774 
•the RUkai. NEW-YORKER 
Orchard Notes 
Thinning an Orchard 
I would like to know whether it is ad¬ 
visable to replant an apple orchard that is 
coming nine year old; trees are planted 
10x8 ft. apart and are growing very fast 
in height. They are now 10 or 12 ft. high 
and 0 in. through. The trees bear fruit 
and are called Ben Davis variety. If I 
replant these trees they tell me that they 
will amount to nothing. I low should one 
take out these trees, and when is the best 
time to replant? a. z. 
New York. 
It will be necessary to remove one-half 
of these trees or in a very few years the 
entire orchard will become of very little 
value, owing to close planting. Assuming 
that the trees are planted in a rectangle, 
chat is, with rows running two ways and 
at right angles to each other, the right 
way to thin them is to remove the second, 
fourth and sixth tree in the first row. and 
the first, third and fifth tree in the second 
row, continuing in this manner the entire 
length of the rows, and alternating with 
each row, so as to remove the even num¬ 
bers from the odd-numbered rows and the 
odd numbers from the even-numbered 
rows. This will leave the trees in what 
is known as. the quincunx form. That is. 
they will be in groups of five, with the 
central tree 12 ft. 0 in. from any other 
tree, and the corner trees 20 and 10 ft. 
apart, respectively. So located, they 
should bear from 12 to 1.1 good crops of 
apples before another thinning will be 
necessary. Then, when the trees begin 
to crowd, the even-numbered rows should 
be removed, throughout. This will leave 
the remaining trees standing 10 ft. apart 
in the row, and the rows will be 20 ft. 
apart. In another 15 years; more or less, 
the trees will again begin to crowd. Then 
thin as in the first place, removing every 
even-numbered tree from the odd rows, 
and the odd trees from the even-numbered 
rows. This will again leave the trees in 
-groups of five, with the central tree 20 ft. 
from the others, and the corner trees 22 
ft. apart, in rows that are 40 ft. apart. 
Ben Davis trees will probably never need 
a further thinning, but, should it become 
necessary to thin again, remove the even- 
numbered trees. 
It will not be a difficult matter success¬ 
fully to transplant the trees of the first 
thinning if they are located on level land. 
If. however, they are situated on.a steep 
hill, transplanting will be difficult, unless 
the trees are replanted upon land that in¬ 
clines at about the same angle. The work 
should be done just as early in the Spring 
as it can be done, and two men should be 
able to dig and replant from 12 to 10 
trees in a day, provided they do digging 
enough. If they attempt to economize on 
the digging, they may not be able to move 
more than four. 
First a ditch should be dug around 
the tree, far enough away to clear the 
roots. Probably this will be about 4 ft., 
thus making a circle S ft. in diameter. 
The Ben Davis is not a deep-rooted tree, 
and probably 18 in. will be deep enough 
to reach below the root system. Then 
uncover the roots. Next take a pick and 
loosen the soil beneath the roots. When 
this has been done it will be an easy mat¬ 
ter to push the tree over and free it from 
the soil. If, however, one stands upon the 
roots and attempts to pull the tree out of 
the ground, he will be up against a tough 
proposition, and will be a tired man when 
night comes. A hole plenty large enough 
should be dug, the tree set in place and 
good fresh loam filled in around the roots. 
Early in the Spring the soil will probably 
be sufficiently moist, unless the roots are 
too long exposed. But, if it is inclined*to 
be dry. plenty of water must be supplied. 
Respective points of the compass have 
no influence, but the tree must be so 
turned that it will form the same angle 
with the surface as previously. Other¬ 
wise, the roots of one side may be buried 
far too deep for the welfare of the tree, 
while those of the other side may be above 
the ground. When the tree is in position, 
trim in just in accordance with the prin¬ 
ciples of good pruning. Do not trim it 
excessively because someone told you that 
the top must be cut back to balance the 
loss of the roots. Rootlets and hair-roots 
must be develops] before the tree can take 
hold of the 'soil, and the gap with which to 
develop those organs is now in the 
branches. If the buds or leaves have 
commenced to grow, it may be advisable 
to cut back pretty severely in order to 
throw the sap into the roots. But severe, 
pruning is not advisable when trans¬ 
planting in early Spring. Tf the tree lias 
well-developed fruit buds when moved, it 
is quite likely that the apples will be be¬ 
low medium size the first season. But, if 
the work is properly and skilfully done, no 
further undesirable results should follow. 
