102 
/ ORCHARD 
AND 
T^CTSTE^S 
GARDEN 
May, 1889. 
May in llie Orchard. 
The orchardist does not consider liis work 
done when the trees are planted but knows 
that a long period of care and “eternal vig- 
ilance" must ensue before the consumma- 
tion of his wishes is reached. In the first 
place it is essential to know that the newly 
planted trees are sufficiently cut back to se- 
cure a proper proportion between the roots 
and the tops, that there may not be a great- 
er demand upon the roots than they are 
able to bear in their present mutilated and 
abbreviated condition. They must be pro- 
tected from the effects of strong winds by 
staking and tying, and to kill any insect 
life that may be upon them wash the trunks 
with the carbolic acid and soap mixture, 
the formula for which is given on page 114, 
and which will also repel the borer and 
prevent him from entering. The soil 
should be well cultivated and occupied by 
hoed crops if they receive proper culture 
and the soil is kept sufficiently enriched. 
The young trees should be kept growing, 
clean and free from both weeds and insects. 
A little time, now and then, may be very 
profitably employed in going over the 
young orchard rubbing off the suckers, and 
with a pinch here and there directing the 
growth in accordance with the future form 
and shape desired. The practical man will 
also see to it that his trees are all properly 
labeled in a way to safely withstand the ef- 
fects of time and exposure. Long strips of 
zinc cut wider at one end than the other, of 
a triangular shape, make good indelible la- 
bels.* Moisten the wide end and write upon 
it with an ordinary lead pencil: it may be 
fastened around the tree by bending the 
narrow end and as the tree becomes larger 
will give way to it and not become indented 
in the bark as in the case of wire. A map 
or plan of the orchard with each tree plain- 
ly designated thereon may also be made 
and will come into valuable service when 
any of the labels are accidentally lost. 
Older orchards should look charming in 
May. Dead limbs have been removed and 
with all the brush and other debris have 
been burned; the ground is clear and the 
young foliage is bursting forth. But there 
are myriads of eggs stored away in hidden 
places that will soon hatch and bring forth 
many destructive enemies. Now is the 
time therefore to prevent them and to this 
end the trunks of the trees should be scrap- 
ed sufficiently to remove all the loose bark, 
which should be carefully gathered and 
burned, and washed with a solution of one 
pound of sal soda to three gallons of water 
applied with a brush and worked into all 
crevices and cracks. This not only kills 
the eggs but keeps the bark smooth and 
thrifty. It should be applied in May and 
again early in August. 
In the peach orchard cultivation should 
be constant and if the trees are young they 
may profitably be mulched with stable ma- 
nure to a distance around the trunk corres- 
ponding to the extent of their head. The 
soil at no time should be allowed to become 
exhausted and as the trees approach bear- 
ing age they will require the whole of the 
the land and no other crops should be taken 
from it. Examine the trees for the borer 
whose presence may be distinctly perceived 
by the gum exuding from the trunk. Use a 
sharp pointed wire and probe into the hole 
which is likely to kill the borers or they may 
be cut out with a sharp knife. Cover the 
wounds with liquid grafting wax and wash 
the trunk at the collar with a solution of 
soft soap before replacing the soil. 
Newly set grafts should be watched and 
throughout the season all of the young 
shoots that start out on the grafted limbs 
should be rubbed off that they may not ap- 
propriate the nourishment that should go 
to the grafts. Among the plans devised for 
the destruction of orchard insects, is often 
practiced that of making a bonfire of damp 
material on the wind v ard side of the or- 
chard so that the volumes of smoke may be 
carried upon and through the trees. This 
is very obnoxious to many insects and they 
will curl up and drop from the trees to 
avoid it but must be searched for on the 
ground and killed. 
Many devices have been suggested for the 
capture and destruction of moth, etc., such 
as suspending wide-mouthed bottles, filled 
with sweetened water, corncobs which have 
been soaked in molasses water, for the cur- 
culio to deposit her eggs in, but we have 
never known of them being of very great 
service and would prefer other methods. 
