^1=== LIPPINCOTT5 FARM MANUALS \i PRODUCTIVE ORCHARDING BY FRED C.SEARS.M.S. mtje ^. p. PUI lltbrarg ^Mortl; Carolina ^taJe fflollege ih: & ENGINEERING iJUCATION ]'b^-b NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES SOI 948850 Z ^iAlc. CoLLEGi^ v.. .......^.^fUKE & ENGINEERING DEFT. OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Date Due ' The first farmer was the first man. and all historic nobility rests on possession and use of land." — Emerson. LIPPINCOTT'S FARM MANUALS EDITED BY KARY C. DAVIS, Ph.D. (Cornell) PRODUCTIVE ORCHARDING MODERN METHODS OF GROWING AND MARKETING FRUIT By FRED C. SEARS, M.S. PROFESSOR OF POMOLOGY, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLKGB LippiNcoTT's Farm Manuals Edited by K. C. DAVIS. Ph.D., Knapp School of Country Life, Nashville, Tenn. Every effort is made to keep these standard texts up-to-date, and new editions are published and revisions made whenever necessary. COOPERATIVE MARKETING OF FARM PRODUCTS By O. B. JESNESS PRODUCTIVE SWINE HUSBANDRY By GEORGE E. DAY. B.S.A. Third Edition, Revised PRODUCTIVE POULTRY HUSBANDRY By HARRY R. LEWIS, M.Agr. Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged PRODUCTIVE HORSE HUSBANDRY By CARL W. GAY, D.V.M., B.S.A. Third Edition, Revised PRODUCTIVE ORCHARDING By FRED C. SEARS, M.S. Second Edition. Revised PRODUCTIVE VEGETABLE GROWING By JOHN W. LLOYD, M.S. A. Third Edition, Revised PRODUCTIVE FEEDING OF FARM ANIMALS By F. W. WOLL, Ph.D., Third Edition, Revised COMMON DISEASES OF FARM ANIMALS By R. A. CRAIG, D.V.M., Third Edition, Revised PRODUCTIVE FARM CROPS By E. G. MONTGOMERY, M.A. Third Edition. Revised PRODUCTIVE BEE KEEPING By FRANK C. PELLETT, Second Edition. Revised PRODUCTIVE DAIRYING By R. M. WASHBURN. M.S.A. Second Edition, Revised INJURIOUS INSECTS AND USEFUL BIRDS By F. L. WASHBURN. M.A. PRODUCTIVE SHEEP HUSBANDRY By WALTER C. COFFEY, M.A. PRODUCTIVE SMALL FRUIT CULTURE By FRED C. SEARS. M.S. PRODUCTIVE SOILS By WILBERT W. WEIR, M.S. LIPPINCOTT'S COLLEGE TEXTS THE POTATO By WILLIAM STUART SOIL PHYSICS AND MANAGEMENT By J. G. MOSIER, B.S.. A. F. GUSTAFSON, M.S. FARM LIFE TEXT SERIES FARM ECONOMICS By FRANK APP APPLIED ECONOMIC BOTANY By MELVILLE T. COOK, Ph.D. PRODUCTIVE PLANT HUSBANDRY By KARY C. DAVIS. Second Edition, Revised HORTICULTURE FOR HIGH SCHOOLS By KARY C. DAVIS. Second Edition, Revised PRODUCTIVE SOILS (Abridge PREFACE Probably every teacher who studies along any one line for a series of years becomes convinced that he has learned things that ■would be of value to men in this line of work. The writer offers this excuse for writing the present book, and perhaps the further justification might be added that for a number of years he has had charge of a relatively large orchard where he believes that he has sifted out his theories and discarded those that " won't work." He hopes that this belief will be shared by any who may attempt to follow his directions, and that the book may prove a real help in solving some of the problems which every orchard owner, whether experienced or in- experienced, is certain to encounter. The writer also ventures to hope that the book may be helpful to instructors as a text for class use. He has attempted to cut out the non-essentials and to present the essentials in a reason- ably brief manner and yet with sufificient detail to be followed easily when one attempts to put them into practice. Fred C. Sears Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, January 1, 1914. Editor's Note. This book is suited to tlie needs of College and Short Course Classes. Its practical nature as Avell as its philosophical treatment makes it a book to be desired by both fruit grower and student. High schools and special agricultural schools devoting some time to the particular study of horti- culture will find in this book the themes for their most profitable con- sideration. The reader will be favorably impressed with the spirit of the writer throughout, particularly on questions where authorities may differ; the vigor and novelty of treatment are refreshing to those who are familiar with older works on the subject. PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION It is now nine years since the first edition of Productive Orcliarding was pnblislied, and the changes which have developed in the methods and ideals of fruit growers during that time, and which are embodied in the revisions of this present and the former editions, have certainly been both interesting and striking. Any live industry changes, and judged by this standard tlie fruit growing industry must be very much alive. The most conspicuous changes are in connection with the three operations of fertilizing, pruning and spraying. This is just where one w^ould expect to find them, since these are three of the most important of all operations connected with the growing of fruit, and much time and thought and energy and experimenta- tion are devoted to advancing our knowledge and perfecting our methods in these three major lines of fruit work. Fred C. Sears. Amherst, Massachusetts, April 25, 1923. CONTENTS CBAPTEB PAGE I. The Outlook for Orcharding 1 II. Orchard Lands 8 III. Selecting Varieties and Buying Nursery Stock 24 IV. Establishing the Orchard 44 V. Cropping the Orchard 66 VI. Orchard Culture 77 VII. Orchard Implements 91 VIII. Fertilizers 100 IX. Cover Crops 108 X. Pruning 119 XI. Orchard Insects 142 XII. Diseases op Fruit Trees 163 XIII. Spraying Apparatus 175 XIV. Spraying Materials 189 XV. The Spraying Campaign 201 XVI. Renovating Old Orchards 212 XVII. Picking and Handling Fruit 229 XVIII. Storing Fruit 245 XIX. Grading and Packing 258 XX. Marketing 277 XXI. Advertising 287 XXII. Laws Affecting Orcharding 298 Index 311 ILLUSTRATIONS FIG, PAGE A Profitable Baldwin Apple Tree Frontispiece 1. One Reason Why Orcharding Will Not be Overdone! 3 2. Another Reason WTiy Orcharding Will Not be Overdone 5 3. Still Another Reason Why Orcharding Will Not be Overdone 6 4. A Good Orchard Country 11 5. An Ideal Country for Orchard 13 6. Northern Spy Apple 26 7. A Baldwin Apple 28 8. Yellow Bellflower Apple 39 9. Nursery Tree with a Poor Fork 41 10. A Nursery Tree That Is too Heavy 41 11. Finishing the Land with a Flanker Before Beginning to Lay off the Orchard 46 12. Diagram Showing Method of Lajnng off a Field for Planting an Orchard 48 13. Diagram for Measuring Boards. Drawn to Scale 49 14. Staking off Orchard by Means of Two Measuring Boards 50 15. Planting Board for Locating Tree in Setting 50 16. Heeling in Nursery Stock 51 17. A Load of Nursery Trees Ready for the Setting Gang 52 18. Gang of Men Setting Trees 52 19. Ready to Set a Two Year Apple Tree 54 20. Same Tree as Shown in Figure 19, Set 54 21. Same Tree as Shown in Figures 19 and 20 After Pruning 56 22. Pruning a One-year-old "Whip " 56 23. An Extreme Case of High Heading 57 24. A Low Headed Five-year-old Peach Tree 59 25. An Apple Tree with a Medium Head, about Thirty Inches 60 26. A Poor Fork on a Ben Davis Apple Tree 60 27. Gravenstein Apple Trees as Permancnts with Cherries as "Fillers". . 62 28. Late Potatoes in a Young Peach Orchard 66 29. Soybeans as a Companion Crop 67 30. Pea-beans as an Orchard Crop 69 31. Squashes as an Orchard Crop 71 32. Potatoes in a Bearing Apple Orchard 72 33. Strawberries in a Young Peach Orchard 74 34. Clean Cultivation in an Old Renovated Orchard 78 35. Mowing the Grass in a Sod Orchard 79 ILLUSTRATIONS 36. A Tree Girdled by Mice and Saved by Bridge Grafting 82 37. A Compromi.se Method of Handling the Land in the Orchard, Sod Along the Tree Rows and Cultivation Between 89 38. A Gang of Three Eight-inch Plows 93 39. A Disc Plow for Orchard Work 94 40. The Acme Harrow 96 41. Orchard Cultivator with Heavy, Rigid Teeth 96 42. Light Draft Orchard Cultivator 97 43. Grape-hoe at Work in Young Orchard 98 44. Crimson Clover as a Cover Crop 110 45. Buckwheat as a Cover Crop 114 46. Young Apple Tree Started on Wrong Road by Bad Pruning 119 47. An Apple Fruit Spur 120 48. Pear Branch Well SuppUed with Fruit Spurs 121 49. Young Peaches Just Set 122 50. Spurs of the European Pliun 123 51. Cherry Spurs 123 52. Blossoms of Japanese Plum 124 53. Blossoms of Eviropean Plum 125 54. Cherries Just Set 125 55. Sutton Apple Tree 127 56. Bradshaw Plum Tree 127 57. Burbank Plum Tree 129 58. Well-shaped Baldwin Apple Tree 130 59. Two-edged Saw 131 60. Good Saw for Small Trees 132 61. Excellent Saw for Heavy Pruning 132 62. Good Saw for Ordinary Pruning 132 63. Excellent Type of Pruning Shears 133 64. Good Tjrpe of Pruning Knife 134 65. Good Combination Knife 134 66. Long Stub Left in Pruning 138 67. Old Stub Beginning to Decay 138 68. A Well-made Wound 139 69. A Well-made Wound Beginning to Heal 139 70. A Well-made Wound That Has Entirely Healed Over 139 71. Scab, or Black-spot of the Apple 166 72. Apple Canker 168 73. Black-knot of the Plum 172 74. Plum Tree Badly Affected with Black-knot 173 75. Same Plum Tree, after Knots Have Been Cut Out 173 76. Using Bucket Pimap on a Bearing Apple Tree 175 77. Knapsack Sprayer 176 78. Barrel Outfit with Collapsible Ladder 177 ILLUSTRATIONS 79. Barrel Spray Outfit with Two Extra Barrels of Water 178 80. Large, Double-action, Hand Pump with 200-gallon Tank 180 81. Gas Power Sprayer 181 82. Gasolene Power Outfit 182 83. Small Gasolene Power Sprayer 183 84a. Old Style of Vermorel Nozzle 184 846. Angle Vermorel Nozzle 184 85a. Bordeau.x Nozzle 185 856. Disc Nozzle 185 86. Long- and Short-tailed Hose Couplings 186 87. Spray Injury on Apples 191 88. Proper Condition of Apple Blossoms for Spraying Before They Open 205 89. Gravenstein Apples Sprayed for Scab 207 90. Gravenstein Apples Not Sprayed 207 91. Good Type of Tree for Renovating 213 92. Rather Difficult Tree to Renovate, One Which Will Require Several Years to Work Over 214 93. Difficult Type of Tree to Renovate, but One Which Has Little Value as it Stands 214 94. Poor Type of Orcharding for Renovating 215 95. Old Orchard Before Work of Renovating Began 218 96. Same Orchard, after Three Years' Treatment 218 97. Beginning Work of Renovating an Old Apple Tree 220 98. Same Tree, After Three Years' Treatment 220 99. Old Apple Tree Before Beginning Renovation 221 100. Same Tree, De-horned After One Year's Treatment 221 101. Same Tree, After One Season's Growth 222 102. Same Tree, After Three Years' Treatment 222 103. Trunk of a Tree Damaged by Too Much Nitrogen 223 104. An Orchard Damaged by Too Much Nitrogen 224 105. An Old, Neglected Orchard W^hen Renovation Was Begun 226 106. Same Orchard, After Five Years' Treatment 227 107. A Pau- of Thinning Shears 229 108. Boys Thinning Japanese Plums 230 109. Branch of Apple Tree That Was Thinned Twice 231 110. Boys Thinning Apples 232 111. Picking Cherries 234 112. A Good Picking Basket 235 113. Poor Type of Picking Basket for Frui', Yet One Often Used 235 114. Picking Apples Into Bags 236 115. Picking Apples from Well-loaded Trees 238 116. Peaches Picked into Oak Picking Baskets 240 117. Attacking an Old-timer 241 118. A Load of Apples on the W^ay to Market 242 ILLUSTRATIONS 119. Distributing Barrels in the Apple Orchard 243 120. A Good Type of Farm Storage House 249 121. Storage Building at the Massachusetts Agricultural College 252 122. Type of Apple Storage House Found in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia 253 123. Diagram of Cross-section of Walls of Storage House in Figure 122. . 254 124. An Attractive Face to a Barrel of Apples 261 125. Stemmers 262 126. Ordinary Barrel Press with a Bar Follower 263 127. Barrel Press with Circle Follower 263 128. Swing-bail Basket Used in Packing Apples in Barrels 264 129. Face of a Barrel of Apples Using 19 Apples 3>^ Inches in Diameter 266 130. Face of a Barrel of Apples Using 27 Apples 3 Inches in Diameter . . 266 131. Face of a Barrel of Apples Using 40 Apples 23-2 Inches in Diameter 266 132. Good Type of Packing Table for Boxing Apples 267 133. Diagram Showing Method of Starting the 2-2 Pack 268 134. Diagram Showing Method of Starting the 3-2 Pack 268 135. Diagram Showing the Arrangement of Apples in the First and Third Layers of a 2-2 Box of Apples with 96 Apples in the Box 269 136. Diagram Showing the Arrangement of Apples in the Second and Fourth Layers of a 2-2 Box of Apples with 96 Apples in the Box 269 137. Diagram Showing the Arrangement of Apples in the First, Third and Fifth Layers of a 3-2 Box of Apples with 188 Apples in the Box 271 138. Diagram Showing the Arrangement of Apples in the Second and Fourth Layers of a 3-2 Box of Apples with 188 Apples in the Box 271 139. Diagram Showing the "Straight" Pack 272 140. A Western Type of Box Press 273 141. Excellent Type of Box Press which Can be Made at Home 274 142. The Greatest Single Problem in Marketing Fruit is to Have Good Fruit 277 143. Boxes of Western Apples 278 144. Pasteboard Carton for Fancy Apples 280 145. Climax Peach Basket Used as a Retail Package for Apples 281 146. Climax Peach Basket with Cover on 282 147. Splint Basket Used for Apples 283 148. Attractive Package for the Retail Trade 283 149. Probably the Most Famous Fruit Label in Use 288 150. Good Type of Advertising Wrapper 289 151. Good Type of Advertising for Apple Barrels 290 152. Excellent "Guarantee" Label from the Pacific Coast 291 153. Another Guarantee Label from an Eastern Orchardist 291 154. Outside Cover of an Advertising Leaflet 292 155. A Magazine Advertisement that is Sure to Attract Attention 296 PRODUCTIVE ORCHARDING CHAPTER I THE OUTLOOK FOR ORCHARDING If the agricultural history^ of the twentieth century is ever written, the writer believes that one of the most significant features of such a history will be the account of the great interest in orcharding which developed during the latter part of the first decade of the century. That interest is still at its height. Men from all walks of life are turning toward orchard- ing as the one branch of farming in which they would like to engage. Wealthy men are setting out orchards (and commercial orchards) on their estates, farmers in orchard sections are en- larging their fruit plantations, while bank clerks, insurance men, and retired ministers are either investing their savings in small farms which are to be set out to fruit trees, or have bought an interest in some development scheme in the West. No wonder that there is a shaking of heads among the conservative element of our fruit growers and a wondering as to what the outcome will be. No wonder that even the most enthusiastic advocates of orcharding are speculating as to whether it may not be overdone. A Good Occupation. — But while there has undoubtedly been a wonderful interest in the fruit business in recent years, and while many who have gone into it, without sufficient thought and preparation, undoubtedly will be disappointed, and while we may even have to admit that the price of fruit is likely to de- cline, yet it still seems to the writer that for the right man, in the right place and with the right methods, the growing of fniit offers a healthful and delightful occupation with at least a reasonable assurance of satisfactory financial returns. Let us examine the situation briefly and see what ground there may be for such a belief and what conditions one must fulfil if he ex- pects to be successful. fttOi'^i^* i Lii>itAl^M ^Bi L .^ ■1 fe. m^i i»«^i '^. ^^0 1 ^ Ijgi ;-|«ii fc Fig. 14. — Staki 3hard by means of tv sets the stakes. He is " w^aved " into position by the two sighters as each stake is set and ver}^ soon gets it in the proper spot. Fia. 15. — Planting board for locating tree in setting. See also Figure 19. Heeling In. — When the trees arrive they should be heeled in at some spot convenient to the orchard site, usually on the site itself (Fig. 16). This heeling in should be done with a good deal of care, the bundles of trees being opened and the earth worked carefully in among the roots and tramped down solid. HEELING IN 51 In some cases it is worth while even to water them, especially if they are to stand here long before setting-. The writer em- phasizes this matter because he has so often seen trees heeled in carelessly without opening the bundles and without tramping the soil down carefully, with the result that the air passing down through the centre of the bundles would circulate freely among the roots and dry them out so as to weaken seriously, or even kill outright, a good numy trees. Fro. 16. — Heeling in nursery stock. This should 1 l roots drying out. jry carefully to prevent the Where trees arrive in bad condition from drying in transit, they should be taken to a brook or to a pond and soaked for a day or two, if possible having the w^hole tree under water. It is surprising what this will do for even the worst cases. Another thing to guard against at the time of heeling in is damage from mice. They will frequently gain entrance to a bundle of trees, particularly if the trees are stored near the house, and girdle ever\' tree in the bundle. Where mice are plentiful enough to be troublesome in this way, they should be guarded against by putting a pen about the spot where the trees 52 ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD are heeled in. A board ten or twelve inches wide will answer the purpose. Working Out the Plan. — In actual orchard operations the entire field is usually not staked otf before the digging of the W- Fig. 17.— a load ..f „,,r-.>rN ir of waloi, uiiicli iii:=ui ic setting gang. The barrels are half full * iiig at the hole in good condition. Fig. 18. — Gang of men setting trees. The men work in pairs and the foreman distributes the trees. holes and setting of the trees is begun. A method which the writer has used on a fairly large orchard with entire satisfaction is the follo\\ang: The setting gang consists of from six to ten WHEN TO PLANT 53 men and a foreman. After tlie first two lines of stakes have been set (the base line and the one at riglit angles to it), and after some start has been made in locating the stakes with the measuring boards, wliich preliminary work can be done most economically by about three men, this gang goes into the field and is divided as follows : Two men continue setting stakes, the foreman and one man go after trees, and the balance of the gang begin digging holes. The foreman and his assistant go to the spot where the trees are heeled in. They have a stone boat on which are mounted two barrels, which are half full of water, and the stone boat drawn by a single horse (Fig. 17). The trees are pulled out and the roots trimmed by taking off any broken roots and cutting back any long, straggling ones. Then the tree is put into one of the barrels. This insures the tree arriving at the hole in the best l)0ssible condition with its roots thoroughly wet. When both barrels are full, the horse is driven out to the spot where setting is to begin, and the men who are staking off and those who are digging holes, all '' knock off " and go to setting (Fig. 18). The foreman distributes the trees and the men divide into pairs, one man doing the shovelling and the other setting the tree. If the subsoil is poor, it is best when the hole is dug, to put the surface soil in one pile and the subsoil in another. Then when the tree is set the surface soil may be used about the roots and thus give the tree a better soil in which to start growth. The tree should be set perhaps an inch or two deeper than it stood in the nurserj', and the soil should be worked in among the roots and then very firmly tramped down (Figs. 19 and 20). This last is extremely important, as it not only keeps the soil from drying out but it brings the soil in intimate contact with the roots so that the}^ can start growth better. When to Plant. — The question of fall vs. spring planting ought to be mentioned here. There are three distinct advantages of fall planting; first, the planter is almost certain to get the varieties that he wants because he is compelled to order so early ; second, the trees are ready to start growth early in the spring; and third, it gets just so much work out of the way of the " spring rush." This last is of varying importance according 54 ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD to set a t-w the nursery. vear anple tree. The tree ia set a little deeper than it atood Fig. 20. — -Same tree as shown in Figure 19, set. 'ush to the man and the farm. On many farms the autumn is fully as virulent as the spring one. The cliief objection to autumn planting is that the trees have to be dug so early, in order to insure their getting to the orchard man on time, that the nurseryman may be tempted into digging them before they are mature enough for the leaves to drop naturally. The leaves must therefore be stripped, and the stripped tree is not so good as one which loses its leaves naturally, because it is robbed of much plant food which the leaves would have supplied had they been allowed to remain on the trees. Stripping the leaves too early exposes the immature buds and HIGH HEADING 55 uncalloiisecl leaf scars to the weather. There is the additional objection to autumn planting that, since the roots are not well established in the soil, the tree can not withstand unfavorable winter conditions so well. Alternate freezing and thawing is likely to make trouble, particularly if the soil is at all heavy. The chief advantages of spring planting are that the grower gets his trees in better condition and that the danger from winter injury is avoided. The main objection to spring jDlanting is that it is likely to be delayed until too late in the season. In the writer's experience the ideal time to set trees is just as early in the spring as the soil is in good condition to work. Pruning after Setting. — After the tree is set it must be pruned (Fig. 21). If it is a one year whip this pruning con- sists merely in cutting it off or heading it at the height desired. Just what this height shall be wull varj'- greatly with differejit men. It will also vaiy witli different varieties. Such drooping varieties as the Rhode Island Greening apple, for example, ought certainly to be headed higher than such very upright growing varieties as the Sutton apple or the Wickson plum where there is really no particular excuse for having any trunk at all. And lastly the height of head will vary with the type of tree one wishes to develop. There are three types which are generally recognized and all of which have their advocates. There is, first of all, the leader type in which a central leader is kept ahead of all other branches and from which side branches are taken out at various heights. This makes a strong tree but rather more dense than other types. Then at the other extreme is the open or vase form tree in which the leader is suppressed and all the scaffold branches are taken out within a comparatively short distance, usually from twelve to eighteen inches. This gives a tree which is open to the light and air but which is usually not quite so strong as the leader tree. And lastly we have the modified leader tree which is a compromise between the other two types, with advantages and disadvantages w'hich are about half way between. The writer strongl}' favors a low tree and to have a low tree is to head it low. But of course there are two sides to the ({uestion. High Heading. — As the writer has heard the matter pre- sented, the principal arguments for a high head are as follows: 56 ESTABLISHING TPIE ORCHARD 1. That it makes it easier to cultivate about the trees. There is probably something in this argument but it has never seemed very strong. To begin with, the advocates of a high head exaggerate the difficulty of cultivating about a low headed tree. The branches of a high headed tree tend to come out more nearly at right angles so that they droop easily as they become heavy Avith the weight of a crop, while the branches of a low headed 3. 21. — Same tree as shown in figures 19 and 20 after pruning. Fig. 22. — Pruning a one-year "whip." The tree is cut off at whatever height it is desired to form the head. tree tend to take an upward slant so that they are not so much in the way as might be expected, and they do not bend so easily with their load of fruit. Then, too, the situation is very different with the modern extension implements from what it was when it was necessary for the team to get close up to the trunk of the tree. Moreover it does not make very much difference to the tree whether every weed is taken out from about the trunk or not. The HIGH HEADING 57 feeding roots of large trees are not there to any extent, but are out some little distance from the trunk. 2. The second afgument for a high head is that there is less breakage from snow. This is a sound argument and in those sections where deep snows are liable to occur and drift over the trees the heads ought to be higher. 