28 HARRISONS’ NURSERIES 

YF SEW ae me OS da 
Picking Carman peaches from five-year-old trees, averaging four bushels 
per tree, or four hundred bushels per acre 
Producing Fruit Trees 
That You Can Bank On 
By Henry L. Harrison 
OING over the nursery a short time ago, I was attracted by the 
appearance of a block of apple trees. The block was back from 
the main road, and so would not be noticed unless some par- 
ticular thing drew attention to it. 
Now, there must be a reason for the quality that was shown in the 
trees I saw; so I began to call to mind the points that go to make up 
a real tree, knowing that in them I should find the reasons I was 
looking for. 
The first reason is that Harrisons’ trees are budded from bearing 
orchards, so there can be no question about the variety, nor about 
what the small tree may be expected to do. That really means 
pedigreed trees, but we don’t call them by that name. The bud-sticks 
are cut from trees that have produced fruit for several years—not 
first-year bearers. This is done because we want to know that the 
parent is worthy of having its characteristic passed on to a second 
or third generation. 
The next point is that Harrisons’ Nurseries maintain a test-orchard 
of peaches, where all the old, familiar varieties are growing and fruit- 
ing year after year. The new sorts, too, are planted about as soon as 
they are introduced, records kept of their growth, fruiting, and other 
items of importance. The same plan, but differing in some ways, is 
followed with apples and other fruits. Thus we know the merits and 
disadvantages of every variety, and take steps to increase the one 
and reduce the other. 
The location of the nurseries is another reason for such good trees. 
We are only seven miles from the ocean, so the atmosphere is moist 
in spring and summer when the trees are growing. This same moisture 
tends to make mild winters; thus the young trees lose no vitality in 
fighting extreme cold. 
The soil is a loose, sandy loam which is conducive to root-growth, 
and the trees have a mass of fibers rarely found in trees grown in 
other sections. 
The final reason is regulary and careful cultivation. During the entire 
growing season the soil is kept loose by horse-cultivating and hoeing 
as required. The small trees have to be sprayed, for the bugs that 
infest big trees get on the little ones, too, and so a spraying machine 
goes over the blocks as often as needed. 
Now, to sum up the story. That block of apple trees took my 
attention because they were budded right, because they were care- 
fully cultivated and sprayed, and because climate and soil are adapted 
to tree-growing. And these are the reasons why Harrisons’ trees are 
of such high quality, and why you can depend on them to make good 
when they are transplanted to your garden or orchard. 

