APPLES 26 
Fruit Trees as Fillers 
The ideal fille: 1s a yuick-giowing and 
early maturing tree that will produce the 
maximum amount of truit within the tew 
years that it has to live, and one that 
will least aftect the welfare of the pe1ma- 
nent trees. As soon as the fillers begin 
to intertere with the natural growth of 
the permanent trees, they must be re- 
moved There is a difference of opinion 
with regard to the use of fillers. The 
chief objection raised by those opposed 
to the practice, is that the fillers are hkely 
to be left too long, 1esulting in injury to 
the permanent trees. Such a result, in 
reality, would be the fault of the man 
rather than that of the system. The grow- 
er, for the benefit of the remaining por- 
tion of the trees, cuts out superfluous 
pranches, so why should he hesitate to 
remove superfluous trees when by so do- 
ing the remaining trees will be benefited? 
In either case it is simply a case of re- 
moving part of his fruit-bearing structure 
for the sake of getting better returns in 
the future. It should be remembered in 
this connection that the fruit is borne 
largely on the surface of the tree, and 
that when the tree becomes crowded to- 
gether the surface is very greatly re- 
duced. Assuming that the grower knows 
when fillers should be removed and that 
he has the courage to remove them, the 
question to be decided is whether it is 
more profitable to use fillers or to use the 
space between the rows for growing veg: 
etables, small fruits, or other crops. 
In Connecticut the peach is more large- 
ly used for interplanting than any other 
kind of fruit tree. In many respects the 
peach is well suited to the purpose. It 
matures early and fair crops are often 
obtained three or four years after plant- 
ing. The objection to this kind of filler is 
that the treatment for bearing peach trees 
is somewhat different from that demanded 
by young, growing apple trees. If the ap- 
ple trees should suffer from this cause it 
is again the fault of the man. The grower 
should keep in mind that in such case of 
mixed planting, the apple is entitled to 
first consideration and the filler should 
be regarded strictly as a secondary mat- 
ter. Plums and cherries are open to the 
Ww 
same objection ralsed against the peach, 
but it 18 probable that any of these stone 
fruits in the hands ot the intelligent fruit 
grower may be successfully used as fillers. 
The use ot early maturing varieties of 
apples as fillers has been strongly 1ecom- 
mended duling recent yeais. The apple 
makes a slower growth than the peach and 
retuins come in much more slowly. This 
objection is offset however, by the fact 
that the apple filler may be retained in the 
orchard much longer and a great many 
more crops secured. Five or six and often 
as many as ten crops of apples may be 
secured, while it is seldom that more than 
two or three crops can be taken from 
peach fillers without injuring the perma- 
nent trees. The profit from two crops of 
peaches is very likely to exceed that from 
the many apple crops, but it is not fair to 
judge their relative value from this stand- 
point only. The apple fillers may have a 
better influence on the permanent trees 
and, on account of their slower develop- 
ment, may permit the growth of other 
crops between the rows for several years. 
The apple filler is more satisfactory where 
the permanent trees are widely spaced 
and it is entirely unsuited to closely 
planted orchards ; 
The small growing and early maturing 
varieties such as Yellow Transparent, 
Oldenburg, Bismarck, Wealthy, Wagener, 
Ontario and Missouri Pippin, are the most 
suited to use as fillers. Jonathan may also 
prove to be desirable for this purpose. 
Ben Davis and Gano are largely used as 
fillers in some sections, but on account of 
their inferior quality, they are not recom- 
mended for planting in New England. 
There is little difference among the va- 
rieties of peaches for this purpose. The 
pear, on account of its susceptibility to 
blight under intense cultivation, is not 
suited to interplanting. 
Many fruit growers have the necessary 
intelligence and courage to handle suc- 
cessfully an orchard on the filler system. 
But there are undoubtedly some, who for 
the sake of earlier returns, are likely to 
favor the fillers at the expense of the 
permanent trees and for the sake of get- 
ting one or two additional crops, are likely 
to injure seriously the shape of the trees 