3. The third argument for the high, head is that there are less culls than with the low head, because in the latter, the lower branches are so close to the ^ ^ ground that they do not get enough light and air to pro- duce fine fruit. There may be some truth in this, but it has never seemed to the writer that it was a very serious mat- ter. The fruit on the lower branches of any tree is not so good as that from the higher branches, and there has not seemed to be a very great difference between that from low headed and that from high headed trees. 4. An argument which has been advanced in New Eng- land, and perhaps it may be used elsewhere, is that trees r- oo . . cu- u-u ^■ ' _ Fig. 23. — An extreme case of high heading, ought to be headed high in Most work in the orchard costs more with T , .1 -, T such trees than with low headed trees. order to escape the deer. It seems singular that such an argument should even be suggested seriously but it has been quite frequently offered where States are cursed with laws which protect the deer at the expense of the farmers. Damage from deer is a very live question with the writer, for he has seen over two thousand fruit trees, principally apple, either killed outright or so badly damaged that they had to be replaced. But deer damage is an argument for changing representatives in the Legislature and not for heading the fruit trees higher. 58 ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD Low Heading. — Turning now to the arguments for the low headed tree we have the following: 1. There is less damage from winds. This would apply to mature trees where in summer the number of windfalls and in winter danger of damage from ice-storm would be reduced. It would also apply to the young trees. A tree such as is shown in Figure 23 will be much more liable to damage from winds than such a tree as is shown in Figure 24. 2. There is less danger from sun-scald. In some sections this trouble is very serious, in others it seldom occurs. In the former sections low heads ought always to be used. 3. Spraying can be done more cheaply and much more thoroughly. This latter is especially important in sections where the San Jose scale is abundant, but it counts with any spraying. 4. Pruning can be done more cheaply and easily. 5. It is easier and cheaper to harvest the fruit. As soon as a man has to use a ladder to do his work he adds to the expense of the operation, whatever it may be. The longer the ladder the greater the expense. AVith low headed peach trees all the pick- ing can be done from the ground, and with apples, a great part of it (Fig. 24). 6. In extreme cases, like the tree shown in Figure 23, and to a less extent in less extreme cases, the fruiting of the tree is delayed when the head is raised because the oldest branches are the lowest ones and these are removed to raise the head. Several other minor arguments are used by the enthusiastic advocates of low heads, but the foregoing are the most important and seem to fairly well justify the practice. Of course, it does not necessarily follow that a tree headed high will be allowed to continue its growth high, but this is usually the case. The man who wants his trees headed low usually sees to it that the leadei-s are kept reasonably low. While the man who heads his trees at five feet allows them to develop into high trees. Planting Distances. — There are several general questions which will perhaps come here as well as elsewhere. The first of these in the matter of the proper distance apart for the trees. PLANTING DISTANCES 60 Of course there are almost innumerable factors which influence this, the most important being the kind of trees, the individual taste of the owner, the soil and the method of pruning to be adopted. Some varieties of apples make large trees and some never attain much size. The Spy or the Baldwin, for example, want more room than the Palmer Greening and the Wagener. Some soils will grow large trees of a certain variety while on other soils the same variety is relatively small. The orchard shown in Figure 108, for example, is a block of Baldwins prob- ably not far from thirty years old. They are planted at 33 feet apart and yet there is plenty of rrom for them. They will never make large trees. Ftq. 24. — A low headed, five-vear-old, peach tree. This tree was headed at six inches. The kind of pruning also makes a great difference. If the owner plans to give the trees free range they will need far more room than if he practises more or less repressive pruning. When all these points are considered the following are about the average distances recommended: Apples 30 to 50 feet Pears 20 to 30 feet Peaches 13 to 20 feet Plums 15 to 20 feet Cherries 15 to 25 feet Quinces 8 to 12 feet 60 ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD Number per Acre, — The following table gives the number of trees per acre that can be set at the distances given. If one wishes to ascertain how many trees can be planted on an acre Fig. 25. — ^An apple tree with a medium head, about thirty inches. Thisis agoodfaeigui for many varieties, though the writer prefers a somewhat lower head. FiQ. 26. — A poor fork on a Ben Davis apple tree. Such a fork is almost certain to split down as soon as the tree begins to bear heavy crops. The two side branches should have been cut off earlier. at other distances than those given, multiply tlie number of feet that the rows are apart by the distance apart of the trees in the row and then divide 43,560 by the product obtained. 8 feet— 680 10 feet— 544 12 feet— 453 8 X 8 X 8 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 12 X 10 feet— 435 12 feet— 363 20 feet— 217 12 feet— 302 12 X 20 feet— 181 15 X 15 feet— 193 15 X 20 feet— 145 15 X 30 feet— 96 16 X 16 feet— 170 16 X 20 feet— 136 16 X 32 feet— 85 20 X 20 feet— 108 20 X 30 feet— 72 20 X 40 feet— 54 25 X 25 feeir- 69 25 X 30 feet— 58 25 X 40 feet— 43 30 X 30 feet— 48 30 X 35 feet— 41 30 X 40 feet— 36 35 X 35 feet— 35 35 X 40 feet— 31 40 X 40 feet— 27 KINDS TO USE AS FILLERS 61 Orchard Fillers. — The question of the use of ' ' fillers ' ' in the orchard is a vexed one. A filler is a temporary tree, usually a small and early bearing one, which is planted between the per- manent trees and removed (sometimes) when it begins to crowd them. Most men have very definite opinions on the filler, either condemning it altogether or favoring it with equal decision. The matter simply narrows down to this, or it ought to : If a man can make more money out of growing fillers in the orchard than he can out of any other crop, then they are the best crop to grow. If beans or potatoes or cabbages will bring him more money, then he should grow these crops and not fillers. The chief objection urged against the use of fillers in the orchard is that they are not cut out as soon as they should be. The owner holds onto them from year to year in order to get a revenue from them. If they have not borne much fruit he feels that he must hold onto them until they come into bearing and he " gets his money out of them." If they are bearing well then he feels that he simply cannot destroy the source of so much income. Now while the writer is strongly in favor of the filler system for his own use and believes that it ought to be possible for a man to cut the fillers out in season, yet there is no question that the method does often fail. This filler question is in exactly the same class as the sod- mulch question. Where either one is well carried out it gives good results, but both of them tempt the owner to do what is not for the best interest of the orchard, in the one case by hauling off the hay and in the other by holding onto the fillers. As most of us yield to temptations, it is best not to put any extra ones in our own paths unless we are pretty sure that we can resist them. The man who keeps stock ought not to have a sod orchard, and the man who can not bring himself to prune a tree severely enough or to thin fruit " because it is such a waste " had better not try the filler system. Kinds to Use as Fillers. — But for the man who can and will handle it rightly, it is a good system. If a man is going to use fillers he is most likely to be successful if he uses for the purpose ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD fe.. COST OF THE YOUNG ORCHARD 63 a tree which very closely resembles his permanent tree in its needs, which comes into bearing early, and which makes a small tree (Fig. 27). This means that peaches make the best fillers for peach orchards and apples for apple orchards. Many people make light of this point but others consider it a decidedly practi- cal one. Here is an illustration of the evil effects of mixing species in setting an orchard: An apple orchard was set and peaches were used for fillers. All went well until the peaches were damaged severely one winter. Then it became desirable to help the peaches to recover and the orchard was therefore given an application of nitrate of soda, which brought them out in good condition. But the apple trees did not need this extra nitrogen. They were just coming nicely into bearing, but they at once stopped producing fruit and began to produce wood. It was years before they recovered from the extra stimulus and went to bearing again. Now we may say that the owner was foolish; that he should have done what was best for his permanent trees and let his peach trees go. But it is hiunan nature to try to take care of what is producing a revenue and it is certainly a weak spot in any system, whether it be orcharding or municipal politics, which requires a man to do otherwise. Cost of the Young Orchard. — It may be well to say a word here in reference to the cost of establishing an orchard. Of course this can be only suggestive, as expenses vary greatly with different men and different sections and different years. The following figures are from the writer's actual experience in starting an orchard. They are by no means complete and leave out many factors, such as interest and taxes, which ought to be included. They may be helpful, however, and are introduced merely with that hope and with the distinct realization by the writer that they can be only suggestive. 64 ESTABLISHING THE ORCHARD Cost per acre of establishing and maintaining an orchard for five years. riEST TEAH 1. Trees— 108 @ 15 cents $1G.20 2. Fitting land, setting and pruning trees 6.48 3. Fertilizing l.CO 4. Cultivating 4.50 5. Cover crop — buckwheat seed and sowing 1.00 6. Clearing away trash from trees in autumn to prevent mice damage -50 SECOND YEAR 1. Pruning $2.50 2. Fertilizing (same as first year except double the nitrogen) 1.75 3. Fitting the land with disc 3.00 4. Cultivation 4.50 5. Hoeing 1.00 6. Cover crop — cow horn turnips .75 7. Clearing away trasli in autumn .50 $14.60 THIRD YEAR 1. Pruning $3.00 2. Fertilizing — double second year 3.50 3. Fitting the land 3.60 4. Cultivating 4.50 5. Hoeing 1.00 6. Spraying for San Jose scale 4.10 7. Cover crop 1.00 8. Clearing away trash .50 $21.20 FOURTH TEAR Total cost only slightly more than third year. FIFTH YEAR 1. Pruning $4.50 2. Fertilizing 5.25 3. Fitting the land 3.60 4. Cultivating 4.50 6. Hoeing 1-00 G. Spraying 5.25 7. Cover crop— crimson clover 1.20 $25.30 QUESTIONS 65 QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the preparation of the land for an orchard. 2. Describe tliree geueral metliods of arranging the trees in an orchard. 3. Give the details of a good method of laying off an orchard. 4. What is a "planting board," and how is it helpful? 5. Describe the operation of heeling in trees. 6. Give the arguments on " fall vs. spring " planting. 7. Give the main arguments in favor of high heading of orchard trees. 8. What are the arguments in favor of low heading ? 9. What orchards in your section would you classify as high headed? What low headed? 10. Give some idea of the best planting distances for different orchard trees. 11. Discuss the use of " fillers" in an orchard. 12. Give some idea of cost of starting a young orchard in your own section. CHAPTER V CROPPING THE ORCHARD One of the questions which comes home very forcibly to the man who attempts to develop an orchard of any size is that of growing companion crops in the orchard while it is young. Shall this be done and if so what crops shall be used? The idea of such a crop is to help defray the cost of the orchard, and con- sequently it nMist either be a crop, such as mangels or turnips, Fig. 28. — Late potatoes in a younK pi;uli orchard. An oixellent crop wlien rightly managed. which can be used profitably by the owner on the farm, or else it must be a crop such as beans or soybeans, which can be dis- posed of for cash. The general farmer who keeps stock has, therefore, a distinct advantage over the orchard specialist in the choice of these companion crops, because a number of the best of them are such as will work in very nicely with the plans for feeding stock or keeping dairy cows. For several years, say four or five as a rule, it is greatly to the advantage of the young trees if the orchard is cropped, pro- 66 THE IDEAL COMPANION CROP 67 vided, of course, that the proper crops are chosen. This is espe- cially true on general farms where there are other crops than the orchard to compete for the time of men and teams. If the potato field is in the orchard, both are cultivated together, and the trees are not only well cultivated, but receive the benefit of the fertilizer left over from the potato crop (Fig. 28). On the other hand, if the potato field is in one place and the orchard is in another, the potatoes frequently get the cultivation when labor is scarce, while the cultivation of the orchard is either deferred 29. — Soybeans aa a companion crop. This is one of the best crops for a young orchard, enriching the land and usually giving profitable returns. to a more convenient time or omitted altogether, because the farmer knows that he will get no crop if his potatoes are not cultivated while his trees will do something even with verj^ in- different culture. The ideal companion crop would have the following char- acteristics, and though the ideal does not exist we can frequently come fairly close to it: 1. The crop must be profitable, either because it can be sold for cash or because it can be fed \vith profit to the stock on the farm (Fig. 29). This point, of course, is imperative. The list 68 CROPPING THE ORCHARD of crops which are admissible will vary greatly with the owner's circumstances. As already suggested the farm on which stock is kept can profitably use a number of crops which can not be grown on the special fruit farm. And these crops happen to be among the most satisfactory in their relation to the orchard. The man who is in the trucking business, or who is so situated that he can handle truck crops, has another large selection of crops which are almost ideal so far as the orchard is concerned, but these crops can not usually be grown in sections far from markets. It follows then that the orchard specialist has the smallest number of companion crops from which to choose. 2. The crop should be one which requires cultivation. There is absolutely no question about this unless it be in the case of crops sown late in the season which are really cover crops rather than companion crops. Tliis matter of cultivation is a point frequently overlooked by men who grow crops in their orchards, but we are speaking of the ideal crops now. And the more thorough the cultivation which is required by the crop the better for the orchard. 3. It ought to be a crop which does not require late stirring of the soil, say in August or September. September work is particularly objectionable. The philosophy of this point will be seen on a moment's reflection, and the importance of it has been demonstrated to the writer over and over again, though always, he is glad to say, by other people. The young trees make their growth early in the season and by August, and still more by September, they are " sobering down " and thickening their cells and beginning to get ready for winter. Now suppose one is growing such a crop as early potatoes for example. Just at the point where the trees want quiet the owner comes in with his gang of men or his potato digger and gives the soil the most thorough working it has had since the spring plowing. The re- sult is that the trees are urged into new growth, new food is made available for them and they go merrily forward till cold weather comes on and checks them short. There is no time then to prepare for the more severe weather which follows and consequently the cambium or growing layer, between the bark THE IDEAL COMPANION CROP 69 and wood, is soft and tender and no more able to resist freezing than a potato or a turnip. It is therefore killed outriglit or severely damaged and the next year the trees, though they may leaf out, will be found in a very bad condition. ]\Iany of them will probably die, and others might as well do so, for they will be so badly crippled as to be of little value. 4. The companion crop should be one which does not take from the soil exactly the same food elements as the trees them- selves require. This is aimed especially at nursery stock, which for several reasons is a peculiarly objectionable crop, but it Fia. 30. — Pea-beans as .ui oicl.aiJ crop. This is another excellent crop from the stand- point of the orchard. probably applies with more or less force to all fruit crops. Of course this is a difficulty which can be obviated to a certain extent by applying extra fertilizer, but it is far better to choose some other crop. 5. It should be an annual crop. Anyone who has ever attempted to crop an orchard with even a biennial crop like strawberries, or still worse with a perennial one like raspberries, will appreciate the importance of this point. Cross-cultivation is usually entirely prevented after the first year, the block grows more and more weedy and the trees in the block show more and more distinctly the handicap under which they are working, till 70 CROPPING THE ORCHARD very soon one may easily pick out, at a considerable distance, the section of the orchard where the perennial crop is located by the small size of the trees and the light color of their leaves. Of course it is possible by extra effort in the way of hand labor, and by extra fertilizing with good barn manure^ to overcome to a certain extent the bad effects of the crop, but these are expensive methods to use and to a very large extent they take away any profit which might accrue from the crop. Usually they are not even attempted. It is much better to use an annual crop which is cleared off the land each year and which thus allows of thorough preparation of the soil each spring. 6. Lastly, and least important, though still well worth con- sidering, the crop should be one which makes its growth at some other time than that in which the orchard makes its most vigorous growth. This is one reason why beans, for example, are to be preferred to currants. The beans are not planted until the trees are at the height of their growth, and they do not begin to draw at all heavily on the soil moisture and plant food until the trees have come to a point where they can easily and even advan- tageously spare a part of both moisture and plant food. The currants, on the other hand, come along at precisely the same time as the trees and compete with them step by step for both fertility and water. Area Reserved for Trees. — It ought to be said, before going farther, that in any scheme of cropping the orchard a certain portion of land must be reserved for the exclusive use of the trees. This will vary with different crops and with the age of the trees, but as a rule a strip six or eight feet wnde along each row of trees should be reserved the first year and this should be enlarged year by year as the trees grow. Lists of Companion Crops. — With the above requirements in mind the writer has chosen the following list of companion crops and has attempted to arrange them under three classes — gooil, bad and indifferent. They are also arranged in the different sections roughly in the order of their value from the standpoint of the orchard, the most objectionable ones coming last. GOOD COMPANION CROPS 71 Good Companion Crops. — 1. Beam. — Any variety will be satisfactory to the orchard, but especially the white pea-beau. The soybean is also admirable. There is almost no objec- tion to these crops. They are usually profitable, are sown late, add nitrogen to the soil, and no damage arises from their use. When removed from the orchard the root systems are usually left in the soil, Avhich adds both, humus and nitrogen. 2. Squash is another excellent crop, coming along with a rush late in the season when the orchard ought to "sober down," never competing with the trees, and frequently giving Fig. 31. — Squashes as an orchard crop. They are an excellent, crop from the standpoint of the orchard and where the owner can handle them rightly are usually profitable. good financial returns. It can be marketed in a wholesale way, which is not true of all crops and which is frequently a decided advantage to the orchard owner (Fig. 31). 3. Cahhage. — This is another decidedly satisfactory com- panion crop. It usually commands a fair price and can be (handled in car-load lots if the orchard is of some size. It is nearly ideal so far as its effect on the trees is concerned The only objection to it is that it requires cultivation later than the trees do, but if the strip already spoken of is reserved there is usuallv no trouble. 72 CROPPING THE ORCHARD 4. Turnips and Mangels. — These are both excellent crops from the standpoint of the orchard, but of course are not " cash " crops as a rule and must usually be restricted to the man who keeps stock. It might be possible in some cases to grow them for a neighbor who keeps stock, but generally they must be fed on the place. 5. Late Potatoes. — The writer would bar out early potatoes, unless a very wide strip is reserved along the tree rows, which is Fig. 32. — Potatoes in a bearing apple orchard. They make a good orchard crop, but in this case are planted too close to the trees. an unnecessary waste of land. But late potatoes are dug so late in the season that they do not tend to prolong the growth of the trees and they are generally a profitable and satisfactory crop. They require good cultivation and high fertilizing and it is rare that they do not show a reasonable profit (Fig. 32). 6. Truck Crops, such as spinach, beets, peas, and carrots, are all good crops and if handled carefully will generally give FAIRLY SATISFACTORY CROPS 73 fine results. They need good land and good cultivation, which help out the orchard trees. One difficulty with them which ought to be guarded against by the orchard owner is the fact that they usually require a good deal of bam manure and other forms of nitrogen, and it is a very easy matter to get the land too rich for the best interest of the young trees. It would probably be better not to use them year after year in the same block of orchard but to practise rotation of crops, following truck cropjs with squash and this with beans. 7. Coi'n. — There is some prejudice against corn, and perhaps rightly, because it is a rank feeder and is likely to get more than its share of food and moisture ; also because its great height tends to shade the young trees. But if it is not grown too close to the trees and if the rows are run north and south so that the sun can get at the trees when its power is greatest, the objections will usually be overcome, and the writer knows from experience that it may work out satisfactorily. It is a crop that is usually profit- able. If the farm is an orchard proposition pure and simple, the grain from corn can be fed to teams on the place and even the fod- der may be used in this way in winter, if there is no winter work for the teams. Probably it would be better to restrict this crop to popcorn or to flint varieties which do not make tall stalks, and it is perhaps better not to grow corn after the third year of the orchard, though there are many exceptions to these suggestions. 8. Buckivheai. — This is really a combination cover crop and companion crop, but is included here because it is a reasonably satisfactory money crop to be grown in the orchard. Of course, in order to get the money out of it one has to cut the crop and remove it from the orchard, which is strictly against the rules for a cover crop. But that is something the grower has to learn to do " when necessary," if he is going to run an orchard. The difficult thing to learn is when it is necessary. Fairly Satisfactory Crops. — 9. Currants and Gooseherries, if the bushes are set In rows both ways to allow for cultivation, are often quite satisfactory. The fact that they are perennial and that they make their growth each season at exactly the same tune m the orchard is tlie chief objection to them, But they re- 74 CROPPING THE ORCHARD quire good culture and fertilizing if they are to be profitable, which makes them acceptable to the young trees. They do not spread, which makes them at least less objectionable than some other crops. 