1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
■469 
MAKING BALDWIN TREES BEAR YEARLY, 
Training Up a Young Orchard. 
1 . I have a youug orchard, about 60 trees, which only 
bear every other year. Can anything be done to make it 
bear every year? It is in sod. I pasture it with calves 
and pigs. Would it be better to plow and cultivate it? 
It has not been trimmed lately. Would you trim it in 
Winter or wait till Spring? 2. I have 12 trees in a row 
along the highway. They blossom every Spring, but do 
not bear any fruit. They are Greenings, one Hen Davis. 
What would you do to make them bear? u. a. c. 
Bomus Point, N. Y. 
1. Some varieties of apples are known as annual 
croppers, and others, like the Baldwin especially, are 
known as having the habit of bearing every other 
year. There have been many explanations of the 
reason for this difference in varieties, and I have al¬ 
ways been much interested in tales of orchards that 
produced paying crops annually, and have also studied 
those varieties that are known as annual producers. I 
have come to the conclusion that this is largely a 
question of the assimilation and elaboration of plant 
food by the tree. The soil solution of plant food 
taken up by the roots is transferred in the sap through 
roots, trunk, branches and twigs to the leaves, where 
under the influence of the sunlight and of the green 
chlorophyll cells of the leaves it combines with certain 
elements taken from the air, and a refined plant food 
is formed from which the different parts of the tree, 
such as wood growth, buds and fruit are formed and 
enough surplus stored up for the beginning of growth 
the following Spring. Now take the Baldwin apple, 
for instance, to illustrate this point. It has a reputa¬ 
tion as semi-annual cropper, producing usually every 
other year, and that year produces heavy crops, often 
taxing the vitality of the tree severely to carry the 
large crop through to maturity. Tlie Baldwin ranks 
among the weakest as to foliage, and one of several 
things happens with a heavy crop of fruit; for ex¬ 
ample, insufficient moisture in soil to carry enough 
plant food to the leaves to be elaborated in the leaves 
and mature the crop, and at the same time store up 
enough in excess to change prospective leaf buds on 
fruit spurs to flower buds, or if so 
changed not sufficient supply to vitalize 
them as it were, and make them strong 
enough to set a crop of fruit under 
unfavorable conditions and produce a 
crop of fruit. We have all seen the 
small undersized fruit bud and the ob¬ 
servant grower knows that as a rule it 
blossoms and seldom sets fruit except 
under most favorable conditions. 
Again, there might be plenty of soil 
moisture and a surplus of plant food in 
the soil, but because of severe insect or 
fungous injury the foliage might be so 
weakened that plant food could not be 
elaborated in sufficient quantity to sup¬ 
ply the growing crop of fruit, and also develop fruit¬ 
ing buds for next year. I have seen Baldwin or¬ 
chards that have been yielding paying crops each 
year for past several years, and And these growers 
either till thoroughly to conserve moisture, or there 
is an unusual supply of water in the soil, but not 
Under above treatment I should expect a slight in¬ 
creased wood growth over similar bearing years—a 
larger and more vigorous leaf of remarkable vitality, 
hanging upon trees until early Winter, and a moder¬ 
ate production of vigorous fruit buds which if care¬ 
fully looked after the following year will produce a 
food crop of fruit. A severe frost at blossom time, 
completely killing all blossom buds or setting fruit, 
has often changed the bearing year of Baldwin or- 
spraying with dilute lime-sulpluir or Bordeaux just 
before blossoms opened, followed by another spraying 
with the same directly after blossoming. b. d. v. b. 
A HOLSTEIN FRIESIAN COW. 
See page 431. 
Fig. 155. 
chards. A case recently cited to me was where the 
owner of a large Baldwin orchard found it badly in¬ 
fested with canker worms. He sprayed all but two 
rows with an insecticide not strong enough to kill 
the caterpillars, and they defoliated the trees. The 
two rows he sprayed with much stronger material, 
completely destroying the canker worms and saving 
the foliage. The following year was the bearing year 
of this orchard, but only the two rows upon which 
A STEAM ENGINE AT ROAD WORK. . Fig. 156, 
the insects were exterminated produced a crop of 
apples. The bearing year of the rest of the orchard 
was apparently permanently changed, as this happened 
10 years ago, and the two rows above mentioned are 
yet bearing the year the rest of the orchard has no 
crop. Thorough thinning of excessively large crops 
enough to be injurious. They all uniformly spray, will also often develop fruit buds, where if the entire 
using most up-to-date methods, and the trees hold a crop had been left on the tree it would have so 
large luxuriant foliage free from fungous and insect taxed the trees’ vitality that no fruit would be pro¬ 
injury until late 
in Fall. The 
KieiTer un¬ 
doubtedly owes 
its vigor and 
annual cropping 
habit in a large 
measure to its 
large, vigorous, 
leathery leaf, 
almost immune 
to fungous at¬ 
tack. What 
t r e a t m ent to 
recommend for 
this orchard 
that is only 
bearing bi¬ 
ennially i s a 
difficult question 
and only some 
suggestions can 
be made. The year the orchard is to bear, prune at 
least moderately, plow as soon as possible in Spring 
very shallow, not over four inches, so as to avoid 
root injury. Cultivate thoroughly up to latter part of 
July to conserve moisture. I would then sow some 
cover crop to protect soil and roots—preferably one 
that would make quite a top growth before Winter 
set in unless certain of enough snow to protect roots. 
