434 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 1, 
SUMMER PRUNING APPLES IN OHIO. 
J. H. II., Mingo Junction, 0 .—Would it 
be wise here in Ohio to practice the same 
methods in pruning on apples that I saw in 
the West and Northwest? Last Fall, while 
on a tour of most of the western fruit belts, 
1 noticed they nearly all Summer-pruned 
their apple trees as we do our peach trees 
in the Spring, by clipping off about one- 
third of new growth. It was done in July 
in Colorado and farther north, as in the 
Kootenay country around Nelson and Cres- 
ton, B. C., it had been done a little later. 
The largest and finest-looking apples I saw 
anywhere were in the Kootenay region, but 
as the Yellow Transparent was the only 
one ripe I could not judge the quality. 
They certainly had the fruit, and on trees 
only three and four years set. Fruit of 
the same varieties ripens later all over the 
West than in Ohio, but invariably began 
bearing younger. I have Baldwin and Spy 
here 17 years planted, 25 feet high, 30 foot 
spread, that have practically borne nothing. 
I get too much wood and not enough fruit, 
and wish to reverse it. I now have my 
orchard in sod mulch. 
Ans. —Summer pruning or “pinching” 
of apple trees is not considered prac¬ 
tical, among our leading Ohio orchard- 
ists, therefore very seldom practiced. 
Where an orchard owner can devote his 
entire time to a comparatively small area 
and especially desires early fruitage of 
his trees, it is possible that the time of 
fruit bearing may be hastened somewhat, 
though the results are not always just 
as satisfactory as could be desired. I 
understand that this is, in a measure, 
true of some of the sections in which 
the practice of Summer pinching is fol¬ 
lowed, though I shall not attempt to 
discuss that question. There are proba¬ 
bilities that Summer pruning, under con¬ 
ditions existing in Ohio, will introduce 
certain troubles which might overbal¬ 
ance all anticipated advantages. Where 
the bacterial disease of twig blight or 
“fire-blight” exists—and it is very prev¬ 
alent in various sections of Ohio—I 
should certainly hesitate to do any 
clipping of growing shoots, as the small 
wounds left by so doing afford most 
inviting points for infection. The time 
at which this disease appears and the 
length of the period during which it is 
active depend largely on the weather 
conditions. Past experience has caused 
me to hesitate even to follow the usual¬ 
ly advised plan of clipping off the dis¬ 
eased twigs as fast as the blight ap¬ 
pears; for, with movement of insect 
life, new inoculation is so often effected 
at the point at which the branch is 
cut, even though one take the precaution 
of sterilizing the tool with which the 
pruning is done, that the remedy applied 
often only aggravates the trouble. Twig 
blight often extends for several weeks of 
the growing season, if the weather be 
rainy or the atmosphere humid, and 
Summer pruning certainly is an alluring 
invitation to twig blight. Again, if the 
new shoots be cut back too soon in the 
season and a rainy period of weather 
follow later on, the chances are that the 
new buds, instead of developing into 
fruit buds, will push out a second 
growth of wood which cannot properly 
mature before the Winter season and 
will be injured or killed by the cold. 
In this case the desired effects of the 
Summer pruning are not only lost, but 
the result is the wood growth is 
left in a much less desirable condition 
than had no cutting or pinching been 
done. Therefore the character of the 
season in which Summer pruning would 
be done has much to do with the re¬ 
sults, and no one has the means of 
knowing, far in advance, what an Ohio 
season will bring forth in the way of 
weather conditions. The subject of 
pruning is an extensive one, and it would 
be useless to attempt to fully discuss 
any single phase of it within the scope 
of a short article. 
The correspondent states that he has 
Baldwin and Northern Spy trees only 
17 years old, measuring 25 feet in height 
and with 30 feet spread of branches. 
This is ample proof that the trees are 
growing on land rich in nitrogenous 
matter. Such soil will almost invariably 
force a rank growth of wood with little 
tendency to form fruit buds. Moreover, 
the varieties, Baldwin and Northern 
Spy, are quite tardy in coming into 
hearing under the conditions named. 