10. Straivherries. — For young orchards, where there is still plenty of room, these are not bad (Fig. 33). But they tie up the land for two years at least, and with many growers much longer than that. They can not be cross-cultivated, so that the tree Fig. 33. — Sirawhcrncs in a young peach orchard. They make a fairly good crop for very young orchards, but interfere with cross-cultivation, as they occupy the land at least two years. rows are apt to become foul with weeds and the trees to show the lack of thorough cultivation by the second year. If the beds are held for more than one crop of berries, the damage to the trees is y&cj markedly increased. Personally the writer would not use strawberries except during the first and second years of the orchard and even then there are many other crops to be preferred. A great point in favor of strawberries is the fact that they generally pay well. This is something that will be appreciated by the man who tries to develop a good sized orchard. POOR COMPANION CROPS 75 The question of the advisability of growing strawberries in an orchard practically narrows down to whether the orchard is to be intensively cultivated or not. If it is, then with a littl" extra work the tree rows can be kept clean. On the other hand, if the owner wants to manage the orchard with as little labor as possible he will almost certainly fail to keep it even reasonably clean with strawberries growing in it. 11. Asparagus is not often used and has the serious objection that it must stand in the orchard for a number of years, yet cases are occasionally seen where it is used with very good success. Poor Companion Crops. — 12. Rasphcrries and hlackherries ought practically to be debarred as orchard crops. The long period that they have to stand, the difficulty or impossibility of cross-cultivation, and the fact that they sucker so freely are the chief objections. These can be overcome by hand labor, by barn manure, and by the free use of other fertilizers. Ordinarily, however, it is the young trees that are overcome and not the difficulties. 13. Nursery Stock. — The growing of this crop in the orchard is seldom practised and almost always with regret so far as its effect on the orchard trees is concerned. It grows at exactly the same time as the young orchard trees, takes out the same fertilizer elements, and uses moisture at the same time. And it usually stands two or three years. On the whole it is much better to put the nursery somewhere else. 14. Grains of all kinds should be strictly ruled out. They have only one redeeming feature and that is that they are annual crops. But they are not cultivated, they prevent cross-cultivation of the trees, they rob the trees of moisture, and the part of the orchard where they are grown will always show the injurious effects, at the time and frequently for several years after. 15. Hay. — Never use it. It is the last crop in our list and is placed there because it is regarded as " the limit." There are a few sod enthusiasts who claim to be, and probably are, success- ful in starting young trees in sod. But most growers, even though they resort to sod later oel, start their trees under eulti- 76 CROPPING THE ORCHARD vation. Hay competes at every step with the young trees, robbing them of moisture and plant food when they most need them, and providing excellent conditions for injurious insects of various kinds, and when the hay is harvested the trees are liable to all sorts of accidents from the mowing machine, the rake, and the hay wagons. If you are tempted to use hay, by all means resist the temptation ! QUESTIONS 1. What are the characteristics of an ideal companion crop for the orchard ? 2. How many years should such crops be used in the orchard? 3. How should the land along the tree rows be treated? Discuss each of the following as companion crops for orchards: 4. Beans. 12. Currants and gooseberries, 5. Squash. 13. Strawberries. 6. Cabbage. 14. Asparagus. 7. Turnips and mangels. 15. Raspberries and blackberries. 8. Potatoes. 16. Nursery stock. 9. Truck crops. 17. Grains. 10. Corn. 18. Hay. 11. Buckwheat. CHAPTER YI ORCHARD CULTURE Three Methods. — Having set out the orchard the next ques- tion to be decided is what type of culture it is to receive. Ou this point orchard men are divided into three camps : First, there are a few men like ]\Ir. Grant Hitchings, of New York, and Mr. A. A. Marshall, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who practise what may be called ' ' sod culture, ' ' that is all the grass grown in the orchard is simply cut and allowed to lie on the land as a mulch. Of course this mulch becomes thicker j^ear by year, forming a better and better protection against the loss of moisture by evaporation and as it decays adding humus to the soil. Second, there are the men who practise clean cultivation of the soil. By far the greatest number of really successful orchard- ists belong to this class. There are endless variations in the method as practised by different men, but the main features would be plowing the orchard in the spring, clean cultivation up to mid-summer, and then seeding down to a cover crop. Lastly, there is a very large class who have their orchards in sod but who can not, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to practise sod culture. They simply have their orchards in hayfields. Perhaps it is only fair to add that there are a few men who have their orchards on relatively heavy land and who practise generous fertilizing who are quite successful in raising both hay and apples on the same land. But their conditions and their characters are so exceptional that it is dangerous to even mention them. Methods Vary with Conditions. — There is no question what- ever that the type of culture which it is best to adopt varies with conditions. Under most conditions cultivation will most emphatically give the best results (Fig. 34). And yet there are enough orchards where sod culture is practised to show that it can be made successful. And there are many cases where cultiva- 77 78 ORCHARD CULTURE tion is out of the question and where sod culture must be adopted because it is the only rational method that will fit the circum- stances. The great difficulty is that this method, to be most successful, requires not only peculiar soil conditions but still more a peculiar type of man, and it is rare that one finds both the man and the conditions on the same farm. However, the question is not by any means settled, and therefore it is important to sum up the points in favor of each of these methods as advanced by their advocates. -Clean cultivation in an old renovated orrhnrd. With mnat mm nnc) iindor most conditions cultivation will give the best results. Sod Culture. — For sod culture the principal arguments advanced are: 1. It is not so expensive a method of caring for the soil. This is certainly correct, as the only expense is the cutting of the grass in the orchard once or twice a year (Fig. 35). But unless it can be shown that with this less expense the grower gets the same or nearly the same net returns this is not a very strong argument. 2. The fruit will keep longer. This would apply to apples and pears in particular, and is probably also true. The fruit SOD CULTURE 79 is usually smaller than that grown under cultivation, which means a more solid flesh that naturally does not break down so soon. While keeping quality is not so important as it was when storage facilities were poorer, still it is certainly worth considering. 3. The fi-uit is more highly colored. Probably this will hold good as a general rule because the tree under sod culture is likely to ripen up more quickly and the fruit is therefore given Fia. 35. — Mowing the grass in a sod orchard. The difficulty comes in resisting the temp- tation to rake it and put it in the barn. earlier in the season the maturity which favors coloring in the autumn. Cultivated orchards sometimes are given too late culti- vation or othei-wise supplied with too much nitrogen, which favors late growth and consequently poor color. Also the foliage on trees that are cultivated is usually more dense, which in itself will retard coloring by keeping off the sun. 4. Trees can be headed lower when grown in sod. This may or may not be true. If the reasons for low heading already given are accepted, it probably makes little difference whether 80 ORCHARD CULTURE the trees are in sod or are cultivated. But with the commonly accepted notions about cultivation and height of heading, the contention is probably correct. Few people who have done the work in an orchard fail to realize the value of the low tree. 5. There is less washing on side hills. This is an argument that appeals to the writer more strongly than almost any other. There are thousands of acres all through the best apple growing sections of the United States on laud which is too steep to admit of cultivation on account of the washing of the soil. If these lands are to be used for orchards, and they are frequently better adapted to orcharding than to any other purpose, they must be kept in sod. 6. The land is in better condition for the spring spraying and pruning. In sections where a spring spraying is necessary, as with San Jose scale, and where the weather of spring is variable, as it is in most orchard countries, this is really an im- portant advantage and will appeal to the man who has slopped about in the mud in either spraying or pruning. It would not in itself justify one in adopting the sod method, but it certainly deserves some weight. It is sufficiently difficult to get really satisfactoiy work in either pruning or spraying, and anything that will assist will be welcomed by the man who has had experience along these lines. 7. The windfalls are kept in better condition. This is not of much importance with winter apples, but with early varieties and with pears it is frequently of decided importance. Men who have sod-mulch orchards claim that their windfalls are practically as valuable as the hand picked fruit and while the writer does not accept this view entirely he does believe that a good soft mulch is a great help. Some other claims are made, but those mentioned are really the most important ones. Those which seem to have the most weight are the prevention of washing on hillsides, the fact that the fruit is likely to have better color and to keep longer, and that the expense of caring for the orchard is less. Of course the advocates of cultivation attempt to demolish this last argu- ment by calling the sod method a cheap affair anyway and by CULTIVATION 81 claiming that their method gives so much more fniit that they can afford to have the extra expense. Cultivation. — Now let us look at the arguments which are advanced in favor of cultivation : 1. It conserves soil moisture better. It is difficult to see how any reasonable man can doubt this. The sod advocates attempt to offset it by saying that the sod will so much more effectively prevent the rains from running off that they can afford to lose some moisture, but this argument does not quite " hold water " when put to a test. As a matter of fact several of the arguments in favor of sod, such as better color and better keeping quality, are based directly on the fact that the sod orchard does not have as much moisture. When one remembers how all-important moisture is to the orchard and how frequently fruit and trees are damaged from the lack of it, he "can appreciate the importance of the moisture argument as advanced by the cultivation men. It seems to be the very backbone of the cultiva- tion side of the controversy. With light soils of poor water- holding capacity, this one argument seems about all that it is necessary to produce. The soils and locations are relatively few where lack of moisture does not, at some time during the year, interfere with the best development of a crop of fruit. 2. It renders soil fertility more available ; or perhaps we should reverse that and say it renders more soil fertility avail- able. It does this by letting in the air and moisture and generally by keeping the soil conditions favorable for chemical and bacterial action. This is a point not always conceded, but the arguments for cultivation seem very conclusive. With the high cost of fertility it is certainly a strong argument. 3. Cultivation permits the use of leg-uminous cover crops to furnish nitrogen for the orchard. This is also a strong argument and one not easily disproved. It is quite possible through such crops as clovers and soybeans to add all the nitrogen necessary to an orchard soil. Since nitrogen is by far the highest priced element in fertilizers, a method that " works while you sleep " is certainly welcome to the man who pays the bills. The only chance for the sod-culture orchardist in this direction is the 82 ORCHARD CULTURE use of clovers in seeding down and these do not as a rule persist very long in the orchard sod. 4. There is less trouble in cultivated orchards from insects, notably borers and eurculio. Take the example of a young orchard in which many trees were found to be attacked by borers. It was a cultivated orchard, but several sections of various sizes had been allowed to grow up to grass and weeds; that is, had become sod sections through poor cultivation. Without exception the trees attacked by borers were in these weedy patches. With the large number of in- sects which winter either in the soil or in trash upon the ground it could hardly be otherwise than that they should flourish best under a management which never dis- turbs the soil and which keeps a constant supply of litter to hide in. The eurculio is especially happy in a sod orchard and the "red-bug" seems equally so. 5. There is less danger from mice. This is another argument which it is difficult for the sod-culture advocate to disprove ; in fact he usually frankly admits it and puts some sort of guard about his trees to protect them. An orchard in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, may be cited as an illustra- tion. The owner left some grass in one corner of his orchard one winter and the next spring every tree in the acre and a quarter was completely girdled by mice. They were all bridge grafted and not a tree was lost. When visited ten years after, each tree stood on stilts, as shown in Figure 36. But one miglit not be so fortunate as this in every case and even with protectors FiQ. 36. — A tree girdled by mice and saved by bridge gralting. This is entirely practical and any good grafter can do the work. METHOD OF CULTIVATION 83 there is always danger of accidents. There are sections where mice are never troublesome, and in these localities the argument would not hold. 6. The cultivated orchard yields more fruit. This is a diffi- cult point to prove and probably never will be proved to the satisfaction of the best sod-culture advocates. General observa- tion and still more orchard surveys have shown that, with the rank abd file, cultivation gives far better yields. After all it is the average that counts. A system may be ever so good with the exceptional man and if it falls down with the average man it is better not to attempt it, for most of us are " average." 7. Cultivated orchards yield larger and better apples. This is another point which will never be admitted by the sod culturist and doubtless is not always true. But as in No. 6 it certainly is true with the rank and file of orchard men. Removal of Hay Crop. — There is another argument on this question of " cultivation vs. sod culture," which seems very im- portant and yet which is used bj^ both sides to support their contentions. This is the fact that 7nost men will not leave the hay in the orchard. The sod men say: " We are not talking about the man who mows the grass and puts it in his bam but about the man who cuts the grass and lets it lie in the orchard. ' ' The advocates of cultivation say: " We admit that sod culture gives good results when properly carried out, but what is the use of discussing a metliod which only a very few men will carry out, but in which the vast majority are doomed to failure." This argument is the strongest one in the whole list and it is the one which makes many good orchardists very strong believers in cultivation. It must be admitted without argument that some of the men who use sod in their orchards are among the most successful growers. But for the rank and file of orchard men, and particularly for that great section of the fruit growing fraternity who also keep some stock, it seems much better to " remove temptation " and not to grow any hay in the orchard. Method of Cultivation. — If, then, we are to practise cultiva- tion in the orchard, what methods shall we use? Stated briefly the method most generally satisfactory is to plow the land, or 84 ORCHARD CULTURE otherwise stir it, as early in the spring: as the soil is in good condition ; then to cultivate it frequently up to about July 1, when the orchard is sown to some cover crop which is allowed to remain on the land until the following spring. This seems to be a simple program and if the proper implements are available to work with, and attention is given to the details, there is usually little difficulty in carrying it out. Yet there are several things that it is very desirable to look after carefully. To begin with, the land ought to be plowed, and cultivation ought to be gotten under way, just as early as possible in the spring. In fact, there are some men who advocate and practise very late fall plowing of the orchard. Fall Plowing. — There are several good arguments in support of this practice. Here are some which have considerable weight. 1. Where land has been plowed in the autumn it can be worked earlier in the spring, not only because the operation of plowing is out of the way but because plowed land will dry out more quickly. It is always desirable to get the soil in good condition and to push the trees as early in the season as possible. Fall plowing is particularly desirable on rather heavy soils, be- cause it is so late in the spring before they are in proper condition to be plowed. 2. It frequently, in fact usually, happens that there is less work for the teams in the autumn than in the spring. Often it is even somewhat difficult on an orchard farm to find enough team work in the autumn, and if even a part of the orchards can be plowed it keeps the teams busy and gives the comfortable assurance that at least this much work will be out of the way when the spring rush comes on. To the man who has done his orchard work in an office, this may not seem to be a strong argument, but any one who really gets out and does the work, or who even "bosses the job," wall find that he frequently has to modify his plans and theories to suit the case in hand. In particular he will find that the problem of keeping his teams constantly at work is b}^ no means an easy one to solve. Too often it is solved by allowing the teams to stand in the barn, which usually means that the owner has not realized that there is any problem. DISC HARROWING 85 3. Fall plowing disturbs a number of insects that pass the winter in the ground. The apple maggot or railroad worm and the spring canker worm, in particular, pass the winter in the soil in the pupa stage, and relatively few of them will survive if the land is fall plowed. In any case where a bad attack of either of these insects is likely to occur it would seem that fall plowing might be justified for this reason alone. 4. It gets the old and diseased leaves under the ground where they will not be a source of infection for the new leaves when they come out in the spring. In apple scab, in particular, it has been shown that the disease passes the winter on the old leaves and if these can be disposed of it will aid materially in the fight for clean fruit. Where the plowing is delayed until spring most of the leaves will be blown off the land into the adjoining grass or hedge-rows where they will produce an abundance of spores. If the plowing is done in the autumn the bulk of them will be still in the orchard and will be turned under, thereby securing just so much extra humus as well as getting rid of a prolific source of infection. The two principal arguments used against fall plowing are that the soil is more likely to wash and that there is more danger of injury to the roots of the trees by freezing. The first of these is undoubtedly correct and is a sufficient reason for not practising fall plowing in a great many cases on hillsides. Still on many farms there are one or more blocks which do not have slope enough to be damaged in this way and on most farms " eveiy little helps," especially in the spring. On the freezing argument there is need of more light. It would be relatively easy, with soil thermometers, to determine whether the ground will freeze more deeply in a plowed orchard than in one under sod or a cover crop. If the land were har- rowed down at all it is very doubtful if the plowed land would allow the frost to enter any more deeply. Disc Harrowing. — Of course it is not always necessary that the land should be plowed. On lightish lands in particular it is often possible to fit them in the spring with some type of disc harrow. One of these disc harrows, if set so as to reach its greatest depth, will stir the soil enough. Where soils can be so 86 ORCHARD CULTURE handled it is usually a more expeditious method. I£ the disc harrow is run through the orchard in one direction and then the land is allowed to stand a few days, to be followed by a discing in the other direction, twice over the land will usually put it in good condition for the spring-tooth or some other harrow. Early Tillage Affects Moisture. — The desirability of fitting the land as early in the spring as possible is very frequently overlooked by the orchard man, who has on the land a crop of clover or some other crop which lives through the winter. He thinks that he ought to let it grow for a time in order to get additional humus to plow under, and the temptation to get all he can in the humus line frequently gets him into serious diffi- culties. Of course it is expected that when the land is plowed in the spring a certain number of roots will be destroyed by the plows, but if the land is plowed each year the roots so cut will never have attained any great size and they will be replaced at once by new feeding roots which will come up into the soil which was turned over. Moreover when this is done in the early spring the tree will not feel the temporary loss of moisture, be- cause at this time of year the loss of moisture by transpiration from the tree is relatively very small. It ought also to be emphasized, in this connection, that the little root hairs which do most of the actual absorbing of soil moisture do not persist over winter but a new set is developed each spring. Now suppose that the orchard man, in his zeal to get extra humus, allows his cover crop to grow until June before plowing. In the first place this will seriously exhaust the soil moisture by the extra drafts made upon it to grow the cover crop; then an inunense number of feeding roots and root hairs will have been developed in this surface layer of the soil which is turned over by plow. The loss of these roots, or rather of the soil moisture which they are taking in, while it would not have been felt by the tree in the least had it occurred in the early spring, is now very seriously felt, since the tree is in full leaf and giving off to the air an immense amount of moisture daily. If we add to this the further fact that this heavy layer of cover crop, both the autumn growth and the spring growth, interferes THE TIME TO STOP CULTIVATION 87 with the transference of water from the subsoil into the furrow slice which was turned over, and that therefore a considerable time must elapse before new feeding roots can be established in this surface layer, we may see at least some of the objections to deferring plowing until summer in order to grow a cover crop. After-tillage. — Following this first ' ' fitting ' ' of the land there is a period of cultivating. This period varies in length with different men, all the way from not over a month to three or even four months. The principal objects of this cultivation are to keep down the weeds and to conserve the soil moisture, and individual conditions are going to very decidedly modify not only its length but its thoroughness and the implements necessary to do it. As a rule the land ought to be gone over every ten days or two weeks, but if one is so unfortunate as to have a bad case of witch grass to contend with, or if the season is especially dry, or the land, either from lack of humus or from any other cause, is not in condition to hold moisture, then it may be de- sirable to cultivate oftener. In particular it is well to get over all the orchard just as soon as possible after a rain, unless