85 



he would persist in takino- the chance of putting a bud in and 

 going several inches below the seat of infection. In most of such 

 instances he managed to get the knife covered with the bacteria 

 from the diseased tree and he would inoculate the succeeding ten 

 trees ; and, since we were putting in four buds, one on each side of 

 the tree we had four seats of infection. The weather was favor- 

 able for its rapid growth and there was nothing left but to condemn 

 the trees. Out of some 8,000 trees 2,800 showed fire blight that 

 fall. In my judgment it was better to remove them and burn them 

 than to try and clean it up ; so we took them all out the next spring ; 

 and I requested the nurseryman to send me trees to replace them, 

 which he did. 



In this case, however, we adopted another policy : We were 

 able to plant the trees the last of March, and in /\pril beginning 

 even before there were signs of growth, we sawed the tops off at 

 the height of 18 inches from the ground and put in a graft. I may 

 mention that these trees were ^>^s-incli two-vear-old buds. General- 

 ly speaking, we had a very good stand and these grafts would make 

 a growth of from 2J/2 feet to 4 feet that season; and, if it was 

 necessary to do anv more top-workine, I would prefer to do this 

 in preference to any other. Personally, I would rather grow the 

 trees from individuals and take the time, rather than try to top 

 work. I think I can get a better head and save much trouble after- 

 wards ; for it is necessary to go over all these trees carefully, even 

 to-day, to make sure that shoots are not coming out of the stock, 

 and all of this difficulty is avoided when the trunk is the same as 

 the top. 



Planting. 



In planting we usuallv prune the roots as little as possible, 

 merely remove any injured roots. Prune the tops after it is set. 

 We dig as small a hole as we can and put the roots in, and insist 

 on the soil beine well packed round them; this is the most im- 

 portant thing in planting. Take a tamper along and make sure 

 that no roots are left out of contact with soil. If the tree has 

 four limbs we do not touch it. I would not on any account cut 

 back the ends of the branches. If it has five or six limbs I would 

 take one or two off, leaving three or four. If it is possible, we 

 like to space these limbs six inches aoart, so that if the lowest be- 

 gins at 18 inches from the ground the highest would be nearly 3 

 feet. In the case of varieties which tend to droon as R. I. Green- 

 ing. I have left a few trees with a leader for experimental purposes, 

 but in the bulk of the cases we have merely the four limbs. 



I understand from others that it is goine to be more difficult 

 to handle these trees successfully than it would be if the leader were 

 left. We shall know more about this matter later. 



The land we took was not in the best of condition. Most of 

 it needed underdrainage in order to eive STOod crops and permit of 

 proper cultivation. The land is a little too heavv for potatoes and 

 the results we secured from trving to grow corn between the trees 

 were not encouraging. It seemed to shade them too much ; so 

 that we are growing the trees Avithout any crops on the land be- 



