1902 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
287 
HEADING SOME ORCHARD TREES. 
Roar, Peach, Plum and Quince. 
As I have recently said something in The R. N.-Y. 
about heading young apple trees, requests have reach¬ 
ed me that I offer some suggestions regarding the 
heading of other kinds of fruit trees. Pear trees being 
grown on both dwarf and standard roots, some differ¬ 
ence is required in their treatment. The dwarf trees 
should be headed very low, and with most varieties 
the branches should begin not over a foot from the 
ground. The tendency of nearly all kinds of pears is 
to be very upright ih growth, and if something is not 
done to head them back they will be of very unde¬ 
sirable shape. The planting of dwarf pear orchards 
for commercial purposes is less popular than it was, 
but there are some being planted every year, and 
many dwarf trees in a small way in fruit gardens 
and small amateur orchards. My plan in setting 
dwarf pear trees is to plant them so deep that the 
part above the quince root will be several inches be¬ 
low the surface of the soil, that pear roots may be 
sent out before the trees become old. These will 
cause the tree to grow with far more vigor than if 
it had to depend alone upon the quince stock, and 
thus prolong its life and usefulness. Sometimes 
dwarf pear trees under these conditions become al¬ 
most as large and vigorous as standards. But 
whether they are half standards or entirely on quince 
roots they should be headed low and kept down by 
vigorous annual pruning. A central stem from which 
the branches radiate is the most approved style for 
the tree, and these branches are shorter as they go 
upward, making a tree of pyramidal form. Some pre¬ 
fer vase-formed trees with flat tops, but 
this does not seem to be so good as the 
former, although the fruit may be some¬ 
what more easily gathered. Standard 
pear trees should be headed so that 
their branches will begin to come out 
from a central stem about two feet from 
the ground. With such upright grow¬ 
ers as Kieffer and Bartlett this is as 
high as they should ever start, but some 
of those of rather drooping or spread¬ 
ing habit may begin to form their heads 
a little higher. Pear trees should not 
be severely cut back at planting time, 
but shortened about one-half the last 
year’s growth. 
Peach trees need very different treat¬ 
ment at planting from almost every 
other kind of fruit trees. As they are 
almost universally one year old at set¬ 
ting the main stem of each tree is set 
with fruit buds at the axil of each 
branch, and from these buds the future 
branches should be grown. Every side 
branch should be trimmed off clean, and 
the top cut back to a mere stick, because 
they grow off better for it. A few grow¬ 
ers have advanced the idea of leaving a 
short stub of each branch, just long 
enough to leave the first bud intact, 
claiming that these buds send out thriftier branches 
than those on the main stem, but as I have never 
tested this plan I cannot do more than recommend 
it for trial. There are differences among our best 
peach growers as to the height at which to start the 
heads of peach trees, but they all agree that they 
should be low. Some hold to the old fashion of hav¬ 
ing them begin about three feet or a little more, and 
some go the other extreme of making one foot or un¬ 
der their standard; but most think from 18 to 20 
inches is about right. This has long been my opinion 
and practice. I always try to have a central stem 
and thus prevent the branches from all coming out 
at or near one place. If the branches, when they start 
to form, are pinched and trained a little in the right 
way the top shoot may be induced to grow in the 
center and quite upright. From this other branches 
can be easily trained, which will help to relieve the 
strain that otherwise would all come upon the few 
branches below. Peach tree forks, we know, are the 
very easiest to split of all. The future training of the 
trees opens a large subject, but briefly we may say 
that they need severe heading back every year, when 
in a perfectly dormant condition; in order to keep 
the trees stocky and the bearing wood as close to the 
forks of the large branches as possible. 
Plum trees are so very wide in the differences of 
the classes and varieties that it is impossible to lay 
down any hard and fast rule for the formation of 
their heads. The European class are quite variable 
in themselves; for some are very erect in habit and 
others are the reverse. But none of them should be 
headed high, although some should be higher than 
others. Two feet is not far from the right mark. 