of course it is a rainy spell. Even then it is important to start the cultivator just as soon as the rainy spell is over. For most of this cultivation very shallow stirring of the soil is all that is neces- sary. It is often the practice after the land is once gotten into shape in the spring to use some harrow of the spring-tooth type for most of the work. The one shown in Figure 42 is admirably suited to this part of the work and will cover more land in a day than anything that was ever turned loose in an orchard. The acme harrow is also excellent. The time to stop cultivation, as has been suggested, varies greatly with different men, A rather short, sharp campaign is usually best. Get the orchard under cultivation as early as possible, make the cultivation thorough, and then stop it early and sow in the cover crop. It is rare that it needs to be con- tinued after the first of July. Several of the disadvantages of cultivation may be largely overcome by seeding down early. On land which does not hold moisture well and with a heavy crop of fruit on the trees and a dry season, late culture may be desirable 88 ORCHARD CULTURE and even necessary. It must be remembered that the longer the sowing of the cover crop is delayed the less growth there will be of that crop, and consequently the less humus there will be to plow under the following year, which in turn will make the land suffer more from drouth. In other words, by prolonging cultiva- tion we save moisture for that year at the expense of future years. Hand Work. — While thorough cultivation in the orchard as a whole is desirable, it is doubtful how important it is, in older orchards at least, that the soil close about the trees should be stirred. And certainly it adds very greatly to the expense if one tries to remove all the weeds and grass from close around every tree. It means hand labor and a good deal of it, and as soon as we resort to hand work we raise very decidedly the cost of caring for the orchard. If, for any reason, it is thought to be absolutely necessary to do this work, however, then as much as possible should be done with the grape-hoe shown in Figure 43. It is surprising how much this implement will do. The balance may be cleared out by using a heavy hoe or a light mattock or grub hoe. Damage During Cultivation. — One of the annoying things about cultivating an orchard is the amount of injury that is pretty certain to be done to the trees by the harness and the whiffletrees and the cultivators. Even with the best of men and teams a certain amount of this damage is sure to occur. With poorer men and less steady teams there is enough of it to drive the most ardent believer in cultivation to sod culture. Patches of bark will be scraped off the trunk by the cultivator, the tips of branches chewed off by the horses, or the bark raked off the branches by the hames of the harness. While one is always more or less at the mercy of the teamster, a good many things may be done to help him to avoid injuring the trees. The horses may be muzzled, and harnesses with low hames ought always to be used. We may even resort with great satisfaction to the tugless harness shown in Figure 40. Then short whiffletrees and doubletrees ought always to be used. It will avoid many a scar if the outside ends of the whiffletrees are padded with burlap DAMAGE DURING CULTIVATION 90 OUCHAKD CULTURE or an old sack. If extension types of implements are used, the team, at least, will be kept well away from the trees. These extension implements may be either those like the light draft harrow shown in Figure 42, which cover a wide space and con- sequently avoid the necessity of the team getting near the trees ; or, if these are not available, the two sections of an ordinary disc or spring-tooth harrow may be separated by using a long bar or evener. In the latter case there is, of course, a strip of land in the centre each time which is not worked, but if the space between the sections is not wider than one of them the strip is cultivated on the return trip. Sowing the Cover Crop. — When the time finally arrives for sowing the cover crop it may be sown just previous to the last cultivation which will cover the seed, except in the ease of clover and turnips which are sown just after the last cultivation and either left for the next rain to cover or else lightly brushed in with a brush harrow. It is always a satisfaction to see block after block of the orchard seeded down to the cover crop. One feels that another good job is finished and trouble (at least that particular trouble) is over for the season. QUESTIONS 1. Outline briefly three plans of orchard management as regards culture. 2. What are the principal points in favor of sod culture? 3. Give the arguments in favor of the cultivation of orchards. 4. Outline a year's treatment of the soil in a cultivated orchard. 5. Give several reasons for and against plowing orchards in late fall. 6. Discuss the use of the disc harrovs' in orchards. 7. Describe the eflects of early spring tillage. 8. At what time during the growing season should the cultivation cease? Why? 9. What hand work, if any, is to be recommended in the cultivation of orchards ? 10. How is the cover crop started? 11. Is sod-mulch, clean culture or a modified method used in your section? CHAPTER VII ORCHARD IMPLEMENTS It is a great convonience in cultivating an orchard if a man can have jnst the right implement for each particular part in the work and for every special combination of conditions. That is one advantage which the large orchard has over the small one. With only a few acres of orchard to care for the owner feels as ; hough he ought to get along with the smallest equipment possi- ble unless he has use for the implements in his other farm work. It is possible to care for an orchard with only a plow and a harrow, in fact he might even cut out the plow if his harrow were of the disc varietj^ But with a large orchard, the owner feels more free to add to his equipment, and if the orchard is suffi- ciently large he can justify quite an extensive array of imple- ments. This is a doctrine which, like the doctrine of a fairly large list of varieties, it is easy to carry too far, and any man should keep the list down low enough so that he at least has room for everj^ implement in the tool shed. But since there are a great many orchard implements on the market and since slightly varying conditions may make a differ- ent one more effective than any other, it seems worth while to discuss a few of the principal types. Plows. — As already suggested it is not always necessary to plow the orchard, but it frequently is, and when one has to plow he wants a good implement. There are about four things to be considered in selecting an orchard plow : First, the draft ; second, how close it can be run to the trees ; third, how much danger there is that it will damage the trees; and, fourth, its effect on the furrow slice, that is, how thoroughly it wall pulverize the land as it turns it over. Any orchard plow^ should have a fairly abrupt mold board in order to pulverize as well as to invert the furrow slice. The type of plow^ which merely inverts the furrow slice without breaking it up at all will make a pretty looking field, 91 92 ORCHARD IMPLEMENTS that may win in a plowing match where beauty is the main thing, but it certainly does not leave the soil in anything like as good condition as the mold board with an abrupt turn. The latter is as good as the former plus one or two harrowings. Types of Plows. — There are four or five types of plows usually available to select from, any one of which is fairly satis- factory. First, there is the ordinary walking plow. This will do good work, and if the orchard is small it may be the best plow to choose. The chief disadvantages of this plow are that it is necessary to make a back-furrow and a dead furrow to each row of trees and that it is not possible to get quite as close to the trees as with some other plows, but neither one of these is a serious objection. The former difficulty may be obviated by selecting a hillside walking plow. This is reversible, so that all the furrows are thrown in one direction. The plowman simply begins at one side of the orchard find goes back and forth, making neither dead nor back-furrows, until the entire orchard is plowed. The usual custom in using such a plow is to throw the land down the hill, but it is much better, unless the slope is very steep, to throw it up the hill. Hillside land which is cultivated will work down the hill fast enough without any deliberate assistance from the owner. The principal objection to this plow is that it does not do as good work as the ordinary type of walking plow just mentioned. This is not a verj^ serious difference, but it may be avoided by using the third type of plow, the double-sulky plow. This is a wheeled implement with two plows side by side, one a right- hand and the other a left-hand plow. It works exactly the same as the hillside plow but does a little better work on the soil. One can not, however, get quite so close to the trees with it. For preparing a field to set an orchard on it is the finest thing yet invented. Orchard Gang Plow. — We have next the small orchard gang plow shown in Figure 38. This consists of three eight-inch plows and will therefore move twenty-four inches in width at one time, which means getting over the orchard in a hurry. It is built so ORCHARD DISC PLOW 93 as to get very close to the trees whether one is plowing towards them or away from them, and the draft is surprisingly small considering the surface covered. The writer has never seen an accurate draft test of this plow, but, in trying it out in orchard practice as compared with the two types of walking plows just mentioned, it did not seem that the team pulled any harder with this gang throwing twenty-four inches than with a fourteen- meh plow of the other sorts. Of course these small plows will ! ' iif three eight-inch plows. One of the best iniplomonf The draft is light and it covers a lot of land in a day. not throw a very deep furrow, but this is seldom wanted in an orchard. Three or four inches is usually ample. At the present writing, with only one season's experience to base the opinion on, this little plow seems to stand at the head for straight orchard work. Orchard Disc Plow. — Lastly we have what is known as the California orchard plow, shown in Figure 39, As will be seen it consists of four large discs at one end of a long beam. The great advantage of this implement is that it does very thorough work and one can get very close to the trees with it and still 94 ORCHARD IMPLEMENTS have the team far enough away to avoid all danger of injurj'^ from that source. For working out the weeds and grass close about the trees it is certainly admirable. Harrows. — Starting with the most deeply cutting types of harrows we have the disc and the cutaway. These are much alike, the only difference being that the former has a smooth edge to the discs while in the latter the edges are notched. It 1<'IG. "0. — A disn plow for orchard work. An PTfollonf. implpmont for wirldnc i| i^c to I h? nous without getting tlie team near euougU to do anj- damage. is claimed that these latter will cut into the soil more deeply, which is probably true. Either one is excellent for working in the orchard, and as already suggested may frequently be sub- stituted for the plow in getting the land in shape in the spring. Even in the later cultivation it is well to have one of these harrows available for use in case the weeds get a bad start in any corner of the orchard. Next to the disc type of harrow comes the spring-tooth, and it ought to follow the disc in the season's work. It will pull the furrows to pieces and pulverize the soil well, following either CULTIVATORS 95 the plow or the disc, and some type of sprino^-tooth harrow ought to be in any collection of orchard implements that is supposed to be at all complete. There is one objection to the ordinary- spring- tooth harrow for young orchards and that is that it is so likely to catch on a stone or some other obstacle and jump against the trees. Careful driving will help to prevent this difficulty, and of course it does not apply in land free from stones and other obstacles. Another objection which has been made to the spring- tooth and which may be worth mentioning here, is that where an orchard has patches of witch (quack) grass in it this harrow will drag small pieces to other parts of the orchard and drop them, thus helping to spread this noxious weed. This is prob- ably a legitimate objection but can not offset the many advantages of this type of tooth either on harrows or cultivators. We have next the acme harroiv shown in Figure 40. The action of this machine is to cut into the soil behind and to crush the clods in front. Where the soil conditions are right it will do as much work as anything in an orchard. But it will not work en land which is either very stony or which has much trash on it. Barring these limitations it is an excellent implement and will leave the soil in as good condition as anything on the list. Lastly among harrows we have the spike-tooth or smoothing type. This is not considered a very important implement in the orchard. It is especially designed to leave the surface fine and smooth and occasionally such a tool may be needed, particularly for covering some kinds of cover crops, but this would be the first thing to strike out if one were trying to cut down the list of implements. Cultivators, — It is difficult to draw the line between cultiva- tors and harrows because many implements are used for both purposes. In the classification here given the cultivators are used primarily for cultivating and are more under the control of the operator than the harrows. We have first the implement shown in Figure 41, and known technically on the market as the orchard cultivator. The teeth are entirely rigid and it is designed especially for use in getting the land in shape and levelling it, after it has been 96 ORCHARD IMPLEMENTS plowed or disced. The chief objection to it is that the frame is very rigid, so that it does uot alwaj's adapt itself to ii-re^larities Fig. 40. — The acme harrow. An excellent orchard cultivator when soil conditions are good, but atoaes and trash interfere with it seriously. Fig. 41. — An orchard cultivator with heavy, rigid teeth. An excellent implement for heavy work, either where the land is rough or the weeds are large. in the surface, one end perhaps working too deeply and the other not deep enough. On the other hand this very rigidity malves it effective in pulling the land into shape, taking down the high CULTIVATORS 97 98 ORCHARD IMPLEMENTS places and scraping them into the low ones. And it will dig into a patch of witch grass or other troublesome weed in a way to dis- courage the intruder. Next is the light-draft orchard harrow shown in Figure 42. It is certainly well named, as the draft is very light considering the land it covers and there are few if any implements that will get over as many acres of orchard in a day as this one. It will cheer the heart of any man with a lot of work to do. You can send a man out into a ten acre block of orchard in the morning and he is back at noon with the job done. And it does good work, too. ini: orchard. An excellent implement for clearing lu. It will do the work of a dozen men. Its shortcoming is that the land has to be in pretty good condition for it to do good work. The teeth are rather light and will not work well on rough land, but once the land has been put in good condition in the spring it will certainly take care of it well and cheaply. There are two wings which enable it to work close to the trees without bringing the horses near them. A light lever attached to each of the four sections enables the operator to dump any trash that may have caught on the teeth. QUESTIONS 99 A combination implement kno^^^l as a grape-hoe is shown in Figure 43. It can be used either in the capacity of a plow or a cultivator, by changing the attachment, and is designed to save hand labor by working close to the trees. With the right man to run it, it will certainly do what it was designed to do. There is a disc for steering it, and a good husky man who has had a little practice in running it will come as near cleaning out all the weeds from about the trees as it is possible to do with anything short of a hand hoe. No orchard of any size can afford to be without one. Then there is the common V-sliaped cultivator. This is not strictly necessary to care for the orchard, but as soon as any of the companion crops are planted it becomes the main dependence. It is usually best to have two of them with teeth of different sizes. The large are needed for heavy work when one is unfortunate enough to get behindhand, and the small for land in better shape. In fact some orchardists have three of them in the equipment, ranging from the small, spike-toothed variety up to one with five good-sized shovels. Tractors. The tractor, with suitable plows and harrows, has become a very important implement in orchard work. On land which is suited to its use it is largely taking the place of horse labor owing to the greater rapidity and reduced cost with which it can be operated. (See Fig. 81). QUESTIONS 1. What advantages have large orchards over small ones in the matter of implements? 2. Why should the plow have an abrupt mold-board? 3. What may be said for and against the ordinary walking plow for orchard work? 4. What advantage has the hillside plow? 5. Describe a double-sulky plow and tell when you would prefer it. 6. Give the advantages of the orchard gang plow. 7. What is a " California orchard plow "? Give several points in its favor. 8. Compare the various types of harrows for use in orchards. 9. What types of cultivators are suitable for use in orchards? 10. What orchard implements are most common in your section? CHAPTER VIII FERTILIZERS The proper fertilizing of a fruit plantation is an especially difficult point to determine experimentally, because it is so difficult to determine and to control the conditions surrounding the roots of trees. When it has been determined by experiment what the best treatment for a particular orchard is, this informa- tion is of relatively little value to the owners of other orchards because the many different factors of ' ' soil condition ' ' are likely to vary widely. In this respect the fertilizer problem stands ahead of any other. For example, if it is a question of what to spray with, the conditions surrounding the leaves of the trees are so similar that what is best for Brown's trees will probably also be best for Smith's trees, though he may live five or ten or even one hundred miles away. But the fertilizer question is so complex, and conditions change so decidedly in going even a short distance, that what is good in the way of fertilizers for Brown's trees may not be good for Smith's though his orchard may be just across the road. Doubtless further experiment will throw more light on the subject, and we may hope that the time will come when we shall have a generally accepted scheme of orchard fertilization. In the meantime we must use what evidence we have and do our best to gain further light for ourselves by a little personal experimenting. The best orchardists believe in fertilizing and practise it in private orchards. But the evidence on the subject is meagre" and conflicting. Three lines of reasoning should lead to the adoption of this attitude until such time as more authoritative evidence on the subject is available. Trees Exhaust Soil. — It has been very definitely shown that apple orchards take out of the soil far more fertilizer material year by year than ordinaiy farm crops do. Professor I. P. Roberts has calculated that the twenty-year record of fertilizer 100 EXPERIMENTAL PROOF 101 value of an acre of wheat and an acre of apples would be as follows : Wheat, grain and straw, 20 years $128.23 Apples, fruit and leaves, 20 years 207.45 This makes no account of the large amount of fertilizer material which is each year locked up in the roots, trunk, and branches of the tree. Now we must admit at once that the tree forages much more widely than the annual crop in search of food, but even when this is considered it seems reasonably cer- tain that an orchard exhausts the soil faster than the wheat crop. It must be remembered further that there is no chance for rotation of crops with tlie orchard, but the same elements in the same ratio are taken out year after year. When we remem- ber still further that no man who makes any pretense to being a farmer would think of trying to grow a wheat crop many years without fertilizers, it seems very reasonable that the orchard man should follow the practice of the general farmer. Best Orchardists Fertilize.— This brings us to the second reason for thinking that orchards ought to be fertilized, and that is that the best fruit men practise fertilizing. Go into any orchard section and you will find that the most progressive and successful growers, as a rule, are the men who fertilize highly. Usually the man succeeds in proportion as he fertilizes. The man who fertilizes year after year, whether he has a crop of fruit on his trees or not, is the man who usually has a crop. The man who is noted in a section as applying fertilizers in large quantity is usually also noted as a man who harvests bumper crops. This is not conclusive proof, because these men also care well for their orchards in other ways. But it is very suggestive, particularly the fact that the generous feeder usually succeeds better than the moderate feeder. Experimental Proof. — The third point which has concerted many to fertilizing their orchards is the fact that numerous experiments have shown such marked benefits from fertilizing. Of course there have been experiments that have not shown any benefit, but when, in a series of experiments, a fertilized block gives several times as much fruit as an unfertilized block, the 102 FERTILIZERS two having been treated in exactly the same way except in the matter of fertilizers, it is difficult to avoid drawing the conclu- sion that the fertilizer is responsible for the difference. In the orchard fertilizer experiments at the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station (with which experiments the writer has had no connection) the thing which most impresses any one who studies the results and examines the trees, is the extremely poor showing made by the trees which had no fertilizer. We may disagree decidedly as to the relative merits of muriate and sul- fate of potash, or as to whether bone meal is best as a source of phosphoric acid, but none can escape the conclusion that under the conditions of this experiment any fertilizer combination used was greatly to he preferred to no fertilizer at all. Influence of Nitrogen. — With so much difference in opinion as to what forms of fertilizer, if any, are required, it is hardly to be expected that there should be very general agreement as to the particular effect of the different fertilizer elements, yet all are agreed that nitrogen, in any form, is likely to produce rapid wood growth with large, dark green leaves and long terminal shoots. If the application of nitrogen is carried to excess, the wood growth may be made at the expense of fruit, though up to a certain point nitrogen increases the yield. It almost always decreases color, principally because the fruit, like the leaves, is large in size and does not reach sufficient maturity to begin to color until late in the season. The heavy foliage also reduces the color by shutting off the sunlight. In recent experimental work in orchards, however, nitrogen has been the element that has most frequently shown results in increased yields. Influence of Potash. — It is known that potash enters into the fruit acids and is a very large part (more than 50 per cent.) of the ash of fruits. Potash has also been credited, and perhaps rightly so, with increasing the color in fruits, but this effect is probably produced by the influence which potash has on the general growth of the tree and does not come as a direct influence ; that is, potash will not change tlie green color of apples to a red color as nitrogen will often change the yellow color of leaves to a green color. On the other hand, it is well known that potash is important in getting a good growth of leguminous crops, particu- larly clovers, and it may often be desirable to use it in connection with cover crops, applying it when they are sown. FORMS TO USE 103 Influence of Phosphoric Acid. — The exact part which phos- l)horic acid plays in orchard development seems not to have been so Avell worked out, at least there is less agreement on the sub- ject. It is certainly important in seed development and prob- ably m the ripening of the fruit, and some men have even