178 
Close Planting and Quality of Fruit 
Close planting results in an abundant 
supply of apple scab and other troubles, 
by bringing about a dense growth and 
excluding sunshine and ventilation. Any 
cultural method which tends to secure 
good ventilation, a dry atmosphere, and 
an abundance of sunshine does much to- 
wards holding these foes in check. The 
spray pump has come to stay and is a 
valuable tool, yet prevention is always 
better than cure. 
Close planting gives protection when 
the trees are young. A better plan is to 
provide protection by a windbreak and 
low headed trees. 
Color in fruit is almost as important as 
quality. The absolute necessity of an 
abundance of sunshine for the develop- 
ment of highly colored fruit is an axiom. 
Every boy is conversant with the fact 
that the most highly eolored apples are 
to be found on the long outer twigs which 
have an advantage over their fellows in’ 
the amount of sunshine they receive. Too 
many of our fruit plantations represent 
forest rather than orchard conditions. On 
account of over-planting the tops interlap, 
resulting in a heavy shade and a moist 
atmosphere, and making high coloring in 
fruit an impossibility. 
In the case of the apple, the color is 
more than skin deep. Color forma- 
tion is accompanied by the flesh develop- 
ment within. In recent cold storage ex- 
periments conducted at the Ohio Experi- 
ment Station it was clearly demon- 
strated that, other things being equal, 
highly colored fruit has an advantage in 
Keeping quality. There is also a direct 
relationship between the color and the 
percentage of scald. . 
i. 8. Baro, 
Wooster, Ohio. 
PROBABLE LOSS OF TREES FROM 
PLANTING 
The questions sometimes arise, “What 
is the probable loss in setting young 
trees? What per cent will fail to grow?” 
This depends so much upon the nature 
of the conditions and the manner of do- 
ing the work that it is difficult to esti- 
mate. The writer was interested in an 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
orchard of 80 acres on which there were 
planted 3,500 trees, or an average of 47144 
trees per acre. The next spring we re- 
placed 33 trees, making two less than one 
per cent of loss. The next spring we set 
20 acres and 990 trees. They were set in 
newly-plowed alfalfa soil, the land not 
quite so well leveled, making it a little 
more difficult to irrigate, and as a result 
it was not so well watered and we had to 
replant 36 trees or nearly four per cent. 
We have known 25 per cent of the trees 
planted to die, and in a few extreme cases 
nearly all of them have died. This, how- 
ever, is almost wholly on account of ne- 
glect, and is preventable. It is not neces- 
sary to lose one per cent, provided. care 
is exercised in the selection of good stock, 
the roots kept moist, the ground properly 
prepared, and the planting well done. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
WINDBREAKS 
Columbia River Valley 
While objections are often made to the 
use of windbreaks they are very advan- 
tageous wherever orchards, vineyards, 
small fruits, or truck crops are exposed to 
strong winds. Especially is this true 
where the soil is sandy and subject to 
drifting. Since the prevailing winds are 
from the west and southwest, the princi- 
pal windbreaks should extend north and 
south or approximately at right angles 
to the direction of the wind. 
Some of the more important points to 
be remembered in the selection of trees 
for windbreaks are the following: Effec- 
Only by 
the most judicious pruning can these trees 
Fig. 1. Windbreak Greatly Needed. 
be balanced, and then only with great diffi- 
culty. Staking would have helped many of 
these trees.—Oregon Experiment Station. 
