40 



man I can find and then not to trust him for anything. Having 

 planted the trees, it has been my custom of late, to prune them after 

 planting, I think probably you can get at the tree for cutting back 

 better and more intelligently after it is planted than before. I am 

 speaking in reference to two year old trees. Aly observation and 

 experience has been that you can make a better and quicker job of 

 it. I prune them any time during the winter after fall planting. 



W. C. Tyson. Do you trim them to a switch? 



Mr. Lupton. I suppose I am something of a crank on the sub- 

 ject of trimming-, have always been opposed to the too free use of 

 a pruning knife. The pruning has to go until the limbs get to some 

 size. I prune very little. I think possibly I have been too extreme 

 on this subject of not cutting back the trees, but I have not yet 

 gotten my own consent to cut back a newly planted tree to a 

 switch. 



I have great trouble in getting properly shaped trees from the 

 nursery. That is one of the things that I do not know how better 

 to express than to say it is simply a part of the game. There are 

 two general theories, one a vase shaped and one a pyramid shaped 

 tree. Make it the shape that will best suit the particular tree. 

 Sometimes it lends itself more readily to one and sometimes to 

 the other kind of trimming. I would prefer the Vase shaped if I 

 had my choice. But, after all, the shape of the tree is not of 

 nearly so much importance as some people seem to think. It is 

 our practice, almost invariably to plant trees in the fall and to culti- 

 vate the ground in corn the following spring. I cannot see that 

 this is seriously objectionable, but the question arises at once, what 

 to do with that field after you have taken the corn crop off. 



Mr. Cohill. How about crimson clover? 



Mr. Lupton. I have tried sowing crimson clover, with only 

 fair success. 



C. J. Tyson. How about rye to turn down next spring? 



Mr. Lupton. I have tried sowing rye, and that is better than 

 anvthing else I have ever tried, only I turned it down too late. 



Mr. Cohill. We are very successful with clover. 



David Knouse. A number of our people have set out trees 

 this spring and have it in corn, what would you advise to do with, 

 the ground next spring? 



Mr. Lupton. I have just said that is the objection to putting 

 corn in an orchard. Next spring I would advise cultivating that 

 ground until perhaps the middle of June then sowing in cow 

 peas or crimson clover. I am inclined to think what I would do 

 in your case would be to break the gTound next spring, cultivate 

 it three or four or five times, to say about the middle of June ex- 

 pecting to get your cow^ peas well up by the middle of July. 



After you have your orchard fairly started, there comes the 

 question of pruning, spraying, etc. I think that is the time when 

 perhaps the pruning ought to be attended to with the greatest care, 

 when the tree is young. A great many of our fruit growers seem 

 to think that an orchard does not need to be sprayed until after it 

 becomes badly infested witli scale or comes in to bearing. Trees 