The same is true for our native American type of 
plums, but the Japan kinds are mostly so very up-. 
right in growth that they need to be headed as low 
as peach trees, except the Burbank and a very few 
other varieties. All plum trees should be cut back 
well at setting, but not to sticks, as with peach trees, 
for most of them are two years old from the bud 
and have their young wood and buds only on the 
branches. Training the trees is an art indeed. To 
induce a sky-scraping Abundance or Red June to grow 
moderately low, and a weeping, sprawling Burbank 
to keep off the ground and in some sort of respect¬ 
able shape will require all the wisdom, skill and sense 
of the best orchardist. But he must do it, and he can 
by heading one back and pruning the other to a more 
dense and upright form. 
Cherry trees vary considerably, too. The sour kinds 
are mostly spreading or round-headed, and make 
handsome and conveniently shaped trees with very 
little attention beyond heading at the right distance 
from the ground, which is not far from 2 y 2 feet. The 
trees need not be severely pruned at setting, but 
merely shortened about half the length of the last 
year’s growth. About the same is true of the sweet 
and other kinds of the heart type. They have more 
upright habits of growth, and some of them should be 
headed almost as low as peach trees, but they need 
little severe cutting. All cherry trees are very sensi¬ 
tive to the knife, and should never be pruned, except 
lightly and In rare cases. 
The quince can scarcely be called a tree. It is more 
of a bush than any of the other orchard fruits, and it 
is quite hard to get into such shape as we would like 
to have it. The branches keep coming out from the 
ground up, and make it difficult to grow trees with 
trunks that are free from sprouts and branches that 
will allow the use of curculio catchers beneath them. 
If it was not for this necessity it would not make 
much difference about getting them into tree form. 
The little trees when taken from the nursery are 
usually rather dwarfish, and they need little pruning 
beyond cutting off the very low branches and heading 
the upper ones back a little. There should be a trunk 
about two feet high. There is a tendency for water 
sprouts to grow up through the branches and these 
should be rubbed or cut out at the start and kept so 
every Summer; then there will be little need of ser¬ 
ious cutting afterwards. h. e. van deman. 
FALL PLANTING FOR ROOT-PRUNED TREES 
I think I have found out why some stub-pruned 
trees fail to grow at the North. In January I dug 
200 peach trees, intending to root-prune and plant, 
but after setting 100, held the remainder until next 
day. Something else came up and the trees were left 
until the middle of February, when the buds were 
swelling, when on taking them up I found young 
roots beginning to strike from all of them. They wei'e 
at once planted and watered. The season has been 
good since, but while every one of those planted in 
January is growing nicely, more than half of the lat¬ 
ter have either failed to start or died since. Evi¬ 
dently stub-pruned trees, like cuttings, should be 
planted while the sap is entirely dormant. The same 
occurs with Le Conte pear cuttings in south Texas. 
If set in Fall or early Winter they grow easily, but 
if planted in Spring after sap begins to move, they 
will callus readily and make nice tops, which soon 
wither, as no roots are emitted. I have always advo¬ 
cated Fall planting for stub-pruned trees, and it is 
especially important at the North, where Spring 
ponies so mjickly, thus starting wood growth before 
roots strike. While long-rooted trees will live if set 
after new roots start, it is risky to plant stub-pruned 
trees unless perfectly dormant. 
Texas. h. m. stringfeklow. 
AN EXPRESS AGENT ON EGG SHIPPING. 
I notice on page 247 what J. B. has to say about 
express companies playing ball with eggs. Being an 
express agent, and having been in the business for a 
number of years, and knowing how often express 
people are wrongfully accused, I cannot keep still. 
Packing eggs in the kind of cases J. B. speaks of only 
makes them more liable to be rolled over and over 
in loading and in transferring, more liable to have 
some heavier article piled on the top, or to be piled 
on top of other boxes, where a sudden jar of the 
train might cause them to fall to the floor of the car. 