given it credit for improvements in the color of fruit, though this is not very generally accepted. If it occurs it is probably as a result of the control which this element exerts on the growth of the tree. Maturity and sunlight are certainly the two most important influences in producing color in fruits. "Where phos- phoric acid is applied to orchards it is probably most useful to the cover crop and nia^' generally be best applied wlien that crop is sown. Forms to Use. — If we are to use fertilizers we have the choice of several forms of each one. For nitrogen we have nitrate of soda, sulfate of ammonia, tankage, cyanamid and nitrate of potash. Nitrate of soda is prob- ably used more than any other form and has the advantage that it is very quickly available. It is also a reasonably cheap form. Sulfate of ammonia acts more slowly than the nitrate because it has to be changed in the soil into the nitrate form before it can be used by the plant. It also has a tendency to make the soil sour because it leaves behind the sulfuric acid. Still, it is fairly popular, and if lime is used to take care of the acid, it is good to use in combination where a long season of growth is wanted. Tankage is still more slowly available and is usually reason- able in the price per unit. It is used with particular satisfaction on young trees or in any situation where a relatively long period of groAvth is desired. With young trees tankage in combination with nitrate of soda has given veiy much better results than the nitrate alone, even when two applications of the latter were given. The nitrate of potash is hardly worth discussing because it is so seldom that one can get it. It carries about the same percent- age of nitrogen as the nitrate of soda and in addition about as much potash as the muriate. It is thus a very high grade fertilizer, the highest that we have. It has the disadvantage 104 FERTILIZERS that it requires the application of lioth nitrogen and potash at one time, and this may not always be desirable. We ought to add to the forms of nitrogen " cyanamid, " the newly developed combination of lime with atmospheric nitrogen. It has not yet been in use long enough for its (lualities to be tested, but it has this to recommend it, that it is relatively cheap. Among- phosplioric add fertilizers are bone meal, rock phos- phate, and basic slag. Bone meal is an old favorite among fer- tilizer users. Within recent years basic slag, or Thomas phosphate powder, a by-product produced in the manufacture of steel, has been used a great deal by orchard men. It has the advantage of carrying a considerable percentage of lime, but this has been reduced recently by changes in the manufacturing process. Acid phosphates or superphosphates are made from both bone and rock phosphates by treating them w^th sulfuric acid. This takes up a part of the lime, rendering the phosphoric acid more avail- able. The superphosphates are especially useful with young trees where the roots are extending rapidly. They are the only form in which phosphoric acid should be applied to orchards in sod, since in such orchards one must depend on the fertilizer dis- solving and being washed into the soil. Two forms of potash are in common use, the muriate and the sulfate, the latter coming in both high and low grade. Probably the muriate is more generally used than any other form at the present time. It has the great advantage of being cheaper than sulfate, but it also has a tendency to render the soil acid by taking out the lime. This latter tendency can be overcome of course by adding lime, but that means o-ne more thing to look after. The low grade sulfate carries about half the amount "of actual potash that the high grade does, but it also has a large amount of magnesia, which many consider an advantage. There is the same objection to it that there is to any low grade fer- tilizer, viz., that it costs more per unit of plant food to transport it and to handle it in the orchard. It is perhaps best to use the high grade sulfate altogether until such time as it may be shown that some other form is better. FERTILIZER FORMULAS 105 There is no very definite experimental data to show that lime is beneficial to orchard trees, but there is a very general impres- sion among orchard men that it is an excellent plan to apply lime to orchards. So far as this idea has any real backing, it prob- ably rests on the fact that limestone districts in fruit regions are usually noted for their fine fruit. But quite aside from its effect on the trees, the use of lime in orchards is probably war- ranted on account of its effect as the cover crop which is grown. Most of these crops are benefited by lime, and for some of them, notably the beginners, on some soils lime is absolutely essential for a good growth. On the lighter types of soils the ground limestone is to be preferred, while for the heavier soils the burned lime is better. On many soils an application of a half ton to a ton per acre will be found to give excellent returns in improved growth of cover crops. On one orchard block, the soil of which the writer has tested, it was shown that it would require five tons per acre to neutralize the upper foot of soil. Of course this amount was not put on in any one season but a yearly application of a ton was used with markedly beneficial results. In ordering lime of either type it will be found best to pay the extra cost of having it come in bags rather than in bulk, as it is impossible to handle the latter type with any degree of com- fort wlien tliere is any wind. Fertilizer Formulas. — It may perhaps be helpful to include in this chapter a few fertilizer formulas, though it ought to be understood that they are only suggestive. The formulas will vary, as to amounts and frequently as to materials used, with the following factors : First, the soil treatment in the orchard. If it is in sod it will need more fertilizers than if the soil is cultiva- ted. Second, with the age of the trees. Young trees require less fertilizer to secure the requisite amount of growth and size of fruit than do old trees. Third, the crop on the trees. If the trees are loaded with fruit they can utilize a much heavier application of fertilizer than if there is little or no fniit on them. Fourth, with the type of soil. A light sandy soil will require more fertilizer, other things being equal, than a heavier soil. 106 FERTILIZERS Fifth, with the variety. Slow growing sorts like Wealthy and Wagener will need nineli heavier fertilizing under the same condi- tions, than more growthy sorts like Mcintosh and Baldwin and Spy. It is only after all these items (and very possibly others) have been considered carefully that an orchardist is in position to decide what fertilizers he wall use. But if he will keep in mind the fact that he ought to get a good growth of cover crop, if the orchard is cultivated, or a good groAvth of grass, if it is in sod ; and that his trees ought to grow from 15 to 20 inches on the leaders in young bearing orchards ; and from 4 to 6 inches on mature trees ; if he will keep all this in mind as a guide the problem is not so difficult as it might seem. Bearing all this in mind we may suggest tlie following formu- las, the amounts given being per acre in all cases : No. 1. For cultivated orchards. Apply nitrate of soda just as the buds are breaking at from to 150 pounds, with perhaps an equal amount when the cover crop is sown ; acid phosphate to 300 pounds, and sulfate of potash to 200 pounds applied when cover crop is sown. No. 2. For sod mulch orchards. Apply nitrate of soda 100 to 300 pounds; acid phosphate 150 to 300 pounds; sulfate of pot- ash to 100 pounds, all applied in the early spring just as the buds on the trees are breaking. No. 3. For orchards in sod, with the grass made into hay and removed (w^hich we have already suggested ought almost never to be done but which is very frequently done), the amount given in No. 2 ought to be proportionately increased until one gets the right amount of grow^th on his trees. No. 4. Where strips are cultivated in the orchard and the balance is in sod the amounts used may be half way between formulas No. 1 and No. 2. Munson and Frost, of Littleton, Massachusetts, use the fol- lowing formula on their bearing apple orchard: 500 pounds basic slag, and 225 pounds high grade sulfate of potash. Mr. A. C. Starr, of Starrs Point, Nova Scotia, w^rites; " We APPLICATION 107 use all the barn manure we have to spare, and we iisuall}- get over them once in about four years, giving a fair application. In addition we apply each year 400 to 500 pounds of ground bone per acre and 200 to 300 pounds of muriate of potash. ' ' Professor J. P. Stewart, of the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, who has given a great deal of study to this (luestion of fertilizing orchards, gives the following table of fertilizers to be used while detennining by experiment what tlie orchard actually needs : Tabi.k III. — A General Fertilizer for Apple Orchards. (Amounts per Acre for Bearing Trees) Nitrogen 30 lbs. (N) Phosphorie Acid 50 lbs. (P2O0) Potash 25 to 50 lbs. (K-..0) Carried in — Carried in — Carried in — 100 ll)s. nitrate soda and ;}r)0 lbs. acid phosphate ;")() to 100 lbs. muriate 150 lbs. dried blood or in 200 lbs. bone meal or in or in 150 lbs. sulfate of am- monia or in 300 lbs. basic slag 100 to 200 lbs. low grade sulfate Application, — In appl.ying fertilizers it is much better to use a fertilizer spreader when possible. Of course where the trees are young, and the fertilizer is therefore spread over only a part of the surface, it is usually necessary to put it on by hand. Insoluble materials, or those slowly soluble, like bone meal and basic slag, should be applied before the land is plowed or should be otherwise thoroughly incorporated with the soil. Those which dissolve readily, like muriate and sulfate of potash or nitrate of soda, may be spread upon the surface and will wash in with the first rain. The potash and phosphoric acid salts are not readily washed out of the soil and may therefore be applied at almost any season of the year, though the orchardist should avoid a time Avhen there are likely to be dashing rains which will carry them off in the surface water. But nitrogen is very likely to escape and 108 FERTILIZERS should be applied after growth has started so that it may be taken up quickly. The fertilizing of the various kinds of fruit trees will vary somewhat, but there will probably not be any greater variation that might occur between two different varieties of the same kind of fruit or between two blocks of the same fruit on different soils. For example, the Wag-ener and Gravenstein apples will probably vary nearly as much in the fertilizer requirements as Avill the general classes of apples and peaches. And two blocks of Baldwin apple trees on very different soils may need quite as different fertilizers as a block of peaches and a block of apples. There is much recent experimental data to show that in the application of nitrogen it is desirable to get the fertilizer on the orchard early in the season. In general the data when the buds are beginning to swell seems to be about the right period for this application. QUESTIONS 1. Compare oi-chards with wheat in their exhaustion of soil fertility. 2. What have experiments proved in regard to orchard fertilizers? 3. What are the effects of nitrogenous fertilizers? 4. Give the effects of fertilizers rich in potash. 5. What is the influence of phosphoric acid on fruit trees? 6. Discuss the forms of fertilizer to be used in supplying nitrogen. 7. From what sources maj' the phosphoric acid be derived? Which are best for young trees? 8. What two forms of potash are in common use? Give an advantage of each. 9. Is orchard fertilizing practised in your section? CHAPTER IX COVER CROPS While most people have a fairly clear idea of what a cover crop is, it may be worth while to begin by attempting to define it so that we may have a definite idea of just what is meant by the term. In orchard parlance, then, a "cover crop" is any crop grown in the orchard solely for the benefit of the trees. It is usually an annual crop and is sown in the orchard during the summer and plowed under the following spring. In actual practice we find all gradations, from the orthodox, typical cover crop, such as measures up to the definitions given above, on through such plants as turnips, which are primarily cover crops but where a part of the crop may be harvested, to buckwheat, which may be grown , primarily as a companion crop and sold, but which seizes some of the purposes of a cover crop. The most important purposes served by the cover crop are the following, arranged roughly in the order of their importance, though the order would vary under varying conditions : Prevent Washing. — The cover crop serves to prevent washing during fall and spring rains and to make the orchard comfortable to go about in during muddy weather in the spring, that is, it serves as a cover. A crop which will really accomplish all this is difficult to find, but it ought to come as near it as possible. There is no question that the loss of soluble plant food, and of actual soil, by washing is one of the great drawbacks to cultiva- tion on lands which are even slightly rolling, and anything which we can do to lessen this loss ought to be done. Of course the cover crop helps to prevent washing both by its roots and its tops. It is therefore important, on lands which are subject to washing, to select a plant as a cover crop that will develop a large top which will mat down on the surface of the soil and thus prevent the water from moving, and one which also has a large and fibrous root system that will hold the soil particles to- gether. Sometimes these two characteristics go together, but fre- quently they do not and then one has to choose between them. It is difficult to say which is the more important, but a thick mat 109 no COVER CROPS over the surface will certainly accomplish wonders in preventing washing of the soil. Check Fall Growth. — The cover crop serves to check the growth of the trees in the autumn and thus force them to ripen up their wood for winter. This is often the most important func- tion of the cover crop and is accomplished by its appropriating water and plant food that would otherwise go to the trees. When this purpose is of importance, as in sections with rather trying winter climates, one should select a crop that will develop a rank growth about the time that the trees ought to "sober down," which is at least as early as the first of September. The date of sowing the crop must of course be varied to suit its rapidity of growth and the needs of the trees. If the owner is using buck- wheat, which comes on with a rush, he can afford to delay sow- ing much later than if he is using soybeans, which require a considerable time to develop. Another very important point in this connection is the question of whether the cover crop is hardy or is killed by frost. If it is hardy, the date of seeding may be considerably delayed, which is sometimes very desirable where the trees are carrying a large crop of fruit. The cover crop adds humus to the soil, and where barn manure is not to be had for the orchard, which is frequently the case on special orchard farms, this purpose becomes an all-important one. With both light and heavy soils it is particularly important to keep up the supply of humus because they are both damaged much more than intermediate types when the humus content runs low. For these soils therefore one ought to select some large growing crop and be careful to secure a good growth of it. This latter is by no means as simple a matter as it might seem. Weather conditions, soil conditions, the shade of the trees, and various other factors come in to influence the result, and unless the owner looks out for all the details he is likely to find his orchard going into the winter with very little material to either prevent wash or make humus. A plan which has been tried with considerable satisfaction, on lands where it was difficult to get a good growth of cover crop, is to reserve a part or even all of the fertilizer tliat is intended for that block and apply it just previous to sowing the cover crop. A little nitrogen in particular applied THE MOST IMPORTANT PURPOSE 111 at this time is likely to be a great help in starting the crop. The cover crop takes up and holds plant food at a time when the trees are not active. The importance of this may have been over-emphasized, but it is certainly worth considering, and it is one argument in favor of those crops which are not killed by frost. With buckwheat, for example, one gets little of this effect because it is killed before the trees have stopped growing. With any plant which lives over winter we get this benefit, but the amount of it varies with the amount of root growth of the cover plant. If the soil is occupied fully by the roots of this plant there is little chance of loss. Add Nitrogen. — A leguminous cover crop such as clover, or beans, or vetch will add nitrogen to the soil (Fig. 44). This is generally understood by all who are familiar with farm matters but is frequently overlooked in orchard practice as well as else- where. These plants are able, through the bacteria which live in the little nodules on their roots, to take up and "fix" the free nitrogen of the air. They thus offer to the orchard man an abundant supply of nitrogen for his orchard in return for the effort and expense of sowing the seed. In fact the writer recalls one orchard in which crimson clover was used as a cover crop for a series of years, where the soil actually became too rich in nitrogen for the best condition of the trees. They made too much growth and the fruit was under-colored. The owner suspected what the trouble was, had the soil analyzed by his experiment station, which told him that his soil was too rich in nitrogen and advised him to change cover crops. He did so, using buckwheat for a few years, and the trouble was entirely corrected. This is not a common difficulty, but is mentioned to show the possibilities of the leguminous crop. As nitrogen is by far the most expensive fertilizer to buy and as the cover crop offers a convenient method of getting it almost without cost, it is certainly a short-sighted policy of soil management which does not include leguminous plants often enough to fur- nish at least a large part of the nitrogen needed. A cover crop may hold the snow and leaves in the orchard during the winter. To do this to the best advantage it must be rather a stiff, upright crop, which is not the type of crop that 112 COVER CROPS gives the best results on soil washing and some other things. One has to choose therefore between this character and the others. In climates where the winters are severe, and where snow is likely to blow oil' from the orchard, this point of holding it as a pro- tection may be the all-important one and the orchardists may have to select an upright crop like soybeans or buckwheat or even use a mixture with corn or some other heavy plant in it, regardless of all other considerations. Protects Fallen Fruit. — The cover crop serves to protect the fruit which drops. This is not usually considered very important and can often be disregarded, but with fruit such as Yellow Transparent and Red Astrachan apples, which ripen irregularly and have to be disposed of quickly in any case, the drops are sometimes worth about as much as the hand picked fruit. Prevents ^Yinter Injury of Roots. — It prevents the freezing and thawing of the soil and consequent injury to the roots during some winters. Any one who is not familiar with this effect will be surprised at the difference between a block of the orchard with a good cover crop on it, such as clover or vetch, and one with no crop or with a poor one. The well covered block will stay frozen through a long rain or speU of mild weather while the bare land freezes and thaws with every change in the temperature. In a few cases there may be other purposes served by the cover crop, but the above constitute the most important ones. Plowing Under Cover Crops. — A point which is frequently misunderstood and w'hich should be considered, is the importance of the crop living over winter. There is often a prejudice, for example, against crimson clover and in favor of common red clover because the former does not always live over winter, while the latter does. It is said that while there may be a fine growth of the crimson clover when winter comes on, yet by spring (in cold climates) it has been killed, and has so dried up and dwindled away that there is little left to plow under. As a matter of fact, this does not in the least affect its value as a humus producer. There will be just as much humus added to the soil in the dried remains of the crop as there would have been in succulent tissues before they were killed. The only loss has been the water which has dried out of the stalks. PLANTS TO USE 113 A slightly different phase of the same prejudice is seen in some orchardists' opinions of crops which do live over winter. Many men will insist on delaying plowing in the spring until a new growth can be produced, no matter how rank the growth may have been in the autumn, because they say that unless they do "there is so little to plow under." It sometimes does look small in the spring, but it M'ill make just as mucli humus as it would have in the autumn. While under certain conditions there may be no objection to allowing some growth in the spring; while, in fact, it may be a distinct advantage by producing extra humus and sometimes by drying out the soil ; j'et there is always great danger that it will be allowed to stand too long. On heavy soils this objection is particularly strong, for a big growth of the crop will diy out the soil very rapidly and, if the weather happens to turn dry at just the right time, the soil may easily become too dry and plow up in big lumps that are very difficult to break up. On the whoh; a crop which makes a big growth in the autumn but does not live over winter is to be preferred because it avoids this danger. Plants to Use. — A great many different plants are used as cover crops in the orchard, depending on the locality, the type of soil, the number of acres to be covered, the owner's pocketbook and a number of other considerations. Table IV, however, in- cludes the most common ones. It gives also the usual rate per acre, the average price (though this varies greatly in different localities and in different years) and the cost of seeding an acre. The last column is very suggestive and is well worth careful study by the orehardist. Where one has but an acre or two of orchard the cost for seed is not an important matter, but when it runs up to even ten acres the relative cost at $6.00 per acre or 16 cents per acre is certainly worth consideration. With some crops it is possible to allow a strip along each tree row to mature seed and then, by cross-cultivation when the time arrives for sowing the cover crop, to scatter this seed over the entire surface of the orchard. There seems to be no serious objection to this practice and it will reduce materially the running expenses of the orchard. Let us now run over the catalogue of crops given and suggest 114 COVER CROPS Tablb rV. — Amount and Cost of Cover Crop Seed. Crop Buckwheat Cow peas Cow-horn and purple top tur- nips Dwarf Essex rape Barley Rye Crimson clover Mammoth red clover and com- mon red clover Summer vetch Winter vetch Soybeans — broadcast Soybeans — in drills Canada field peas Rate per Acre 1 bu. VAhn. 2 1b. 2 1b. 13^ bu. 1 M bu. 15 lbs. 12 lbs. 13^ bu. 1 bu. I3^bu. Mbu. 13^ bu. $1.50 bu. 3.00 bu. .35 lb. .08 lb. 1.25 bu. 1.65 bu. .10 lb. .25 lb. 3.00 bu. 6.00 bu. 3.50 bu. 3.50 bu. 3.00 bu. Cost per Acre $1.50 4.50 .70 .16 1.88 2.47 1.50 3.00 4.50 6.00 5.25 1.75 4.50 very briefly some of their good and bad ciiaracteristics, taking them in the order mentioned in the table. Buckwheat. — This is desirable because it will grow on almost any soil, leaves the land in better physical condition than perhaps any other crop, furnishes a large amount of humus, is reasonably cheap, and starts so quickly after sowing that it will smother out many annual weeds. This last point is particularly im- portant where one has witch grass to contend with. On the other hand buckwheat furnishes no nitrogen, makes rather a poor cover, and is killed by the first frost. All things considered the orchardist should class buckwheat as among the best three or four cover crops and one which it is difficult to do without (Fig. 45). Cow Peas. — These are rather a southern crop and -are not as good as several other crops when one gets north of Connecticut. In their own section, however, they are famous as soil improvers. They are sown in July and are killed by fall frost. Cow-horn and Purple-top Turnips. — The great advantage of these plants is cheapness, which certainly appeals to a man when he has fifty acres or more of orchard to cover. They also fur- nish an immense amount of humus, make a fairly good cover, and with the purple tops at least one may pull out and sell enough of the best turnips to far more than pay all the expense of the crop and still leave plenty on the ground for a cover. 