American Agriculturist, December 8, 1923 
Winter Care of Orchards 
If Trees Are Worth Setting, Protect Them 
I T is poor business to 
buy pure bred 
young stock only to let them starve and become 
diseased; but the eastern states are mottled 
By DAVID STONE KELSEY 
with young orchards that seem to have been 
properly set, of reasonably well chosen varie¬ 
ties, but that at present writing are the exact 
opposite of a “demonstration orchard.” They 
are models of demonstration of how not to do 
it! Rodents, mice, and rabbits have taken 
terrible toll. Surface water in winter, settling 
about the trunks has frozen against the young 
bark fatally. 
Sun-scald—the clear February sun in the 
still air after a zero night has ruined apple trees 
even up to several inches in diameter, especially 
the more thrifty. And finally, the borers we 
have always with us. 
Once well-set, a fruit tree which perhaps 
originally cost but 30c is instantly worth 
$1.00, and after one or two growing seasons is 
as well worth $2.00 as any cow is worth a hun¬ 
dred. Now thrifty farmers never neglect one 
hundred dollar cows, but they do sorely neglect 
a one hundred dollar acre of young orchard 
trees. 
Let us suppose, for instance, that they have 
yielded to the blandishments of some sales 
agent and bought expensive woven wire guards. 
A reliable supply house quotes these by the 
hundred as follows: 
4x15—$8.70 
6x18—15.60 F. O. B. 
So far so good, but after this heavy outlay, 
plus the expense of setting the guards properly 
about the tree trunk, we have protection from 
only one of the above mentioned dangers, the 
rodents. And if we have to lay out another 
ten to twenty dollars per hundred to protect 
against surface water, sun-scald and borers, 
we may as well give up right now. 
As to rodents, a few days ago I saw a block 
of about fifty thirty-year-old Greening trees 
dead or dying from mice girdling, from a single 
winter’s neglect. If we breed mice (and also 
rubbish) the size of the tree is never too large 
for their teeth, and this is equally true ifi regard 
to rabbits and deer. 
To be sure a bearing apple tree worth $25.00 
is richly entitled to a wire guard, but we have 
never found them necessary. In some thirty 
years we have lost but two bearing trees from 
mice attacks, and in neither case did we breed 
the mice. These trees stood on the edges, and 
we were raided. 
Inexpensive and Safe 
Our methods with small trees are as follows: 
During early November workmen using long- 
handled spades pile several square cut spades 
full of soil against each tree (first having re¬ 
moved, with a sharp hoe, every atom of rub¬ 
bish lying within two or three feet of the trunk). 
The result is a conical mound about one foot 
high which storms and wind settle somewhat, 
but still adequate to keep away burrowing 
mice, besides bracing the young tree against 
winter gales following a sudden thaw. 
The mound also is a 100% insurance against 
the squeezing of surface water also, and is even 
a deterrent to the borers the following spring 
as we are in no hurry to level it down. 
Supplementary to the above, choosing some 
mild day about the last of January we “paint” 
the tree from the lower crotches down into the 
ground with a sludge in which whale oil soap 
or crude carbolic acid are so manifest as to dis¬ 
gust every rabbit in that region. The body of 
the paint being whitewash, the winter injury 
from sun-scald is also thus avoided. A white 
tree trunk will not 
draw the sun’s rays. 
Given a wash of the right consistency, one 
thrust of a heavily loaded paint brush in the 
crotch will thoroughly “paint” a small tree in 
thirty seconds. Sometimes we add a bit of 
dissolved resin to this mixture and apply it 
warm if much troubled by washing off from 
costal winter rains, and occasionally, a second 
application about mid-February is necessary. 
We mean to have “the flavor last” so that the 
carbolic will ward off both spring borers and 
June rabbits. 
BRIDGE GRAFTING SAVES 
GIRDLED TREES 
N Bridge grafting to save girdled or dam¬ 
aged fruit trees as in all other grafting the 
cion wood should be one year old, well matured, 
and free from winter injury. There are various 
methods of inserting the cions in making the 
bridge. The essential point, however, say 
Experiment Station horticulturists, is that the 
cambium, or growing layer, of cion be in con¬ 
tact with the cambium of the tree above and 
below the girdle. 
Grafting is best done in the spring when the 
bark begins to slip. A satisfactory method in 
bridge grafting is to remove a rectangle of bark 
above and below the girdle on the tree down 
to the cambium and of the same width as the 
cion. The ends of the cion are cut so as to bring 
the cambium of cion and tree in contact, when 
the ends are neatly fitted into the incisions of 
the tree. 