One of the best ways to pack eggs for hatching pur¬ 
poses I know of is to place them in a basket, each 
egg wrapped separately in paper, either with a cov¬ 
ering of muslin or without any covering whatever. 
Nothing can be piled on top of a basket; if it has no 
cover it cannot be rolled around; anyone can see 
what it contains and very, very few expressmen are 
going to steal any part of the contents. Not long 
since I received a box of 100 eggs for hatching pur¬ 
poses. These eggs were packed in fillers with pad¬ 
ding all around the box between the box and fillers. 
There was no indication from the outside of any dam¬ 
age to the contents, yet when the consignee opened 
the box there were hardly a half dozen eggs that were 
not broken. It looked as though some one had been 
using an ax on that box. A few days later I received 
another consignment for the same per¬ 
son. This lot was received in a com¬ 
mon splint bushel basket; each egg was 
wrapped in paper with no other protec¬ 
tion, there was no cover on the basket, 
and 1 expected a case of damages. When 
the consignee came to receive the eggs 
we examined them, taking each egg 
out, and in the lot of 100 there was only 
one broken egg. This shipment came 
about 200 miles. 
Few people know what it means to 
work for an express company. The 
agent who loads the shipment has only 
about two minutes in which to take his 
received goods off the car and to load, 
the forwarded goods; the messenger 
must hurry in order to get the goods 
all piled away and his way-bills en¬ 
tered, get the goods together and way¬ 
bills separated for the next stop and 
have his “run” all written up by the 
time he gets to the terminal. The agent 
is usually employed as railroad agent 
also. This means that the moment he 
is born into railroad life he is born 
running; everything is done with a 
rush in this age, and railroading heads 
the list. There is only one difference 
between a railroad agent and a man 
who suddenly discovers he has lost his pocketbook 
and all his money. One rushes around wildly with 
no apparent purpose, while every time the other turns 
round he does something; he is working by system, 
and he is not going to consume a minute in loading 
a box when that box can be loaded in 10 seconds. 
Minutes are golden, and a trained railroad man will 
do more in one minute than some people do in five. 
If J. B. has not already found baskets a failure I 
would aavise that he try shipping a few consignments 
in good stout baskets, well packed, without covering 
for short distance shipping, and with a muslin cover 
for long distances. a. t. c. 
Raymond, Ill. 
My suggestion is to wrap each egg in newspaper 
or some thin wrapping paper; then pack around with 
wheat bran. This will keep the eggs clean, and the 
bran will prevent their striking the sides of each 
partition when the case is handled a little roughly in 
transportation. I would not make my crates to hold 
more than 20 dozen, or 20 individual boxes with 
handles on each side of the cases. For several years 
I have tried all plans, and found the express com¬ 
panies were so rough in handling that they don’t seem 
to care as long as they get their rates for transporta¬ 
tion what happens to the eggs. I have tried this 
plan since last October. While it is a little more 
trouble I have had no complaints of broken eggs, nor 
have I seen any trace of breakage when the crates 
were returned. The bran can be returned with the 
empty boxes and crates, as in this way it can be used 
again, for where there are no broken eggs it is just as 
good as fresh bran. t. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. 
I have trimmed several apple and plum trees this 
Spring and find, no Apple or Forest tent-caterpillar eggs. 
Fruit buds of all kinds have wintered perfectly. This 
speaks well for a good crop of fruit. I have noticed for 
several years a season following a wet one there will he 
a light crop of Apple tent-caterpillars. c. m. 
Fairmount, N. Y. 
BEN DAVIS SEEKS A HOME. Fro. 110. 
B. Davis: “I understand that you have land suitable for orchards for sale?” 
Eastern Farmer: “No, I have just disposed of all I can spare to some good 
friends of mine, Messrs. Spy, Baldwin and Greening.” 