8 DWARF ESSEX RAPE 115 The objections to turnips are that they furnish no nitrogen, hut they do have a large amount of sulfur and other ill-sinelling constituents which are likely to be very offensive in the spring- when the crop is rotting down and before it can be plowed under. There is a further objection that they are likely to live over winter and go to seed, making rather an unsightly appearance to people who are easily worried by such things. They have not -Buckwheat as a cover crop. One of the most satisfactory crops for this purpose, especially where soil conditions are not of the best. proved a really serious weed but are merely a little too con- spicuous with their gorgeous yellow flowers. Dwarf Essex Rape. — So far as the writer's experience and observation go this is the cheapest of all covers, excepts weeds, and it is by no means a bad crop to use. It will grow anywhere, grows late in the autumn, and usually survives the winter, so that it catches and holds the elusive nitrates, furnishes a fine lot of humus, and makes a surprisingly good cover, as it has a very 116 COVER CROPS fibrous, though not a very large, root system. Where a good stand lives over winter it is sometimes rather difficult to get rid of it and it is always unsightly. These are not serious matters, how- ever, for a cover crop is not grown for its beauty, and by using a cultivator with broad teeth it is quite possible to kill out the worst case of this. On some cultivators there is a broad, V- shaped affair in the centre called a "sweep," and two outside wings, and the combination will pretty nearly clean out anything in the weed line. The rape crop gathers no nitrogen from the air. Barley. — This is an excellent crop to use when one does not care to have a nitrogenous crop and also does not want to use buckwheat. It generally makes a good cover, particularly late in the season, is not seriously expensive, makes an unusually fine lot of humus, and leaves the land in very fair condition. Oats are sometimes used in this way, but they do not leave the soil in as good condition as barley and they are not included in the list. Rye.— This is one of the greatest covers on the list when sown at the right time, but the great difficulty with it from the orchard cover crop standpoint is that it makes very little growth during the hot weather of July, August and early September, so that it is of practically no value in assisting to stop the growth of the trees. It will grow almost anywhere. Sown about Sep- tember first it makes a fine covering for the land over winter. When spring comes it has another shortcoming from the point of view of the orchard and that is that it stalks up very quickly and may get too tall and coarse to plow under well. It will also, on heavy land, dry out the soil very quickly and make trouble with lumps when the land is plowed. But it is fine to prevent washing of the soil, is reasonably cheap, furnishes a good supply of humus, and takes care of all soluble plant food, so that it can not be spared from the list. Crimson Clover. — When this plant will make a good growth in the autumn it comes the nearest to the ideal of a cover crop of any plant in the list. It is reasonably cheap, and fulfils nearly all of the offices detailed at the beginning of this chapter as belonging to the ideal cover crop. It does not succeed in all climates and it very frequently makes a poor growth for the first year or two that it is tried on a particular block of land. SOYBEANS 117 But if the owner will persist in his efforts to grow it, it will often improve year by year until it makes a splendid growth. Another difiiculty with it is that it will not grow on poor soil. The orchard must be in "good heart" before it is worth while to try any of the clovers (Fig. 44). Mammoth Red and Common Red Clover. — Many good orchardists do not have much use for these plants as cover crops where the land is being cultivated every year, as is usually the case in orchards conducted on the cultivation plan. They seldom make any growth worth while the first autumn and therefore to get enough humus they must be allowed to grow in the spring, which, as already explained, is very objectionable. Occasionally, however, when an orchard gets to growing too much wood and the owner wants to sober it down by seeding down the land and letting it stand for two or three years, the clovers are particu- larly good to mix with the grass seed that is used. This is where these clovers shine, in "semi-permanent seeding." The Vetches. — Both summer and winter vetches are splendid crops for covers and if the seed did not cost so much they would be just about perfect. But the seed does cost; and until some method is devised to bring down the cost to about one-quarter what it is at present they are going to be rather too costly for the man who has ten acres of orchard or over. It is unfortunate that this is so, as vetches are certainly about all that could be asked for the purpose in view. On small blocks of orchard, or under special conditions, they may be admissible, but as a general, commercial proposition they do not appeal to the man who pays the bills. It is to be hoped that a plan may be devised whereby the man who owns an orchard can grow his own vetch seed, but at present that method has not been developed. Soybeans. — This is a cover crop which orchardists have used with a good deal of satisfaction for a number of years, but it has to be handled quite differently from most cover crops to be entirely successful. Sown broadcast, or even in drill, at the ordinary date, it fails to make growth enough to furnish much humus or to perform any of the offices of a cover crop with con- spicuous success. But if it can be drilled in about the middle of June with the rows far enough apart to admit of cultivation. 118 COVER CROPS and then if it is cultivated two or perhaps three times before the orchard is laid by, it will do splendidly. For sowing soybeans in this way the grower may use a small five-hole drill which is used largely in the Middle West for drilling wheat in the autumn into land where corn has been grown the summer previous. Stop up all but the two outside holes and then spread the drill as wide as possible. Thus two rows at a time are drilled far enough apart to cultivate. After the plants are up they are given two or three cultivations and then the land is seeded down to rape or turnips or buckwheat or rye. This makes a fine combination cover. If the beans come along nicely and ripen a good crop of seed, it may be harvested and threshed and will usually bring two and a half to three dollars per bushel wholesale. This leaves whatever else was sown on the land as a cover and the soil gets the benefit of the root-systems of the soybeans after they are mown off. On the other hand if the crop is not good enough to warrant harvesting, if the stand is poor or the frost comes before the beans are mature enough, then there is a fine crop to plow under. The common white pea-bean may be grown in much the same way, and with equal satisfaction. Care should be taken, when this method is used on land that is subject to wash, to have the rows run crosswise of the slope. If this is overlooked they help rather than hinder washing by keeping the water in certain channels. Canada field peas are sometimes used and will make the most humus to the square inch of anything that ever grew in an orchard. It is the only crop that really gives serious trouble in plowing it under. The vines are so rank and the stal^ks are so heavy that it is like tiying to plow under a field of bean poles. With a good crop, the only way to get them under is to use a rolling coulter on the plow, and even then they wnll sometimes clog up under the plow-beam. But they do furnish humus and nitrogen in abundance. When they mat down on the surface they will stop any "wash" but a cloud-burst. Mixtures. — Since very few or perhaps no crops serve all, or even a large part of the "functions" for which cover crops are sown, it is often desirable to use mixtures which may be made to do practically everything which is required. WEEDS 119 Here are some mixtures that have proved satisfactory: 1. Barley, cue-half bushel ; erimsou clover, six pouuds. 2. Barley, oue-half bushel ; winter vetch, one peck. 3. The above combinations with buckwheat instead of barley. This general type of mixture is best because it contains one rank grower to check the growth of the trees and to furnish humus and one perennial legume to add nitrogen, act as a "mat" for the windfalls and to catch and hold the leaching nitrates. Look over the list of purposes which the cover crop is expected to serve and see how well either of these mixtures will fill the bill. Take No. 1 as an example. Both barley and clover prevent washing fairl.y well, but the clover is especially good. The rank gi'owth of the barley will check the growth of the trees, and add much humus. It will also hold the snow and leaves, and assist in pre- venting winter injury. The clover on the other hand, while not strong on these points, grows late in the autumn, and so takes up the soluble food at that time, it adds nitrogen, is excellent for protecting the windfall fiiiits, and assists materiall^^ in prevent- ing winter injury. The principal objection to a mixture is that it takes more time to sow it since seeds must either be mixed or else two sowing operations will be required, one for each seed. Weeds. — It seems worth while to add that some orchard men make use of weeds as a cover crop. Where they can be depended upon for a good stand they are better than nothing. In fact there is probably no really legitimate objection to them, except with a very few such as witch grass. Of course they add no nitrogen. QUESTIONS 1. What is a corn crop? 2. What are the most important \ises of orchard cover crops? 3. Why should the fall growth of trees he checked? How does the cover crop assist in this? 4. What class of cover crops add nitro<2:en to soils? 5. Is there any advantage in having the cover live over winter? 6. Give a list of the crops most suitahle for winter covers in your section. 7. Discuss the advantage of several of these. S. What ones are legumes? 0. What ones live over winter? What ones are killed by fall frosts? JO. What is the objection to perennial crops for this purposp? CHAPTER X PRUNING No other operation connected with growing an orchard can compare in interest with pruning. It requires more knowledge, more experience, and more thought than any other orchard work. Probablj^ it is also true that we know less about it (or think we know more things that are not so) than about most other opera- tions. Yet books have been written and might still be written about what is known of the art and science of pruning. FiQ. 46. — A young apple tree started on the wrong road by bad pruning. All the fruit spurs have been removed from the lower branches. In the present chapter we shall attempt merely to under- stand a few of the most universally accepted general principles and to bring out some of the practical details of pruning our common orchard fruits. How Trees Bear their Fruit. — One of the first things for the would-be pruner to acquire is a thorough understanding of the way in which the different orchard trees bear their fruit. Many a good apple tree has had its usefulness curtailed because the man who pruned it did not realize the vital importance of the THE APPLE AND PEAR 121 little crooked spurs along its branches, but insisted in clearing them off to make the tree look more neat. Figure 46 shows an excellent example of a young apple tree which has been thus started on the wrong road, and Figure 94 shows an old orchard which has travelled that road for years, in fact it has travelled it so long that it would be difficult to get it onto any other road. In view of the importance of this side of the question, it may be worth while to begin by summing up briefly the method of fruit-])earing in each of the principal orchard fruits. The apple and pear may be discussed together since their plan of bearing is practically identical. INIost varieties of these two fruits bear almost altogether on short, crooked little branches, known technically as "fruit spurs." There are some varieties J'IG. 47. — An applo frviit spur Thia spuria perhapa six inches long and has prooaoiy borne five apples. Yet many primers systematically cut them off the trees. which, particularly when young, bear fruit from lateral buds on the one year wood, and even for terminal buds on this wood, but this is rather uncommon. An apple spur is shown in Figure 47. This particular spur has a terminal bud on each of two very short branches. In the spring these buds expand and produce a number of leaves, perhaps a half dozen, surrounding from four to six blossoms. Under normal conditions one of these blossoms sets a fruit and the balance fall away. The growing and ripening of this apple takes about all the strength of the spur, but it usually manages to develop at one side a small leaf bud which the follow- ing year makes a very short growth in a new direction and at the end of the season produces another large, plump terminal bud. The following year this bud bears an apple, and so on. We thus have the spur bearing an apple every alternate year and con- tinuing its slow, crooked growth for a long series of years. The 122 PRUNING spur shown in Figure 47 was about ten years old and was probably not more than six inches long. It had borne at least five apples. This is practically the only way in which most varieties of apples and pears are produced, upon these little spurs, so that the man who gets enthusiastic for cleanliness and prunes off all of these little spurs from his apple and pear trees is simply spoiling his chance of getting any fruit from that particular part of the tree. Just contrast the pear branch shown in Figure 48, with its wealth of these little spurs, with the young tree shown in Figure FiQ. 48.— A pear branch we'l supplied with fruit spurs. Such a branch is eapable of bearing a maximum crop. 46. In the one case the owner stands a chance to have his tree loaded down with fruit, while in the other he can not by any possi- bility get fruit from that part of the tree where the fruit spurs have been cleaned away. Two other facts in connection with these little spurs ought to be kept firmly in mind. The first is that, as already hinted, they continue to bear for a long series of years. It is nothing uncommon for one of these spurs to continue to bear for twelve or fifteen years and as it branches considerably it may produce in that time ten apples. Think of the value of such a spur to the HOW PEACHES ARE BORNE 123 man who owns the tree, yet he is frequently the man who cuts it off. The second point to be emphasized is that once these spurs are cut or broken away, they can never be developed again at that spot. The only possible way that this section of the tree can be again brought into usefulness is by developing- watersprouts on these bare branches and then growing fruit spurs on the water sprouts, a long and difficult pro cess. Pruning the apple or pear' tree, therefore, ought to consist in thinning out the top so as to let in enough light and air to keep it healthy, and in holding on to these small spurs just as long as they remain productive. With those varieties which bear on the one-year wood, as the Wealthy, AVagener, and Olden- t^m^ burg do to a considerable extent the fruit spurs become somewhat less important because one can get some fruit even without the spurs. But even with these varieties the spurs form a very ^ important part of the fruiting machinery of the tree. How Peaches are Borne. — Now contrast this method of bear- ing and pruning with the peach. It is about as different as one can well imagine. To begin with, the peach always bears on last year's shoots instead of on these little spurs (Fig. 49) Then the fruit buds, instead of being ' ' mixed ' ' buds, as in the apple, are plain blossom buds, each winter bud containing a single blossom. This is probably one reason why peaches are more subject to \nnter-killing of the fruit buds than apples. They are not nearly so well protected. And lastly the bearing section of the tree in the peach migrates along the branch, instead of remaining practi- cally stationary for years, as in the apple. Fig. 49 — Young peaches just set. Notice that most nodes have two peaches and a cluster of leaves. 124 PRUNING The whole object of the peach primer is therefore to keep up a supply of new wood. His short, interior twigs are often useless after one year, in which case he may cut them out altogether. In any case he prunes his tree much more severely than in the apple, so as to develop new growth. Sometimes this new growth, resulting from severe pruning, is so vigorous that it does not bear much the first year but the operator knows that he can rely Fig. 50. — Spurs of the European plum. They differ from the apple in being straight and in not living so long. Fig. 51. — Cherry spurs. Similar to the plum. on its sobering down by the second year and producing a lot of good new shoots that will bear. The " leaders " in the peach need especial attention. From the very fact that the method of bearing is progressive, there is a strong tendency for these leaders to get away and carry the tree to undue heights. This disposition is especially strong in young trees, and for several years after the tree is set the pruner has to take out practically all the leaders, even though he knows that they will be replaced by an equally strong growth. THE QUINCE 125 The plums and the cherry may, perhaps, be classed together because their methods of bearing, though differing in many minor details, are essentially the same. They all agree in bear- ing their fruit not only on the sides of shorter or longer spurs, but also from the lateral buds of last year's growth. These spurs, which may be seen in Figures 50 and 51, differ from those of the apple in that they produce their fruit from lateral buds and also in that they do not live nearly so long as the apple spurs. These fruits also agree fairly closely in the character of the winter blossom bud, which is about half way between that of the peach and the apple. There are usually two or more blossoms in each ffiQ. 52. — Blossoms of the Japanese plum. These bear on short, plump spurs which carry a large number of blossom buds and consequently set fruit very abundantly. winter bud and one or more leaves, though the leaves are fre- quently rather rudimentary^ (Figs. 52, 53 and 54). In pruning these trees the orchardist adopts a middle course. They are not pruned as severely as in the peach because the spurs are going to bear for three or four or even more years, but they are pruned more severely than the apple because the bearing wood has to be renewed more frequently. The Quince. — It remains to speak briefly of the quince, which has a method of fruit bearing entirely its own. There are not any winter fruit buds whatever ; but each spring, shoots arise from lateral buds on last year's w^ood, and after these 126 PRUNING shoots have grown from one to six inches they produce a single, terminal blossom, which of course stops any further growth in that direction. The pruning ought therefore to aim at keeping the tree growing with reasonable vigor, and at keeping up a supply of new wood. General Principles of Pruning. — It seems worth while to notice next a very few general principles which apply with greater or less force to the pruning of any tree. Fia. 63. — Blossoms of the European phim. Notice the blossoms and small or rudimentary leaves from each winter bud. Fig. 64. — Cherries just set. Notice that only one (or two) in each cluster is developing. The rest will be crowded out in the struggle for existence. Heavy Pruning and Vigorous Growth. — The first, and by all means the most important of these, is that a heavy pruning of the top during the dormant season will tend to cause a very vigorous wood growth the following season. This is exactly what might be expected and is easily explained if one will think the matter over a little. When the tree goes into the winter there is normally a balance between the top and tlie root system. Each one has grown enough so that when spring comes 'round again and growth begins, the roots can supply tiie food and water that will be needed to make a natural, typical growth of the top. Now comes along the pruner and takes off twenty-five to fifty per cent, of that top. The result is that there remains one hun- GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING 127 dred per cent, of roots to support fifty per cent, of top, and of course the top is going to be better supported. It is going to make a tremendous growth to try and take care of all the food that the root is supplying. This is an especially important princi- ple in renovating work, which is discussed in Chapter XVI. Very Rank Growth Opposed to Fruit-hearing. — A second general principle which ought to go with this first one, though it it not strictly a principle of pruning, is that very rank MOod growth is opposed to fruit-bearing. One will rarely find a tree which is growing very vigorously that is also bearing heavily. The two things simply do not go together. The young tree, so long as it remains vigorous and growthy, does not come into bear- ing. In general it is those varieties, like the Wagener and Olden- burg apples, w^iich are not extremely vigorous growers, that bear early in life, while the strong growing sorts like Gravenstein and Spy require more time to come into fruit. So it is with the heavily pruned old tree. It at once starts a very vigorous growth of top but does not bear fruit until it has time for this growth to subside. The lesson Avhich these two principles teach is very fre- quently overlooked by the man who does the pruning. He gauges his success by the amount of wood he takes out of the tree, and then when the tree fails to bear the following year he blames the practice of pruning instead of the operator. On the other hand, a tree must be making a reasonably good growth in order to bear well. In recent years the tendency has been to put less emphasis on the danger of vigorous growth. Un- less the tree reaches what might be described as very vigorous growth there is little danger. Probably more orchards have their bearing reduced by too little growth than by too much growth. Influence of Summer Pruning. — A third principle is that when pruning is done in the winter the tendency is to promote a strong growth of wood, while pruning done in the summer tends in the opposite direction, or towards the production of fruit. There can be no question about the first part of this. It is the same fact that was given in the first principle, only stated a little differently. The strength of the tendency will correspond exactly to the severity of the pruning. Prune a 128 PRUNING tree very severely during the dormant season and you will develop a very strong tendency towards wood growth the follow- ing year; prune it very moderately and the tendency to wood will be moderate. The other side of the principle, the influence of summer pruning towards the production of fruit, is not so well established and doubtless depends considerably on the nature and extent of such pruning. If a large amount of wood is FxG. 65. FiQ. 56. ( \ ! / FiQ. 55. — A Sutton apple tree. A very upright growing tree and one that is difBcult to prune into a satisfactory shape. Fig. 56. — Bradahaw plum tree. Like many other varieties of European plums the Bradshaw makes strong leaders which need to be cut back each year to keep the tree down. removed in the summer pruning, and particularly if this is done rather early in the season, it is very doubtful whether there is much, if any, tendency towards fruit. In fact such pruning will usually result in developing secondary shoots which may produce quite as much growth as the original shoot would have done. But if the pruning is delayed until rather late in the season, and if it then consists in merely taking out the growing GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PRUNING 129 tip of the leaders, then it ought to have a considerable influence towards fruit-bearing. This seems to be a reasonable explanation. We have said that rank growth does not favor fruit, while moderate growth does. This is because it is necessary to have plenty of elabo- rated plant food, such as starch and sugar in the cells to produce the fruit bud. It is the lack of