A small wire nail driven through each end 
of the cion into the tree will hold the cion in 
place. 
All the wound should be waxed over thor¬ 
oughly. After the bridging is completed it is 
a good plan to mound the tree with soil above 
the girdle to prevent drying and checking. 
While bridge grafting may save the tree, it is 
always better to prevent injuries which make it 
necessary. 
ALFALFA IN THE ORCHARD 
Some time ago American Agriculturist brought up 
the question of alfalfa in the apple orchard. Some 
excellent response was received relative to the experience 
of prominent growers. The following comes from the 
department of experimental pomology of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania State College of Agriculture. It bears out the ex¬ 
perience of other growers, that alfalfa is a decided benefit 
in the orchard where it is cut and allowed to remain as 
a mulch. 
I N 1908, Dr. J. P. Stewart, then in charge of 
the pomological research, planted about 750 
apple trees in several experiments in the college 
orchard. One block of a dozen trees was seeded 
to alfalfa the following year. In order to get 
a good stand it was necessary to reseed the 
following year. Seven years later the block 
was again reseeded and again in 1921. The 
alfalfa has made a fair growth and has been 
clipped twice a year. While the trees were 
small the hay was piled around them but of 
late years it is left where it falls. 
These 15 year old trees have never had 
nitrogen applied to them yet they have made 
as good growth as trees which have been under 
annual cultivation with heavy applications of 
fertilizers. Trees planted at the same time 
and grown under a timothy and blue-grass sod 
suffered to such an extent from nitrogen starva¬ 
tion that it was necessary to begin fertilizing 
them in 1920. 
In this same orchard about 50 other trees, 
also planted in 1908, were seeded down to 
alfalfa about 1913. This land has been reseeded 
(Continued on -page 400) 
There was nothing elaborate in the exhibit of “Cataract Brand” apples in New 
York’s exhibit at the recent Fruit Show in New York City. The Western New York 
growers put on a real commercial exhibit and for that reason it was most impressive. 
In the foreground are Hre cross-sections of barrels of apples showing the uniformity 
of pfeck from top to bottom. The New York exhibit consisted of barreled apples 
of interest to the commercial buyer. On the right is the grader which was used in 
demonstrating to visitors how Western New York apples are graded and packed. 
The bottom of the barrel— 
T HERE was an old lady who 
took only a spoonful or two 
of flour from a barrel each 
day and noticed that the bottom 
was still far away. She exclaimed, 
“Why this barrel of flour will 
last forever.” 
But the bottom finally came. 
In your soil there are three 
plant foods—nitrogen, phospho¬ 
rous and potash. Every crop you 
grow takes its toll of each 
of these three elements. 
You replace some of the 
food by growing legumes, 
by rotating your crops, and 
by returning the farm 
manure. 
But do you return all the 
potash that is removed? If 
you do not, there will come 
a day when the “bottom of 
the barrel” will be reached. 
Manure alone will not do it- 
You must add potash to your 
mixed fertilizer, or buy mixed 
fertilizer that contains plenty of 
potash. 
The use of potash is profitable. Potash 
pays. 
If you buy mixed fertilizer insist on 
a formula that is high in potash. 
Your dealer has Genuine German 
potash in stock, either in the form of 
mixed fertilizer or in 200 pound sacks. 
Should he be temporarily out of 
it, write us and we will tell you 
how and where to get it in the 
grade you wish. 
Since May 1st, 1923, the dis¬ 
tribution of German Potash,form¬ 
erly managed in this country by 
the German Kali Works and the 
Potash Syndicate, has been con¬ 
trolled by the 
POTASH IMPORTINQ COR- 
PORATION OF AMERICA 
81 FULTON ST. 
NEW YORK 
B-130-224 
Genuine German 
POTASH 
SKINNER APPLE and PEACH SIZER 
Does Work of Five Machines. ex ' 
Combines self-feeding hopper, roller grading belt, 
cull elt, sizer, distributing system. Dependable, 
thorough, widely used by experienced packers. 
Built by World’s 
largest manufacturers of 
packing house machinery. 
Write for detailed information 
SKINNER MACHINERY CO., Fourth St., DUNEDIN, FLORIDA 
Dr. David Roberts Animal Medicines 
A Prescription for Every Animat Ailment y 
Successfully Used for More than 30 YEARS 
Ask for Free Copy of the Cattle Specialist and how to get the 
Practical Home Veterinarian without cost, V6t6rinary &dvic6fr©6. 
Get Medicines of Druggist or Dealer, or Direct. 
DR. DAVID ROBERTS VETERINARY CO. Inc., ^97Grand Ave., Waukesha, Wisconsin 