I have successfully transplanted apple 
trees so large that six men were required 
to handle them. c. o. o. 
A Discussion on Hybridizing 
I am mailing Prof. W. F. Massey a 
marked copy of Rural Life, containing an 
address by Prof. TJ. P. Hedrick of our ex¬ 
perimental farm at Geneva. N. Y., believ¬ 
ing he will find many points in it of inter¬ 
est. and one in particular where he claims 
our fruits can only be improved by propa¬ 
gation from seed. This I think is quite 
at variance with the theory that seedlings 
seldom equal the original or parent plant. 
The Northern Spy apple originated as a 
seedling only 20 miles south of Rochester 
and is a famous and grand apple with us, 
but if it is a degenerate from the parent 
fruit, what a grand apple the original 
must have been ! I am trying a little ex¬ 
periment in crossing the mallows; for in¬ 
stance, trying to cross the perennial holly¬ 
hock with the wild mallow, but have not 
gone far enough as yet even to prove the 
cross. In your opinion, can it be done? 
Prof. Hedrick claims the pelargoniums and 
geraniums cannot be crossed, and yet they 
are both geraniums. Why? Burbank 
continually tells about introducing wild 
blood into his hybrids and that is what I 
am trying to do. How unfortunate that 
we have so few experiment stations and 
so little writings on the subject of hy¬ 
bridization and crossing of plants. To 
your knowledge, have they ever attempted 
to cross the orange on the lemou, lime, 
pomelo or kumquat? Will hybridiza¬ 
tion succeed where grafting does, for in¬ 
stance, the pear upon the quince? 
Rochester, N. Y. d. j. w. 
The article by Prof. Hedrick is very in¬ 
teresting. especially his remarks on hered¬ 
itary characters and the indications as to 
fruit from the type of growth and the 
character of the bloom, and his statement 
that improvement in fruits can be made 
generally from breeding through the seed 
and not from bud selection. It is very 
evident, however, from the experience in 
the growth of the Bahia seedless oranges 
in California that bud selection is impor¬ 
tant to prevent deterioration, since care¬ 
less selection of buds for propagation has 
in mjyiy instances resulted in inferior 
fruits. Prof. Hedrick’s statement is in 
no way a variation from what I have long 
ago found to be true. I). J. W. is in error 
if he has concluded I have ever intimated 
that fruits grown from seed are neces¬ 
sarily inferior to the seed parent. I have 
stated, as the majority of those who have 
studied plant breeding, that we seldom get 
a reproduction of the same fruit from 
seed; that variation is the rule in all vig¬ 
orous types, and that when a species 
ceases to vary il is getting weak and liable 
to die out. There is no evidence at all 
that the 6eed parent of the Northern Spy 
apple was superior to that variety. Species 
will usually cross easily ; genera seldom if 
ever. Tin* plants we call pelargoniums 
and geraniums are both pelargoniums, but 
in the order Gerauiaeeae. They have been 
crossed, but do not readily hybridize. 
While breeding with the idea of getting 
improved traits is always done through 
crossing of the flowers and the use of 
seeds which are hoped to carry some de¬ 
sirable feature, there are nevertheless 
many instances where advantage is taken 
of natural mutations or •bud variations, 
commonly called sports. A sudden change 
takes place in a-brauch of a plant or tree, 
making a permanent variation from the 
type, and when such a variation is desir¬ 
able it is used for propagation. Florists’ 
flowers furnish many instances of sports 
being the parent of new varieties. Down 
in Keenansville, N. C\. the Rev. Mr. 
