Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Manual. 



75" 



We have the rapid evaporation incident to many sunny days of the heated 

 periods of mid-summer and not infrequently of parching dry winds. We 

 may have late spring frosts. To guard against hail, head the trees very 

 low within 12 to 18 inches of the ground. If the trunk can be protected 

 by the head of the tree no matter how seriously the limbs of the tree may 

 have been damaged by hail, a new tree can be grown from the sound trunk. 



Mr. J. W. Hogg, one of the most successful growers of the apple in 

 western Nebraska, prefers to head his apple trees to within 12 inches of 

 the ground for the reasons above suggested. This gentleman grew some- 

 thing more than 1200 bushels of apples during the season of 1901 and 

 quantities of other varieties of fruits. We must also guard against sun 

 scald which is liable to damage the bark on the south and west sides of 

 the trunk of the tree, and thus invite the attack of the fiat headed borer. 

 If in planting we set the best branched side of the tree toward the south, 

 and grow the tree with a spreading head with an abundance of foliage, the 

 tree soon shelters itself against sun-scald. It is not considered good form 

 to open up the head of the tree since that would lead to sun-scald of the 

 principal branches and limbs. It will also be noted that following light 

 hail the fruit in the interior of the tree often times escapes when that on 

 the outer branches is damaged. We think it is also true that during the 

 frosty nights of late spring the temperature may fail 4 to 6 degrees below 

 freezing point and yet when shaded from the first rays of the morning sun 

 the temperature rising and the frost being drawn out slowly, the fruit is 

 not destroyed. Our habit is to head the apple tree in such form that 

 when loaded with a full crop the lower branches rest on the ground and 

 quite a portion of the fruit of the tree can be picked from the ground. 

 The tree suffers less from violent winds, less fruit is blown off. In the 

 eastern states a crop of apples grown in this way might not be sufficiently 

 colored. In the semi-arid regions we have a super-abundance of sun light 

 and need not fear for the ripening and coloring of the fruit on the lower 

 branches. We think it is now conceded that in the trimming of the apple 

 tree for semi-arid regions, little more is required than to leave a very low 

 head and to remove such branches as would cross or interfere with each 

 other in the after-growth of the tree. 



The cherry requires very little trimming. A low, full head remov- 

 ing only such branches as cross. Where a very heavy growth had been 

 secured by superior cultivation we have found it better to shorten the ends 

 of the branches and thus induce a larger number of branches and twigs. 

 To grow a maximum crop of cherries requires many branches and small 

 twigs. 



In the growing of the peach many of our largest orchardists now se- 

 lect small trees, not over two to three feet in height, that the trees may be 

 more likely to head low, resulting in less damage from the wind and that 

 the major portion of the fruit can be picked from the tree, the picker 