However, when trees do begin to bear 
under such conditions they are usually 
abundantly fruitful. These varieties 
planted on soil containing plenty of 
phosphorus and potassium with only 
enough nitrogenous matter to insure a 
moderate rate of growth will come into 
bearing much sooner than on rich soil. 
Such varieties as Yellow Transparent, 
Wealthy, Jonathan, Rome Beauty and 
Wagener, on land of moderate fertility, 
will come into bearing much sooner than 
Baldwin and Spy; indeed as soon as the 
trees are large enough to be allowed to 
bear fruit. On the thin, steep slopes of 
our southern Ohio hills, apple trees be¬ 
gin to bear very early—in some cases 
before they should—and the trees, as a 
rule, on this character of soil, will not 
be long lived. They will have passed 
their prime under the age of 25 years, 
and will have to be replaced. This is 
only true of trees on the light, thin 
soil to which I especially allude. Such 
trees need very little pruning except to 
keep those branches cut out which tend 
to close up the center of the tree—there 
is little wood to spare either for Winter 
or Summer heading in. 
J. H. H. might well experiment in a 
small way with root pruning, either by 
plowing very deeply to cut some of the 
roots, or by encircling a tree or two 
with a trench, cutting the roots with the 
space as they are found. This trench 
should be cut about as far as the ends 
of the branches extend. I know of an 
orchard in southern Ohio, on rich soil 
along the Ohio River, which made so 
rank a growth for several years that no 
fruit buds formed. The owner deeply 
plowed the orchard, cutting many roots 
of considerable size. The result was 
that his trees, checked temporarily in 
their wood growth, formed a heavy crop 
of fruit buds and bore prolifically 
thereafter. After a tree once begins to 
produce fruit freely the drain on the 
tree incident to fruit bearing at once 
restricts wood growth and the tree is 
likely to remain productive thereafter. 
If the orchardist had the matter of 
moisture under his control and were 
reasonably certain of weather conditions, 
as are the residents of the districts 
where irrigation is necessary, he could 
with more safety avail himself of Sum¬ 
mer pruning; but, with conditions as 
they are in Ohio, he runs a risk and has 
little encouragement in practicing Sum¬ 
mer restriction of his growing trees. 
This is not saying that Ohio is at a 
disadvantage in comparison with some 
of the Western States. We have ad¬ 
vantages in other respects not enjoyed 
by the far Western States. 
F. H. BALLOU. 
Lime After Potatoes. 
I have a piece of land that I wish to 
seed to Alfalfa. 1 put 20 bushels of stone 
lime to the acre last Spring, slaked with 
water, put it on floury. We are now 
husking the corn off it. I. intend to plant 
it in potatoes in the Spring, then to Al¬ 
falfa in the Fall. 1 intend to give it 20 
bushels of lime again. Should I lime it 
before I plant potatoes or lime before I sow 
Alfalfa? f. T. 
Pennsgrove, N. J. 
Your plan is good except for using lime 
Just ahead of potatoes. Never do that. The 
lime will increase the scab and about spoil 
the crop. Dig the potatoes and then use 
the lime and sow Alfalfa. 
Trap Nests for the Flea Beetles. 
.1 would like to ask L. A. F., page 330, 
if he has made any trap nests for the flea- 
beetle. A few years ago the garden 
huckleberry was distributed and we found 
the flea-beetles ravenously fond of it. 
Planted near tomatoes and potatoes the 
damage was much less than usual, while the 
“huckleberries” were so covered the fruit 
could not mature. It seemed as if every 
beetle in the neighborhood had located 
them. If this idea of using the otherwise 
useless “huckleberry” as a trap is prac¬ 
tical, could they not be destroyed while 
feeding by cutting down the plants and 
placing in water and kerosene? 
Maine. F. c. curtis. 
R. N.-Y.—The Wonderbcrry would be a 
wonder for such a trap-nest. Tt is a spe¬ 
cial pasture for the beetles. Who can tell 
us about such trap-nesting? 
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