Grow Your Own Fruit 
III. THE CARE OF TREES AFTER THEY ARE SET OUT—INSECT AND FUNGOUS 
PESTS—WHEN THEY APPEAR AND HOW TO COMBAT THEM MOST EFFECTIVELY 
[Mr. Rockzvell’s series of articles that appeared last year in these pages, under the title “Grow Your Own Vegetables,’’ met with so many 
expressions of appreciation that we are doubly glad to follow it with three articles on an equally important phase of the home garden. The first 
article, which appeared in the February issue, took up the important matter of selecting the varieties best suited to the needs of the home orchard; 
the second article, in March, told how and when to plant, prune and cultivate.— Editor.] 
' I 'LIE day has gone, probably for¬ 
ever, when setting out fruit 
trees and giving them occasional cul¬ 
tivation — "plowing up the orchard'' 
once in several years — would produce 
good fruit. Apples and pears and 
peaches have occupied no preferred 
position against the general invasion 
of the realm of horticulture by insect 
.and fungous enemies. The fruits have 
indeed suffered more than most 
plants. Nevertheless there is this en¬ 
couraging fact: that though the 
fruits may have been severely at¬ 
tacked, the means we now have of 
fighting fruit-tree enemies, if thor¬ 
oughly used, as rule are more certain 
of accomplishing their purpose and keeping 
■the enemies completely at bay than are sim¬ 
ilar weapons in any other line of horticul¬ 
tural work. 
With fruit trees, as with vegetables and 
flowers, the most important precaution to be taken against in- 
-sects and disease is to have them in a healthy, thriving, growing 
condition. It is part of Nature’s law of the survival of the fittest 
that any backward or weakling plant or tree seems to fall first 
prey to the ravages of destructive forces. 
For these reasons the double necessity of maintaining at all 
times good fertilization and thorough cultivation will be seen. 
In addition to these two factors, careful attention in the matter 
•of pruning is essential in keeping the trees in a healthy, robust 
•condition. As explained in a previous article, the trees should be 
..started right by pruning the first season to the “open-head” or 
vase shape, which furnishes the maximum of light and air to all 
parts of the tree. Three or four main branches should form the 
liasis of the head, care being taken not to have them start from 
•directly opposite points on the trunk, thus forming a crotch and 
leaving the tree liable to splitting 
from winds or excessive crops. 
If the tree is once started right, 
further pruning will give little 
trouble. Cut out limbs which cross 
•or are likely to rub against each 
other, or that are too close together; 
and also any that are broken, de¬ 
cayed or injured in any way. For 
trees thus given proper attention 
from the start, a sharp jack-knife 
will be the only pruning instrument 
required. 
The care of the old orchard is 
more difficult. Cutting out too many 
•of the old, large limbs at one time is 
sure to give a severe shock to the 
vitality of the tree. A better plan 
is, first, to cut off — close — all suck- 
«ers and all new small-growth, limbs, 
■except a few of the most promising, 
which may be left to develop into 
large limbs; and then as these new 
limbs grow on, gradually to cut out 
(using a fine-tooth saw and painting 
the exposed surfaces) surplus old 
wood. Apples will need more prun¬ 
ing than the other fruits; pears and 
cherries the least. Cutting back the 
ends of limbs enough to keep the 
trees in good form, with the re¬ 
moval of an occasional branch for 
the purpose of letting in light and 
air, is all the pruning they will re¬ 
quire. Of course trees growing on 
rich ground, and well cultivated, 
will require more cutting back than 
those growing under poorer condi¬ 
tions. A further purpose of pruning is to 
effect, indirectly, a thinning of the fruit, so 
that what is grown will be larger and more 
valuable, and also that the trees may not 
become exhausted by a heavy crop. 
In trees that have been neglected and growing slowly, the bark 
sometimes becomes hard and set. In such cases it will prove 
beneficial to scrape the bark and give a “wash,” applied with an 
old broom. Whitewash is good for the purpose, but soda or 
lye answers the same purpose and is less disagreeably conspicuous. 
Slitting the bark on trunks and largest limbs is sometimes re¬ 
sorted to, care being taken to cut through the bark only; but such 
practice is objectionable because it leaves ready access to some 
forms of fungous disease and to borers. 
Where extra fine specimens of fruit are desired, thinning is 
practised. It helps also to prevent the tree from being overtaxed 
by excessive crops; but where pruning is thoroughly done this 
trouble is usually avoided. Peaches and Japan plums are espe¬ 
cially benefited by thinning, as they have a great tendency to over¬ 
bear. The spread of fruit diseases, especially those not in the 
fruit itself, is also to some extent 
checked. 
Of fruit-tree enemies there are 
some large sorts which may do 
great damage in short order—rab¬ 
bits and field-mice. They may be 
kept away by mechanical protec¬ 
tion, such as wire, or heaping the 
earth up to a height of twelve inches 
about the tree trunk. Or they may 
be caught with poison baits, such 
as boiled grain in which a little rat- 
poison has been mixed. The for¬ 
mer method for small gardens is 
little trouble, safer to Fido and 
Tabby, and the most reliable in 
effect. 
Insects and scale diseases are not 
so easily managed: and that brings 
us to the question of spraying and 
of sprays. 
by F. F. Rockwell 
Photographs by E. F. Hall and others 
A spraying outfit is an absolute necessity. If you have 
few trees a small brass tank of knapsack type will do 
( 259 ) 