Sprunt had a plant of the old Tea rose 
Safrano. This rose makes buds of a sal¬ 
mon buff color. Suddenly a shoot ap¬ 
peared on the bush bearing pale lemon- 
colored flowers. This was propagated and 
named Isabella Sprunt, and the two va¬ 
rieties still (or did the last time I saw 
the bush) grow on the came root. 
The study of hereditary characteristics 
is very interesting, and I am glad that 
Prof. Hedrick is doing so much in this 
line. Years ago I tried to cross genera 
and believed that I had succeeded. I fer¬ 
tilized the flowers of the Chinese Hibiscus 
with pollen from Malvaviscus arborea 
(Achania malvaviscus). This latter 
makes a great abundance of scarlet flow¬ 
ers, and is hardy in North Carolina, and 
I hoped to get flowers like the Chinese on 
a hardy plant. I did get some seeds and 
planted them, but they seemed to have 
some weakness and one by one perished. 
I have never seen any marked results from 
an effort to cross two distinct genera of 
the same order. I once had an old orange 
tree in a large collection which bore or¬ 
anges one half sweet and the other half as 
acid as a lemon. I had another tree, a 
lemon, which peeled like an orange, and 
was fairly sweet. These were very old 
trees in a great private collection and are 
probably still living. Tradition said they 
were hybrids of lemon and orange. I as¬ 
sume that they were simply sporting 
plants. The varieties of oranges and 
lemons cross among themselves, but not 
so far as I know with each other. There 
has been so much fake and gush about 
Mr. Burbank’s productions that very little 
attention is given them now among plant 
breeders. Few of his “creations” have 
amounted to much in the East. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
Planting and Caring for the Young 
Orchard 
A great deal has been said about plant¬ 
ing a small orchard on every farm this 
coming Spring. I think this idea is cer¬ 
tainly worthy of a lot of praise. Those of 
us who grew up on a farm will never for¬ 
get the pleasure we took in clubbing the 
Red Astraehaus and Sweet Boughs from 
the old home trees. However, the farm 
orchard of today has to a large part dis¬ 
appeared. This i« due mainly to San 
.Tose scale and several new fungus diseases 
which about whipped the farm orchards 
before they were discovered and control 
measures learned. The result is that the 
farm orchard must be started anew, and 
The R. N.-Y. must be given the credit 
for taking the initiative in this good work. 
The selection of varieties of each fruit 
which will ripen in succession and which 
do well in your locality is the first step. 
Write your State experiment station for a 
list of varieties suited to your section. 
Send your list direct to a reliable nursery 
and get their price estimate. Don’t pay a 
tree agent two prices for your trees. 
These points have all been ably discussed 
in former articles in The R. N.-Y. 
Now comes the planting and care of 
these trees. The nurserymen tell us that 
only about one tree in 20 that they sell 
comes into full bearing. Only in a very 
few instances is this the nurseryman’s 
fault. Usually the trees are delivered in 
first-class condition, but so often the pack¬ 
ages containing the trees are allowed to 
dry out before planting. If the trees are 
to be planted within a few days after they 
are received, the bundle or box may be 
placed on the north side of a building or 
in a cellar and thoroughly watered at least 
once a day without removing the wrap¬ 
ping material which surrounds the trees 
when they arrive. If the planting is to 
be delayed for a number of days, the trees 
should he taken from the nursery pack¬ 
age and placed singly in a trench about 
10 inches deep. Lay the trees down with 
tin 1 toils pointing to the south. Next fill 
in about the roots with dirt, being sure 
not to leave air pockets to dry out and kill 
the cambium layer of the small roots. 
Heeled in this manner, they can be left 
for several weeks without danger, al¬ 
though it is best to get them in as early 
in the Spring as it is possible to work 
the ground. 
When planting the trees it is best to 
avoid a chance of the roots of the trees 
drying out during the operation by keep¬ 
ing them covered with a wet blanket. 
Dig a hole large enough to accommodate 
the roots of the tree without bending. 
Next remove all dead or broken roots and 
clip back the remaining roots till the live 
green tissue is reached. Top soil should 
be used around the roots and worked in 
around and beneath the roots, being sure 
to leave no air pockets. Shaking the tree 
up and down a few times will help to set¬ 
tle the soil close in around all of the roots. 
