1 08 Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 



main on the tree to ripen their wood it may not 

 be able to withstand the cold of winter. If 

 they are not given a chance they cannot form 

 good strong buds for the coming spring. They 

 should be allowed all the time that nature has 

 allotted them in which to store up plant food 

 for the bursting of the buds and the growing 

 of the new leaves the following spring. If 

 they have been deprived of their leaves before 

 this work was completed we should not be sur- 

 prised if the next year's growth is weak and 

 slow. As fruit growers and nurserymen we 

 should remember that it is just as much the sign 

 of growth in a tree to see the leaves fall when 

 their work is completed as it is to see the buds 

 burst in the spring. The leaves should remain 

 on the tree until the growth between the base 

 of the bud and end of the stem, — that corky-like 

 growth, — thickens and thickens, finally push- 

 ing the leaf off, leaving the scar sealed over as 

 it were, so that the moisture will not escape. 

 How different the condition of the twigs after 

 the nurseryman has finished stripping them. At 

 the bas€ of each bud is a wound made by tear- 

 ing away the leaf stem before nature's time, 

 from each of these wounds moisture having 

 escaped the twies have become wrinkled and 

 dry. As we have frequently said, the drier a 

 tree becomes the nearer dead it is. 



