mistress would come out with a hoe, 

 and gently stir the soil around our roots. 

 This, I observed, was very beneficial to 

 our development. 



The 3d of July was the memorial day in 

 our whole history — a day that caused us 

 much humiliation, much sorrow and not a 

 little pain. Long straight poles, averaging 

 five feet in length were brought out into 

 the garden, and heartlessly driven about 

 eight or ten inches into the ground at ap- 

 proximately two inches from our sides. 

 Then our mistress, who had heretofore 

 shown us nothing but extreme kindness, 

 came with a big knife and cut off the 

 beautiful branches, leaving the three 



strongest ones. We were then tied with 

 raffia to these hard-hearted poles and left 

 to make the best out of our deplorable 

 situation. 



Nature, however, is always kind to her 

 children, and we were soon amply com- 

 pensated for all this apparent maltreat- 

 ment. In the course of a couple of weeks, 

 I was surprised to discover many clusters 

 of little yellow blossoms appearing on my 

 branches. With the aid of the bright 

 warm sun, the constant and careful culti- 

 vation, the caressing wind and some quaint 

 insects which visited us each day, these 

 little blossoms became fertilized, and in a 

 very short time little miniature tomatoes 

 appeared. We had now grown to the top 

 of the poles; our mistress again applied 

 the knife and cut off our tops and all side 

 branches, or "suckers" as she called them, 



in order to enable us to put all our strength 

 into the development of these Little toma- 

 toes. 



The happiest days of our whole life were 

 those in the first part of August. The 

 little tomatoes had grown into beautiful, 

 large fruits, with perfectly smooth glossy 

 skin; I myself remember carrying more 

 than thirty handsome specimen tomatoes 

 at one time. One of these weighed two 

 pounds, and my mistress had to tie it 

 fast to the pole to keep the branch which 

 supported it from breaking under its heavy 

 weight. All the rest averaged from one 

 to one and a half pounds. 



Finally, one morning, she came out 

 into the garden and gathered all these 

 fine fruits, and I heard her remark that she 

 was indeed proud of the results we had 

 scored. 



Making Fruit Trees Bear Earlier— By w. c. McCollom, 



SUMMER PRUNING AS AN ASSET TO THE HOME GARDEN IN GETTING RE- 

 SULTS QUICKLY AND REGULARLY — PLEASANT WORK FOR THIS MONTH. 



New 

 York 



REALLY the home 

 gardener ought 

 to make himself 

 familiar with 

 summer pruning, because 

 it results in (1) the pro- 

 duction of fruit at an 

 earlier age than would 

 otherwise be the case; (2) 

 annual bearing and (3) 

 shy producers can be 

 made to yield abun- 

 dantly. All these things 

 are brought about by 

 diverting the normal 

 course of growth. It 

 means some work and 

 constant attention, during 

 July and August, but it's 

 worth while. 



It is obvious that by 

 restraining the develop- 

 ment of the "wood" or 

 branches of a tree while 

 it is in actual growth, the 

 forces that would have 

 been spent on this growth must go to 

 some other purpose. If the tree is carry- 

 ing fruit, the crop receives its share of the 

 benefit. If the tree has not yet reached 

 the fruiting age it hastens its advent since 

 by checking the rampant growth you assist 

 the tree in forming spurs or fruit buds. 



In the growing of grapes under glass the 

 highest state of perfection in fruit growing 

 has been attained and those monster 

 grapes are produced simply by summer 

 pruning. Grape growers call it "pinching 

 back," but that is nothing more or less 

 than another way of saying summer prun- 

 ing. Every day while growth is vigorous 

 the canes are looked over and all unneces- 

 sary growth removed — not with pruning 



The result of summer pruning is well shown here: every branch is a fruit spur, and you see 

 no cut wood, no superfluous growth of any sort 



shears or knife, but simply by pinching 

 the growth between the thumb and fore- 

 finger. Unnecessary growth is any that is 

 not bearing fruit or designed to replace the 

 old canes. It is obvious that the parts 

 removed are quite small. They are never 

 allowed to develop to any size. It has 

 been well remarked that the good grape 

 grower could carry out the prunings from 

 his grapery in his vest pocket while the 

 poor grower required a wheelbarrow! 



If summer pruning is practised regularly, 

 after the trees have once formed a good 

 foundation, they will come into bearing in 

 almost half the time required for one that is 

 not summer pruned. This I have proved 

 to my entire satisfaction. About seven 



years ago I planted about 

 200 pear trees and 100 

 apples. Part of these I 

 kept summer pruned and 

 the balance I did not dis- 

 turb during the growing 

 season. The result is that 

 I am now getting abun- 

 dant crops of fine quality 

 fruit from the trees that 

 were summer pruned, 

 while the other trees are 

 just coming into bearing. 

 The summer pruned trees 

 have developed spurs 

 almost like a grape cane 

 and can be depended 

 upon to fruit annually. 



To produce vigorous, 

 healthy wood, with which 

 to lay the foundation for 

 fruit bearing, prune in 

 spring, as the new growth 

 that results from spring 

 pruning is rank and heavy 

 and just the thing to form 

 the framework of a fruit-bearing tree. 

 The exact opposite is required for a tree 

 that is wanted to bear fruit. Indeed by 

 heavy spring pruning you can actually stop 

 a tree from fruiting as all the forces of the 

 plant are then thrown into renewal growth. 

 If summer pruning be practised, spring 

 pruning loses its horrors; the work is prac- 

 tically all done the previous season. From 

 about 1 50 apple and pear trees around my 

 garden all the spring prunings can be taken 

 away in one wheelbarrow load. Under 

 the same conditions, if summer pruning 

 were not practised, it would be necessary 

 to take out ten times as much material. 

 With the resulting renewal of this wood 

 comes a rank, heavy growth, which is not 