Give thorough spraying to control scale insects, leaf¬ 
eating insects and fungous troubles that injure leaves. 
THE CULL IN THE PACKAGE. Fig. 157. 
dticed the following year. Early apples a.re more 
likely to be annual bearers, other things being equal, 
because they mature early enough so that the tree lias 
a chance to store up surplus food after the crop has 
been removed. 
2. Possibly the reason these 12 trees have not set 
fruit is because the blossom buds have been attacked 
by apple scab just before blossoms opened, or the 
voting apples attacked just after blossom petals 
dropped. I would recommend a trial of thorough 
BAMBOO AT CULEBRA, 
Fig. 154 reproduces the photograph of a common 
Bengalese bamboo from Sibpur, Calcutta, taken at 
Culebra, Canal Zone, December, 1910. Plants planted 
May, 1908; one of the most useful plants of Bengal, 
the fiber of which is largely used for mats, baskets, 
fans and window-blinds. In America the best split 
bamboos are made from the wood of this species. 
The young shoots when tender are used as food, and 
the wood is used for roofing, scaffolding and baskets. 
Some forms because of their numerous thorns forn\ 
excellent hedges. As the walls of the Culms are very 
thick this species has been suggested as a source of 
supply for bamboo woven lathing, basket material, 
etc. Grows very rapidly, the specimen in the photo¬ 
graph having attained a height of about 45 feet in 
three seasons of growth. The species is supposed to 
stand some frost, is quite drought-resistant, and 
recommends itself as an ornamental. The picture 
and information is supplied by the Plant Introduction 
Bureau of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. A 
correspondent of the Bureau, Mr. F. R. Ramsdell, of 
the Isle of Pines, Cuba, writes that he is using bam¬ 
boos as wind-breaks. The growth of the bamboo fig¬ 
ured, 45 feet in three growing seasons, is not at all 
excessive. Baron Von Mueller records the growth of 
this same variety at the rate of 20 to 70 feet in a 
month, and Robert Fortune, the great collector of 
Chinese and Japanese plants, noticed the growth of 
several Chinese bamboos to be two to 2feet in a day. 
WORK OF A STEAM TRACTION ENGINE. 
I enclose picture, Fig. 156, of traction engine and 
train used for hauling road material at Apulia, N. Y. 
It may interest some of your readers to know some 
of the details of this kind of outfit. The engine shown 
in picture was selected after careful study of the diff¬ 
erent styles, as the most suitable for a general purpose 
engine, and is, it is safe to say, equal to 
any of the same size and rating. While 
rated at 15 horse-power, it will develop 
45 brake horse-power, and weighs seven 
tons. The load of stone and weight of 
wagons amounted to between 23 and 25 
tons. The trip averaged eight miles and 
return daily over macadam road. This 
work lasted 65 days, and the road was 
apparently improved by the train passing 
over it. This engine is also used for 
thrashing, running silage cutter, corn 
shredder, saws and stone crusher, and is 
far superior to horses for hauling road 
machines. It would seem the time is 
near at hand when a large amount of 
freight and produce will be moved by road tractors. 
The kerosene and gasoline tractors are being used to 
great advantage in the West for all hauling purposes. 
Auto trucks for hauling and power purposes are being 
put on the market now, and indications are for a rapid 
development along this line. The large gas tractors 
used so successfully in the West are as a rule too 
large and heavy for the narrow stony roads and the 
weak bridges of our Empire State. Where there are 
small gasoline 
tractions on the 
m a r k e t, they 
seem as yet to 
be in the experi¬ 
mental stage. 
The sooner we 
get good roads 
and move our 
freight, produce 
and everything 
else by motor 
vehicles, the 
better it will be 
for everyone. 
R. C. H. 
New York. 
R. N. - Y.— 
The gradual 
change in city 
trucking caused 
by the use of 
motor vehicles is very instructive, and we hope to 
see their use extended in the country. We can see 
great possibilities in their use by cooperative asso¬ 
ciations. Tf the growers in an association within 50 
miles of a city could ship fruit, truck, eggs and other 
perishable products direct by their own motor trucks, 
the consumer would be in closer touch with the pro¬ 
ducer, and express delays would be at on end. A 
personally conducted express has some advantages, as 
florists near New York have discovered. 