this elaborated plant food which forces the little apple spur to produce merely a leaf bud the year that it bears an apple. Now if the sununer prun- ing is delayed until rather late in the season so that plenty of leaf surface has been developed to majiufacture starch and sugar, and if we then merely take out the growing tip we develop exactly the conditions that will tend towards fruit. We have taken away that part of the plant which Avas forming new leaves and new wood and which was therefore using a large amount of plant food (far more than it was itself producing), and we have left the manufacturing end of the tree practically the same as it was before. There is nothing left for the tree to do but to develop fruit buds. Different Pruning for Old and Young Trees. — It is perhaps worth Avhile to give one more general principle and that is that the habit of growth is quite different in a young tree from that in an old tree, aiid consequently the young tree requires a different kind of pruning. This difference is shown in various ways. In the first place the young tree grows more rankly, producing longer shoots and larger leaves. In the second place young trees of most varieties tend to make a much more upright growth while young than when they get older. This is especially true of certain varieties of plums, apples, and pears, but it applies more or less to nearly all kinds of tree fruits except a certain few, like the Burbank and fSatsuma plums, which are persistent sprawlers from the start (Fig. 57). Now if one of these close-growing young trees is thinned out during the first few years to what may seem the proper degree of density then, when it comes into bearing, and the branches spread, as they naturally will, with the load of fruit the top is entirely too open. The pruner ought, therefore, to understand 130 PRUNING his variety and if it is an upright grower, as the Bartlett pear, it should be allowed to remain somewhat too thick while young, knowing that when it comes into bearing it will correct this difficulty of itself. Pruning Tools. — Let us turn now to some of the practical details of pruning the orchard. The first thing to do is to pro- vide a suitable outfit of pruning tools. This, of course, is going to vary with the type of pruning that one is doing, but for FiQ. 57. — A Burbank plum tree; one of those sprawling growing varieties which need to have the side leaders cut back every year. general pruning, for doing all the different kinds that one is likely to be called upon to do, there should be at least several different saws, a good pair of hand shears, and a knife. Possibly we might add the pole pruner, though it is rare that it is needed and then it is unsatisfactory, as it can not be made to take off a branch properly. The one place where a pole pruner is really useful is in heading back side branches that are out of reach from the ground. The knife will be used the least of any part of the equipment, barring the pole pruner, but still the '""''SP''6i^ PRDNING SAWS 131 workman does occasionally find a place where nothing is quite so satisfactory as a good knife — in removing side shoots from the trunk of a young tree, for example. Pruning Saws. — It is a singular thing, but the writer has seldom found a pruning saw upon the market that exactly suited him for serious orchard work. The fact that nine-tenths of the pruning saws on the market are of the two-edged type lends strength to the argument that there are at least very few good pruning saws to be had (Fig. 59). This two-edged pruning saw is a relic of barbarism which probably comes down from the days of the two-edged sword when men were not particular how much they mutilated the remains of their victims. Certainly no man who has ever done any pruning, and who has any regard for the tree he is at work upon, would ever use such a saw the second Fia. 59. — The two-edged saw. An abomination that ought to be banished from the orchard. time if it could be avoided. After a good deal of thought and some experimenting, and after many consultations with practical orchard men, the writer has developed the series of saws shown in the accompanying pictures (Figs. 60, 61 and 62), which, if they are not entirely satisfactory, are at least a great improve- ment over most saws that could be bought in the open market. They were all made up on special orders, by one of our large saw manufacturers. The largest saw is designed for renovation work primarily, and any one who has ' ' fiddled along ' ' with one of the ordinary small pruning saws, or who has in desperation resorted to a big, clumsy carpenter's saw, will be delighted with the way this saw works. It was modelled after an old carpenter's saw that had been filed so often it had been reduced nearly to a point, 132 PRUNING and the narrowness at the point of this saw shown will be appreciated by the orchard renovator who gets into a narrow place. The specifications of tJie saw will be found beneath the Fia. 61. ^ ^ Fia. 60. — A good saw for small trees. It is 14 inches long, three inches wide at the butt, with seven teeth per inch. Fig. 61. — An excellent saw for heavy pruning. It is 26 inches long, 6 inches wide at the butt, 1 inch wide at the tip and has five teeth per inch. FiQ. 62. — A good saw for ordinary pruning. It is 24 inches long, 4 inches wide at the butt, 1 inch wide at the tip, with five and one-half teeth per inch. Fig. 62a. — 'Tapered or swivel pruning saw. A very satisfactory saw. Works easily and is large enough for almost any limb that one would want to remove in a well-kept bearing orchard. picture. In developing this saAV the large type of tooth was first tried; this is known technically as the lumberman's tooth, and is shown in the cut of the two-edged saw. This tooth was tried because it seemed reasonable that a large tooth, on a saw of this type, would cut faster than a small one, but in actual orchard PRUNING SHEARS 133 work it was found that it required more effort to cut off a branch with the coarse-toothed saw than with the finer type. The saw did not have weight enough to carry heavy teeth. The second and third saws are intended for use on trees which have been well cared for and regularly pruned and which do not need to have any large branches taken out. The writer is still experimenting on both of these sizes and may develop some slight changes, but they are satisfactorj- just as they stand. The small saw, in Figure 60, is intended primarily for work in young trees, but it will do excellent work on anv ur(liuar\- fruit tree. It means Fig. 63. — An excellent type of pruning shears. A large part of the pruning on many trees may be done with a shear of this type. more work to get off a large limb with this saw than with those shown in Figures 61 and 62. Another type of pruning saw which Avill be found very satis- factory when one becomes accustomed to using it, is the saw shown in Fig. 62a. This is a more recent development and the great advantage of it is the ease with which it cuts. It is surpris- ing, too, to anj'one who has not tried this saw, what large branches can be removed with it. It is quite equal to most of the pruning in any well-kept orchard. Pruning Shears. — Next, to a saw, a good pair of hand shears will be found useful. In fact where the orchardist is pruning young trees, say up to six or seven years, and where he has a large pair of shears, of the type shown in Figure 63, it is surprising how seldom it is necessary to resort to the saw. The shears shown art imported, being made in France. They are known teclmically as the " French wheel-spring shears." It seems unfortunate to 134 PRUNING be obliged to recommend an imported article ; perhaps the writer has been unfortunate in the American shears he has used, but he has tried many makes and none of them have stood up under hard usage like this French make. In buying such shears get good- sized ones for heavy work. A ten-inch size of this pattern is none too large when one is going to do a lot of heavy pruning. For example : A foreman of a pruning gang used one of these ten- Fni. 64. — A good type of pruning knife. Long lioulied blade and large enough for lieavy work. Fig. 65. — A good oonibination knife; l)runuig, budding and ordinary blades. inch shears for pruning three thousand peach trees four and five years old, and an equal number of apple trees from one to five years; after all this pruning the shears were in good working order. A good knife completes the outfit for most work. A heavy knife, with a wide blade and a hook on the end of the blade, is best. The one shown in Figure 64 suits the work admirably, though a man will use a pair of shears a thousand times for every time he uses a knife. The second knife shown in Figure 65 is a good one, with a budding blade and an ordinary blade, in addi- tion to the pruner. Where a man wants to do various things with the knife it is probably worth having. Usually, the workman pre- fers to have his blade in different handles, and carry only the type of knife for which he has immediate use. YOUNG TREES 135 Actual Pruning. — Now let us sally forth 'with our newly- acquired pruning tools and do some actual pruning. Every different tree will prove to be a different problem. This is one thing that makes pruning interesting. Two of these problems will suffice for illustration. Young Trees. — The first is the j'oung tree. Like training children this is the most important and difficult stage. At the time of setting, the tree is given a severe pruning as outlined in chapter four. For several years thereafter something like the following program is followed : Fii'st. — The head of the tree is examined to see that the main branches are satisfactoiy in number and in position. With the vase form tree there ought to be from three to five of these main scaffold branches and they should be well distributed about the tree, not coming out at the same height and not too many of them on any one side. This is a more serious problem than some miglit think, particularly Avith certain varieties such as the Wealthy apple, -which do not tend to form good heads naturally. It will require ten times the effort on this one point to shape up satis- factorily a block of Wealthy trees that it will to develop a similar block of Mcintosh trees. It is well worth while to look after this matter of main branches during the growing season, and it ought to be settled as early in the life of the tree as possible. Yet with all one's care it often happens that branches will not develop in the right place at the start, and the pruner must keep at the tree until he gets a reasonablj^ satisfactory top. Frequently he has to fore- go a scaffold branch at one point and tram out secondary branches from adjoining main branches to supply the deficiency. With leader and modified leader trees the problem is different but it is still one of the arrangement of the main branches so that they may be well developed and spaced about the central shaft. Second. — Examine the leaders, particularly in the top of the tree, and shorten them in, if they need it, as they may if they are running high. In most cases the side leaders may be allowed to grow as much as they will, for at this stage one wants to develop a good big tree. It is only with such sprawling growers as the Burbank plum that one needs to head back the side leaders. 136 PRUNING Third. — Look for poor forks on ali the main branches. This is not quite so important as the forks at the main trunk, but it is well worth looking out for, especially with varieties which tend to develop these poor forks frequently, and it does not re- quire a great amount of time. Fourth. — Take out crossing branches, particularly those which tend to grow back into the centre of the tree where they do not belong. As a rule these crossing branches may be left till the second year without any damage, unless they are very vigorous, and one will find that it requires much less time to do the necessary pruning if only two-year wood is considered. This is really a point of a good deal of practical importance where one has many trees to prune. With a half dozen trees to look after the owner can afford to look at every twig. AVith a half dozen hundred it is a different matter. Fifth. — Thin out the rest of the top where this may be needed. Usually there is little left to do after the first four points have been looked after. The writer is very strongly of the opinion that young trees, from two to five or six years of age, should be pruned just as little as possible and still have them develop well formed heads and good main branches. Thinning for the sake of thinning ought to be reduced to a minimum. Sixth. — Never take out the small shoots so long as they re- main healthy. This rule has few exceptions. If the top is too thick take out small branches with their attached shoots but do not take the shoots alone. Bearing Trees. — The second illustrative pruning problem we want to discuss is the tree at bearing age. Of course this is going to vary greatly even with different varieties, and still more with different classes of fruits, and yet there are a good many things which are common to all trees. Here is the program : First. — ^Preserve the fruit spurs. Never strip a branch of small shoots, whether they are srmrs or not. This has already been discussed under the various fruits and also under the young tree and it need not be further elaborated here, but it is of crucial importance. Second.— Thm the top uniformly by taking out relatively TIME TO PRUNE 137 small branches. It is a very common mistake to prune out too large branches while removing the same total amount of wood from the tree. This means that in some parts of the top we have made large holes where there is no wood whatever, while in other parts the top is as thick as before. Branches the size of a man's finger are the ideal size. This kind of pruning requires more work, in some cases much more work, but it is worth the extra effort. And the tendency to overdo the pruning is less. Third. — Cut out dead or diseased or broken branches. This needs no discussion except to say that in some diseases, like black knot and canker, it is not always possible to remove all the affected branches. Sometimes the branch is of so much impor- tance that it must be cured if possible. Fourths. — Shorten back the leaders where they are going too high or are spreading too far. In doing this do not leave a straight stub but take them back to a side shoot. The importance of keeping the trees down where they can be sprayed and picked and pruned easily can hardly be overestimated. Fifth. — Take out the water-sprouts altogether where they are not needed and shorten them back severely where they are needed. In this type of tree, the well-cared-for, bearing tree, there are usually few water-sprouts and no need of preserving them. But if they are needed it is merely to reclothe a branch with bearing wood and they should therefore be cut back each year to one or two buds. This ought to gradually cause the for- mation of fruit spurs. If not they should be taken out altogether. Sixth. — Cut out crossing branches or such as tend to grow back into the tree. There are not likely to be many of these where the pruning is attended to yearly, yet there are always a few. Seventh. — Thin the balance of the top where it is needed. As with the young tree, there is usually not much left to thin after all the other points are looked after. Time to Prune. — It remains to discuss briefly a few general questions which are sure to come up where the subject of pruning is being discussed. The first of these is the season of the year at which pruning should be done. It does not make much differ- ence. Summer and winter pruning have already been discussed, ^nd barring the difference brought out in that discussion; there is 138 PRUNING little choice as to seasons so far as the effect on the tree is con- cerned. There is this objection to autumn pruning that the wounds made then have to stand a long time before they can begin to heal, which means, of course, that they dry out and die back further than they would if made at any other time of year. And yet other considerations may entirely offset this objection. For example, renovation pruning is frequently done in the autumn, because the owner wants to begin the fight on the San Jose scale, Fig. go. — A long stub left in pruning. Such a stub is sure to decay before it can heal over. Fig. 67. — An old stub beginning to decay. It is impossible for such stubs to heal over and every one is a menace to the tree. and this can not be done to the best advantage until the dead and half -dead branches have all been removed. It ought also to be said here that there is no harm to the tree from pruning when the wood is frozen. It may harm the primer but not the pruned. There is also probably little harm to the tree from bleeding, though it is best to avoid it if possible. It produces more favorable conditions for disease germs and possibly weakens the tree slightly. HOW TO PRUNE 139 There are two very strong reasons why pruning is usually done during the dormant season, the first being that there is usually more time at that season of the year, and the second that a workman can judge better what branches ought to be re- moved, because there are no leaves to interfere. It will be seen, therefore, that the time for pruning is chosen largely from the standpoint of convenience. Do it when it will best fit in with the other farm work. How to Prune. — The best way to make the cuts in pruning is of far more . importance than the time of making them. To Fn 68. Fig. 09. FiQ. 70. m ^W ■ ^H^^I^H * Iw '"*^- *'■ « P :3 V ^^^m ^■' 'M t M ^K| m.^.^.l 31 HHI FlQ. 68.— A well-made wound. pit 1 a wound will heal over if jrve the heart, wood. ne dressing ia used to such a wound will heal Fio. 69. — A well-made wound beginning to heal. With proper over completely in a few years. Fig. 70. — A well-made wound that has entirely healed over. begin with, every branch that is removed, whether it be small or large, ought to be cut just as close to the limb from which it is taken as possible (Fig. 68). There is no exception to this rule. A large collection of these wounds was made in getting up an exhibition on pruning, for a " better farming " train. With- out any exception the wounds where long stubs had been left were not healing well. Those that were old enough had already begun to decay (Fig. 67). Those which had been cut close were healing nicely. Some of these wounds are shown in Figures 68 and 69. Cutting back close like this is going to enlarge the 140 PRUNING wound considerably, but do not worry about that. Cut close, and the tree will do the rest. It is also desirable to leave the wound as smooth as possible, to which end one should not use an axe but should use a sharp saw. It rarely pays, however, in commercial work to smooth a wound up with a knife. Leave that for the amateur. Occa- sionally, w^hen the best healing is very important and when, in some way, a rough cut has been made, it may be worth while to take a knife and smooth up the edges along the cambium layer. Dressings for Wounds. — All sorts of things are used for this purpose, from mixtures of clay and cow-dung to grafting wax or shellac. The ideal dressing ought to be durable, waterproof, harmless to the tree, reasonably cheap and easily applied. If it can be antiseptic so much the better. In the writer's opinion there are just two classes of dressings that are worth using. These are paints of various kinds and the tar and creosote mixtures. For nearly aU wounds, paint is the best material by far and comes very near to possessing all of the desirable points just enumerated. It is best to mix your owu paint rather thick, using white lead and raw linseed oil. Also add a little raw sienna, enough to make the paint about the color of the bark. This does not make it any better dressing, but the wounds you are making will worry the neighbors less. This is particularly important on renovation work where many and relatively large wounds will have to be made. Tar or creosote are preferred on large wounds simply because these substances are better pre- servatives than paint, and the heartwood of the large wound will have to stand many years before it is completely healed over. One reason why tar preserves better than paint is because it strikes in more deeply. It therefore damages the cambium layer more, and for this reason, on large wounds which it is very de- sirable to have heal well, the pruner will sometimes tar the center of the wound and use oil and lead paint around the out- side over the cambium layer. This takes considerable time but is worth it in important cases. Pruners are sometimes advised to take a paint pot into the tree when pruning and paint the QUESTIONS 141 wounds at once. There are two objections to this: First, the pruning tools are all that he wants to be bothered with at one time; and, second, the wounds will take the paint much better if they are allowed to dry out a little. It is usually much better to delay the painting for two or three weeks. QUESTIONS 1. Explain -svliy tlic primer should imdorstand how trees bear their fruit 2. Describe the method of fruit-bearing of pear and apple trees. 3. What should be the object of the orchardist in pruning these trees? 4. Describe the method of fruit-bearing in the peach. 5. Give the differences in pruning between the peach and the apple. 6. Compare the plum or the cherry with the apple in method of bearing fruit. 7. How would tlic pruning differ? 8. How does the quince differ from the others in its fruit-bearing? 9. E.xplain the general relation between heavy pruning and vigorous gro^vth. 10. Why is rank growth opposed to fruit-bearing? 11. W'hat are the influences of summer pruning as compared with winter pruning? 12. \Miy should the pruning of young trees differ from that of old ones? 13. Give a list of pruning tools for orchard work. 14. What are some of the desirable points in a pruning saw? 15. Describe the best shears for orchard priming. 16. Give specific directions for the pruning of young trees for the first few years. 17. Discuss the problems involved in pruning trees of bearing age. 18. Give cautions and directions regarding the pruning operations. 