May 3, 1919 
Tramp the dirt firmly into the hole, with 
the exception of the last couple of shovels, 
which should be left loose as a mulch. 
The most important factor in the growth 
of the young tree the first few years of its 
life is a plentiful supply of water. The 
water supply can be conserved in two 
ways, either by mulching or by cultivation 
or hoeing. If the soil is poor the trees 
will be greatly benefited by a few forkfuls 
of manure to each tree. This can be cul¬ 
tivated or hoed into the soil around the 
tree, or covered with a mulch of straw 
about four inches thick in a circle about 
four feet in diameter. In case it is decid¬ 
ed to hoe or cultivate the trees, it is a 
pretty safe bet that if the tree is given 
as many cultivations as the sweet corn 
patch in the garden it will live and make 
a fine growth each year. There is no way 
of dodging the proposition that these little 
trees must be either cultivated or mulched. 
Without that intention on the start, it 
would be better not to put money into the 
trees in the first place. If the mulch 
system is followed the root system will 
in time work up nearer the surface of the 
ground than in the case of cultivation. 
This is not a disadvantage if plenty of 
straw is always kept around the trees 
and has the added advantage that the 
mulching can be done in the Winter or 
early Spring when other work is not so 
pressing on the farm. It is hard to find 
time to cultivate the home orchard six or 
seven times through the early part of the 
Summer when it needs it. and it is often 
a safe proposition to mulch the trees and 
insure against that possible lack of care 
that might come in a busy Spring season 
on the farm. a. h. b. 
Strawberries Killed by Mulch 
My strawberries, planted last Fall, are 
all dead except five or six. which came up 
with two or three leaves. No green crown 
whatever was left, when I took off the 
leaves that covered them during the Win¬ 
ter. Would the covering with leaves 
smother or rot the plants? E. D. 
New York. 
You probably gave them too much cov¬ 
ering. They were killed by kindness. 
Forest leaves or sawdust do not make the 
best mulch for strawberries. They pack 
down over the plants and “smother” them 
by keeping out all air. The strawberry 
does not need protection from the cold. 
The object of a Winter mulch is to pre¬ 
vent alternate freeze and thaw. Each freeze 
lifts the plant a trifle and the thaw fol¬ 
lowing it leaves roots a little exposed. 
The mulch, by shading the ground, pre¬ 
vents this thawing. We do not mulch to 
keep the plants warm, but to hold the 
frost in the ground. A coarse material, 
like straw, bedding or cornstalks, will be 
much better than leaves. 
Birds and Cherries 
I think I have had some experience with 
the problem of birds eating cherries and 
other fruits that maybe .T. II. D., page 
685, has not thought of. With us the cul¬ 
prit is the robin almost entirely, and he is 
plenty enough in the towns, where his 
favorite angleworm abounds, to make it 
impossible to get a cherrp crop, no matter 
how many trees are raised. The birds 
will strip a whole tree in half a day, and 
scream at you if you dare to interfere. 
The plan is this: Train cherry trees, as 
far as possible, distaff shape, so that mos¬ 
quito netting will readily cover them. 
Theu it is easy to handle a tree. I am 
aware that the sour cherry trees spread 
out badly, but something can be done to 
curb them in. The idea is not only to 
cover a tree, but to bring the netting to¬ 
gether around the trunk ; then, as soon 
as the fruit is fully ripe, all that needs to 
be done is to shake the tree and the cher¬ 
ries will run out into a dish from the 
spout-like end of the netting. I have a 
tree in mind that I have handled in that 
way more than once. Cherries kept on 
the tree till they come off in that way are 
far more delicious than when they are 
picked half ripe to keep them from the 
robins. They do not rot on the tree as 
plums do, and if used in the family can 
be left on the tree till wanted. If they do 
not have to be shipped far to market the 
same plan would work, and it may be they 
would keep all right for shipment also. It 
is useless for us to plant cherry trees in 
towns, but in the country the robins are 
not usually plenty enough to make much 
trouble. J. w. a 
New York. 
