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Isaac Hicks & Son, Westbury Station, N. Y.— Fruits 
PRUNING— Blackberries and Blackcaps. Cut back to near the ground when planted. Cut off 
the tops of the young shoots in summer when 2 feet high. This will make them branch, produce more 
fruit, and stand up better. Do not neglect this pruning until the canes are 6 feet high. Allow but four to 
six canes per hill. Remove the old canes after fruiting, and the following spring shorten-in the side branches. 
In a small garden, tie to a wire, trellis or stakes. 
Red Raspberries. Prune same as above excepting the summer pruning. 
Currants and Gooseberries need but little pruning; merely remove the branches over two or three 
years old. 
Apple, Pear, Cherry, Peach, Plum and Quince. When planting, prune to reduce the top by one- 
half or three-quarters. Cut just above a strong bud. Do not leave opposite branches, that form crotches 
to be easily broken. 
Later Pruning. Thin out the inside of the tree by removing weak branches, water sprouts or suckers, 
and branches that cross and rub. Some cut back one-half of each year's growth of the peach, on rich soil. 
If the flower-buds are partly winter-killed, omit this cutting back, as it reduces the flowers and fruit. 
Cut all the branches close, even if the wound is larger, and paint all wounds over 2 inches 
in diameter with coal-tar or thick paint. Old decayed cavities should be cleaned out to sound 
wood, painted and filled to the inside line of the bark with cement. Split crotches should be 
bolted together at or above the break. We furnish experts for this work. 
Grapes. Cut grape-vines back to two buds when planting. Train the two shoots from these 
buds to a trellis or building, and the shoots from them will bear the following year. The next 
winter these shoots may be cut back to spurs of one or two ouds, or the whole arm cut off to 
the trunk of the vine, and the new canes tied to the wire as before. During the summer, bearing 
shoots may be allowed to hang down, or tied to. upper wires. 
Time to Prune. Most severe pruning should be done between October and April, when the 
plant is dormant. 
Heading back too vigorous shoots, and removing undesirable branches, may be done at any 
time during the summer. Storm-damaged trees and decayed wounds may be repaired whenever 
necessary. 
CULTIVATION and FEEDING (Fertilizing). All young fruit plantations should be kept 
cultivated the same as corn or potatoes; in fact, vegetables may be profitably grown in young 
orchards. Cultivate once in two weeks or oftener, and especially the day following a heavy rain. 
This will make a mulch of about 3 inches of fine earth or dust, that prevents evaporation from 
the soil. Feed annually with stable manure or complete fertilizers, or both. Trees need a fertilizer 
rich in potash and phosphoric acid, rather than an excess of nitrogen; therefore, muriate of potash 
unleached hard-wood ashes, bone-flour and dissolved South Carolina rock are good special fertilizers. 
Crimson clover is valuable as a green manure, sown in August, before the last cultivating, and 
plowed under the following spring. 
Borers in the trunks of trees should be dug out. Leaf-eating insects are killed by spray of 
Paris green, 1 lb. to 100 gallons of water. Currant-worms are quickly killed by hellebore powder. 
Leaf-sucking insects are destroyed by spraying or washing with whale-oil soap or kerosene emul- 
sion. Mildew, and other fungous diseases of grapes and fruit trees are prevented by spraying with 
Bordeaux mixture or ammoniacal solution of carbonate of copper. 
Distances to Plant Trees and Plants 
Apples • 30 x 30 feet, 48 trees per acre 
Pears, Standard, and Cherries 25x25 " 70 " 
Dwarf 12 x 12 " 300 
Peaches, Plums and Apricots 18x18 " 135 
Grapes 10x16 " 275 vines " 
Asparagus 2x 5 " 4,250 plants 
Currants and Gooseberries 2 x 4 " 5,450 bushes 
Raspberries and Blackberries 3* 6 " 2,420 plants 
Strawberries i x 3 " 14,500 " 
Closer planting and pruning is advised for small gardens, 