’I imely Calk. 
Where the fruit garden consists of but 
few trees it is very easy to have a much 
more regular supply of fruit than is usually 
grown. Those varieties that bear heavily 
on alternate years can be made to produce 
fruit as readily on the off years by sim- 
ply plucking all the fruit as soon as formed, 
in the bearing years, on those trees that 
we wish to bear on the off years. Thus 
with only two trees-of a kind we may be 
reasonably sure of fruit in each year by 
this method. This habit of bearing will 
continue until a frost or storm destroys the 
fruit or blossom and we must then again, 
the following year, pluck the fruit as be- 
fore, from those trees whose habit we 
wish to change. A little extra labor will 
add much to the value of a small fruit 
garden. 
A little time this month may be profita- 
bly devoted to searching for and destroying 
lx>rer8 and caterpillars. For the former 
look closely for a chrysalis just at or a lit- 
tle below' the bark and destroy them before 
they have a chance to leave the tree. In 
the quince, apple, and plum, if we do not 
wish to mutilate the tree in cutting them 
out, we may take a piece of wire musquito 
netting and wrap it tightly around the part 
infested by the borers. They will be thus 
imprisoned and will perish, unable to do 
farther injury. 
Mr. J. W. Kerr in the April number of 
Orchard & Garden has an article which 
I was much pleased to see. We need more 
experiences from such practical writers as 
Mr. Kerr to clear up many questions of 
horticulture. Mr. Kerr, however, is in er- 
ror in thinking that I deem the Hattankin 
and Kelsey symonymous; the Hattankin 
and Botankin are not the same but of the 
same family. The Hattankin has a green- 
ish yellow leaf, comparatively narrow, 
growth rather upright; the Botankin leaf is 
of a greenish red, wader than the Hattan- 
kin, tree more apt to branch. Many plums 
are exported from Japan that are of Euro- 
pean origin. We hope to be enabled to give 
more information on Japan plums and de- 
sire that all who have had much experience 
with them will, like Mr. Kerr, write us. 
In grown ng the peach, deep culture, unless 
; he orchard has previously been deeply 
worked, is not advisable. Thorough culti- 
vation is desirable for all fruit trees and es- 
pecially so for the peach. It lessens the 
tendency to dryness and prevents undue 
heating of the soil by the sun. An inch or 
two of finely pulverized soil on the surface 
makes an excellent mulch. It also reduces 
the temperature and increases the moisture 
of the soil beneath. — Eli Minch. 
roinerning Peach Yellows. 
Peach yellows is a malady that deserves 
a thorough investigation. Its causes should 
be ascertained, its growth studied, and a 
remedy, if any is possible, should be sug- 
gested, that one of the greatest obstacles to 
successful peach culture might possibly be 
removed. We ask the careful perusal of 
what w T e say about the matter, which we 
propose to begin at the bottom facts, and 
hope to present so far as at present under- 
stood, as clearly as it is possible to do with 
the data we have to go upon. 
To begin properly we must begin at 
the principles that govern the growth of all 
plants. We must then show how the peach 
differs in growth from many of them. We 
must consider how the tree grows and all 
that relates to the plant food essentials and 
its feeding capacity, the use of each one of 
those elements that form the wood and 
fruit, the effects of soil, climate, culture 
and fertilizers, in fact all the conditions 
that affect the peach, its health, vitality 
and productiveness must be fully and care- 
fully gone over in such a manner as to be 
clearly understood at the outset. 
To carry out our design fully we begin at 
the botanic structure of the peach and ex- 
amine the part that the roots, body, branch- 
es and leaves each plays in the life of the 
tree. Each part has its functions to per- 
form, and cannot take the place of another, 
and with the failure of a single part the 
whole structure perishes. The roots draw 
from the soil moisture and with it the ash 