19. How should wounds be dressed? Why is this done? 20. Have you seen old orchards that were not properly pruned? ^Vhat was the effect of such neglect ? CHAPTER XI ORCHARD INSECTS It is not expected that this chapter will include, by any means, all of the insects with which the orchard owner is likely to have dealings. To do that would require a volume in itself. An endeavor has been made to select merely those insects which experience and observation have shown were almost certain to be commercially important to the man who grows an orchard. And they have been treated in the briefest possible way and princi- pally from the standpoint of fighting them in the orchard, only enough of their life history being included to give a key to the most effective line of treatment. Following the custom of almost every one who writes on this subject, the writer wishes to lay down certain general principles, a knowledge of which ought to enable the orchardist to select, with a fair degree of certainty, the remedies that should be most successful. Of course the details will vary slightly with each case, but it should be possible for anyone to select the general line of attack. The first general rule is that if an insect actually devours the tissues of the plant, so that anyone can see very evidently where it has been at work and that some of the tissue has disappeared, then the cheapest and best remedy is some kind of poison applied to that part of the plant where the insect is feeding. In other words, it is cheaper to poison an insect by means of the food it eats than it is to kill it in any other way; but you are able to kill it in this way only when it chews off a piece of the leaf or fruit and swallows it. Take the tent-caterpillar as an example of this class of in- sects. Almost every one is familiar with its work. The tree attacked looks more and more ragged as its leaves are eaten until finally it may be entirely stripped of foliage. It ought to be evident to anyone that these insects are devouring the plant tissues and can be killed through their food. Some sort of poison 142 INSECTS OF THE APHIS TYPE I43 is used to kill them, such as Paris green or arsenate of lead, and not such a substance as lime, or sulfur or copper sulfate. If a man were attempting to poison a skunk or a weasel that was killing his chickens he would not expect to do it by putting out a bait covered with sulfur, but would use some form of strychnine or arsenic. Precisely the same rule holds with insects. They are merely smaller animals. They take the poison along with the plant tissue into the stomach and are killed. Now contrast with this the aphis, which is a conspicuous example of an altogether different type of insects. Most orchard owners are entirely too familiar with the way this insect works. If the owner is on the watch for it he sees first a few little green or black lice on the under side of the leaf, or even on the opening bud, waiting for the leaf to appear. These increase rapidly in number and the leaf begins to curl up because the under sur- face, where the insects are sucking the sap of the leaf, is thereby retarded in its growth, while the upper surface, being less affected, continues to grow normally or nearly so. But the leaf, while it is distorted, does not disappear. It is all there except the juice and no amount of poison applied to it will have any effect on the apliis. It would be exactly as reasonable to expect to kill a mosquito, by putting Paris green on one 's hand, as to destroy the aphis with such a poison. The beak of either insect would be pushed through the layer of poison and into the tissues on which it wished to feed and it would draw in the blood of the man or the sap of the plant without any poison whatever. Insects of the aphis type have to be attacked in an entirely different manner. And it is a much more expensive method. They must be treated with some substance which will either stop up the pores along the sides of the abdomen through which the insect breathes or else (either by entering those pores or by work- ing on the surface of the insect) will corrode the tissues and destroy the insect. Soapy substances work in the former manner, while the oils and similar substances actually attack the tissues. These may seem like very simple statements and so they are. But they are fundamental and are inserted here because so often they are not understood. Indeed, at meetings of fruit growers 144 ORCHARD INSECTS one often hears some intelligent orchard man recommend the use of Bordeaux mixture for the tent-caterpillar, or condemn arsenate of lead because it did not kill the aphis. APPLE INSECTS The following list comprises those insects which the apple grower has to reckon with year in and year out. Of course they do not all come in any one season, but he has to be on the watch for them, and when they do come they make serious trouble. They are arranged roughly in the order of their im- portance, though seasons, localities and even varieties influence this point. The San Jose scale and the codling moth are rivals for first place on the list of the apple grower's insect troubles. Either one is bad enough but the scale is considered first because of its ability in actually killing the trees. In its damage to the fruit itself the codling moth is far in the lead, for a wormy apple is seriously damaged, while the apple with scale on it is not hurt much for cooking and even for eating raw, a few scales will not particularly affect the flavor. There are three things which make the scale an insect specially dreaded by the orchardist. Inconspicuous. — The first of these is its inconspicuous char- acter. Unless the owner is very familiar with it, the first notice he has of its presence on the tree may be the dying of some of the branches. An insect which is spectacular in its attack, such as the tent-caterpillar or the fall web-worm, has little chance of escaping notice. But the San Jose scale is so small, and looks so much like the bark of the tree, that even one who is entirely familiar with it may go by an affected tree day after day and never notice it. The writer confesses with chagrin that he has proved this point in his own garden. Breeds Rapidly. — The second difficulty in combating the scale is the fact that it breeds continuously and rapidly through- out the season. Beginning some time in the late spring or early summer, at a date varying with the locality, the young scales are SAN JOSE SCALE 145 produced up to late autumn. And they are produced with sur- prising rapidity. Investigations have shown that so rapidly are the young produced and so quickly do they reach maturity, that starting with a single female in the spring we might reasonably expect that by the close of the breeding season there would be a family of something like a billion, if there were no accidents. Fortunately there are many accidents, but, even so, the rate of increase is tremendous. This " continuous performance " in production means that while the grower may clean up the trees in the early spring and have relatively few live scales, yet if he leaves any at all, he may expect that by autumn the trees will be in bad shape again. Attacks Many Kinds of riants. — The third difficulty in keep- ing the scale down comes from the fact that it feeds on so many different trees and shrubs. The orchardist may get it out of his apple trees, but an adjoining currant patch or some Japanese quinces or thorn trees or dog-woods on a neighbor's lawn, or even willow trees along the brook, may furnish a new source of supply. It is therefore a constant fight in a scale neighborhood. Hard to Recognize. — The first point in this fight is to learn to recognize the pest. The easiest way to do this with apple trees is to watch the young apples as they develop. The young scales seem to be particularly partial to the fruit and are espe- cially conspicuous on it, so that if there are any great number of scales on the trees one is sure to find them sooner or later on the apples. They usually collect at the blossom or calyx end of the fruit, and frequently, though not always, produce a bright red spot, the scales themselves varying in color from nearly white on through gray to practically black. One will therefore find a white, gray or black central speck surrounded by a bright red ring. The scale itself is easily scraped off, leaving the red ring with a light center. On the twigs and branches the appear- ance is frequently described as resembling ashes thrown upon the tree, and this is as good a description as can be given. The bark will be roughened, and on scraping it with the thumb nail or the back of a jack-knife a wet, yellowish streak is produced by the crushing of the insects. Also if the observer cuts into 10 146 ORCHARD INSECTS the twig, the inner bark, which is normally green, will be found to be stained red. Remedies. — In fighting this insect the two standard remedies, at the present time, are the lime-sulfur washes and the miscible, or so-called "soluble," oils, which are fully described in Chapter XIV. Many other things are used, and doubtless new remedies will be constantly put upon the market, but these two have stood the test of time and seem likely to stand it for some time to come. It is usually not possible to keep the scale entirely under control particularly in sections where there are some neglected orchards, without giving two sprayings per year. Not being able to decide which of the above remedies is the better, the writer has developed the plan of using oil in the autumn, as soon as the leaves are off the trees, and lime-sulfur in the spring just before the buds break, when he has a bad attack of the scale to combat. The bulk of the insects are thus killed by the autumn treatment while many of them are young and less resistant, and one gets the advantage of the "creeping" of the oil. Also the operation is less disagreeable, which is worth considering. And lastly, the tree does not have to exhaust itself by supporting all these insects over winter. Then by using the lime-sulfur in the spring, the orchardist not only kills what scales were left but also gets the advantage of the fungicidal effect of the wash. When the orchard is less seriously attacked it may be better to u>se lime-sulfur in tlie autumn or it may even be omitted and the spring application relied upon to keep this part under control. Thorough Spraying. — The one fundamental thing in the ap- plication of insecticides for scale is thoroughness. Keep everlast- ingly after the men who are doing the work and insist on their reaching every part of the trees. This is more important with scale than with any other insect, though it is always of im- portance. Take the codling moth for example. Suppose the orchardist sprays only half of the apples — he has protected those, at least in a section like New England where there is but one brood. But if he is going to hit only half of the apples in fighting scale, he might better save his time and money, and go to a ball game, for both will be absolutely thrown away on this spraying. CODLING MOTH 147 The scales will continue to breed on the unsprayed areas and will soon reinfest the whole tree. Perhaps a little experience may be worth relating here, as it serves to show just where a grower is likely to get into trouble. It was in spraying for scale on some old apple trees at the Massachusetts Agricultural College. These trees had been used for years for testing new, and for the most part worthless, sprays for scale. Many of the trees had become completely covered with scale and were dying rapidly, and though they were not very valuable in themselves, they were a constant menace to other trees that were valuable. It did not look well for the college to have such a disreputable orchard around, even for experimental purposes. So it was decided to clean it up. It was sprayed as here outlined, oil in the autumn and lime-sulfur in the spring, and the work was done with a reasonable degree of thoroughness. The next season tlie trees were examined from time to time through the summer, and at first everything looked well, and we said, "What a fine thing it was to get those old trees cleaned up." But gradually we began to see a few scales, and then more and more, till finally we were back about where we started. Too many of the tips of the branches had been missed in spraying. The next year the same program was followed, only these tips were looked after, and out of thirty trees that were literally alive with scale only two or three were found that had any scale at all, and these had very few indeed. Some Varieties Injured more than Others. — A point worth mentioning in this connection is the varying degree to which dif- ferent varieties are injured by the scale. Any neglected orchard that is suffering from scale will show this. Rhode Island Green- ing trees will be found half-dead, while Kings and Baldwins, under the same conditions, are in fairly good condition. Codling Moth. — This is the insect that is responsible for the wormy apple, and no one can visit our markets without having it borne in upon him what a fearful responsibility it is. Simple as the treatment for this insect is, and long as the life history has been well understood, the pest is still allowed to do a tremendous amount of damage. 148 ORCHARD INSECTS The moth itself is small and inconspicuous and is seldom seen by the orchard man. It deposits its eggs sometimes on the fruit but more often on adjoining leaves or even on the bark of twigs and branches, where they hatch in a short time and the little "worms," or larvae, soon attack the young apples, in most cases entering at the blossom end. Once inside the apple, they feed for about a month, principally on the inside (but occasion- ally working on the surface). "When it has reached full size the larva emerges and forms its cocoon usually in a crevice in the bark. From this point the life history varies with different parts of the country. In most of New England there is only a partial second brood, that is most of them pass the winter in the cocoon stage. A few pass through this stage and emerge as moths which deposit their eggs, producing the second brood of "worms." The future histoiy is practically the same as before, except that the later broods of the season do more feeding on the surface of the apples, especially where two apples hang together or wiiere a leaf rests upon an apple. In States farther south there are two or more complete broods in a season. The all-important remedy in fighting the codling moth is spraying with poison, and usually it is the only remedy at- tempted. In sections where the codling moth is very trouble- same the following additional methods are practised: First, the rough bark is scraped from the trees to reduce the number of hiding places for the larva? when they emerge. Second, bands of burlap are put about the trees as traps under which the larvre will spin their cocoons. These bands are removed from time to time and the insects which are found under them are killed. Third, the windows of storage houses are kept screened so as to prevent the escape of the moths which may have passed the winter as larvae in barrels or elsewhere. But, as before suggested, the all-important method of con- trol is spraying with a poison. Authorities differ as to just the type of spray that is best. Many western experimenters insist on a coarse, forcible spray which shall force the poison into the APHIS 149 calyx Clip. Others believe in a fine, mist-like spray which shall reach all parts of the tree. This is the type of spray which is most ill favor. All agree that the spra^diig should be very thorough and that it is best to make the first spraying within a week or ten days after the petals fall from the blossoms, using 3 pounds arsenate of lead paste or one and one-half pounds of the powdered form to 50 gallons of water. A second spraying is usually made three or four weeks later. In sections where several broods are produced it is necessary even to spray three or four times for this insect. Avoid Spraying When Trees Are in Bloom. — Another im- portant point is the desirability of avoiding spraying while the trees are in bloom. Authorities ditl'er as to just how serious a matter it is, but there seems to be considerable evidence to shcnv that the bees may be killed by such a spray. It is also probable that the pistils may be injured if the spraying is done just when they are in the most tender condition, which is when the trees are in " full bloom," In any event there seems to be nothing gained by spraying when trees are in bloom, over spray- ing just after the petals fall. It is certainly worth while to avoid any chance of injuring either the bees or the blossoms. Aphis. — This is the most discouraging group to fight, of all the "bugs," So far as winning the fight is concerned the writer had far sooner tackle the San Jose scale. AVith the latter there is a well-defined course of treatment, and if one follows this carefully there is no question about success. With the aphis one never knows quite what to do, and when the best possible has been done, the result usually leaves much to be desired. The life history of the aphis is as follows : It passes the winter in the e^^ state and these eggs will be found as little, shiny black objects looking much like weed seeds, clustered about the buds on last year's gro\\i;h. They hatch very early in the spring, usually before the buds open, into little, dark green, almost black, lice which will be found on the expanding buds, and, later, on the under side of the leaves. The leaves soon curl up and protect the insects almost perfectly. The later genera- tions of the young are produced alive, and as it requires but 150 ORCHARD INSECTS a few days to reach maturity and as each adult female will produce several young in a day, they increase with great rapidity. This makes their control a serious matter. Control. — Now, what shall be done to check this insect? As already suggested, in the general discussion, this is a sucking insect and must be killed by a contact poison; that is every insect must he hit to le killed. "When we remember how well they are protected and how rapidly they increase, the difficulty of controlling them may be realized. It is realized still more fully after we have tried to fight them. Nothing but the most thorough treatment will be effective, for if only a few individuals are left after a spraying they will increase so rapidly that in a very few days things are as bad as ever. The best time to fight the aphis is in the early stages, as soon as possible after it hatches. If some treatment could be devised to destroy the eggs in winter, that would be the ideal method. It has often been suggested that the winter spraying with oil or lime-sulfur might be effective, but there is much doubt in regard to this. Orchards which had been sprayed every year for four years with oil and lime-sulfur were as badly infected with aphis as the most neglected orchard in the neighborhood. The best treatment seems to be to delay the spring applica- tion of lime-sulfur (using it at the rate of one gallon to about eight or nine of water) until just as the buds are breaking and after the aphids have hatched. If the right time can be selected after all the aphids are hatched and before the leaves are out enough to be damaged or to allow the aphids to crawl in among them and thus be protected, and if the work is done thoroughly enough to destroy this first generation, then there will be no future generations. Later treatment, when needed, must con- sist in using some one of the contact sprays, either as a separate spray or combined with the arsenical sprays which are given for codling moth. On the Pacific coast, where these insects are troublesome and where there is a form which does not curl the leaves, it is the usual custom to combine a tobacco preparation with the poison and the fungicide of the regular sprayings and thus kill both types of insects and the fungous diseases. BUD MOTH 151 But when all is said and done, the aphis is still a very difficult insect to control and it is fortunate that bad outbreaks of it do not occur more frequently. Curculio. — Both the plum and the apple curculios work on the apple, but the former is a far more serious pest. They are both "snout" beetles, but the plum curculio is of a dark, brownish-gray color and has a short snout, while the apple curculio is reddish-brown and has a long, slender snout. For present purposes, however, they may be considered together. Life History. — They hibernate as adult insects in the grass or trash about the orchard and emerge in the spring about the time that the trees bloom. They feed for a time on the buds, leaves and even blossoms, but soon attack the fruit, and the fe- males begin laying eggs in small punctures in the skin of the young apples, the plum curculio cutting, in addition, a crescent- shaped incision above the incision where the egg is deposited. On apples most of the eggs do not develop and the damage results from the scars, which cause the fruit to become misshapen and unsalable. With plums and peaches the larviB usually do develop and produce the white "worms'' of the fruit, all too common in many orchards. The most effective treatment for the curculio is spraying with arsenate of lead, using 3 pounds of the paste or one and one-half pounds of the powder to 50 gallons of water before the blossoms open, and a second application of the same materials within a week after the petals fall from the blossoms. This latter is the same spray which is most important for the codling moth, so that one kind of treatment will control these two serious pests. Bud Moth. — This is a verj^ interesting insect from the standpoint of its life history, which is quite unusual. The egg hatches in the summer and the little "worm" is dark brown with a shiny ])lack head. It grows to perhaps an eighth of an inch in length and then prepares a little nest for the winter. This little nest or burrow is usually located in some crevice of the bark near a bud, and considerable experience is necessary to find it, as it is veiy difficult to detect. About the only indica- tion of its whereabouts is a bit of leaf, or a small scale of bark, 152 ORCHARD INSECTS attached to the branch. On poking about with a pin, however, the searcher will find a little web and soon is rewarded by find- ing the little silk-lined tunnel and in it the little ' ' worm. ' ' As soon as the weather begins to warm up in the spring, and the buds begin to break, this little fellow crawls out of his winter quarters and establishes himself in the centre of the expanding cluster of leaves and blossoms from some terminal bud. Here he develops, feeding on the leaves and blossoms and drawing them together in a rather compact bunch by fastening the ends together with silk threads. Spraying.- — Once the larva gets inside this cluster it is perfectly safe. No amount of spraying can touch it, as it feeds on the inside. The only time when it is feasible to attack this enemy is when it goes from its winter quarters to the opening buds and leaves. The larva eats its way into this cluster of leaves, and if the trees can be sprayed just before it crawls from Avinter quarters it can be poisoned. But the poison must be strong. Five to ten pounds of arsenate of lead paste or half that amount of the powder to fifty gallons of water will be none too strong. And the spraying must be thorough; every bud- cluster must be reached. The amount of damage which this insect does in some seasons is very great, but the insect is so inconspicuous that its presence is usually not even suspected. Practically the entire crop of certain varieties is sometimes destroyed by the bud moth and the loss attributed by the growers to unfavorable weather ai blossoming time. Canker Worm. — There are two types of canker worm, differ- ing principally in the fact that in one case the eggs are laid in the autumn and in the other case in the spring. In both types the insect pupates in the soil and the wingless adult females crawl up the trunk of the tree and deposit their eggs in clusters or sheets upon the branches. Here they hatch about the time the leaves are well expanded into small "measuring- worms" and begin feeding. Their presence can usually be detected by shaking the branches of the trees, when each little "worm" will drop from TENT-CATERPILLAR 153 the leaves and hang by a thread. Another good method is to go under the trees and look up through the tops, when the small holes eaten out where the little larv£e have been feeding will be readily seen. Ordinarily canker worms are not troublesome, frequently they will not be seen for years, but when they do come in force, look out for trouble. It will require sharp, efficient work to keep them in check. Methods of Conibating. — There are two principal ways in which these insects may be combated. The best way, by all odds, because it fits in with the fight against other insects, is to spray with arsenate of lead or some such poison. Usually the spraying for codling moth will attend to the canker worms as well. And yet instances are seen where the most energetic and up-to-date orchard men have been literally swamped by a bad outbreak of this pest. Where, for any reason, one expects such an especially severe attack from them, it is well to band the trees with some sticky substance to catch the wingless female insects as they crawl up the trunk. If no crack is left underneath the band through which the female can make her way, and if the bands are kept sticky for a long enough time, the method is decidedly effective. For the fall canker worm October and November, and for the spring species IMarch and April, are likely to be the months during which the females move up the trunk. In this connection it is worth calling attention to the fact that the stirring of the soil in cultivated orchards makes it difficult for canker worms to pupate with any degree of com- fort and security. Tent-caterpillar. — Tliis is a leaf-eating caterpillar of the "first magnitude." A few nests of them in an apple tree will strip it of leaves about as completely as the cold of winter can. The eggs are laid in the summer in curious bands which may be discovered about the twigs during the winter when the leaves are off. These eggs hatch with the first warm days of spring and the little bits of black, hairy caterpillars may be found clustered about the expanding buds in the vicinity, waiting for the leaves 154 ORCHARD INSECTS to come out to give them a "square meal." Getting such an early start as they do and being provided with an insatiable appetite, they come very near to keeping up with the leaves when there is a bad attack of them. This makes it necessary to use drastic measures with them when they once get a start in an orchard. Few insects can make an apple tree look more desolate. Remedy. — Where trees are attacked badly by this insect it will usually be necessary to give a special spraying with arsenate of lead before the blossoms open, else they may get so large that it will be difficult to kill them with any ordinary dose. If they have been allowed to get a start in the orchard it is simply a question of using poison strong enough and they can be killed. Four to six pounds of arsenate of lead paste to fifty gallons of water will be found none too strong. It is also worth noting that where orchards are sprayed while dormant with lime-sulfur at the usual strength there is generallv no trouble from the tent-catei-pillar as the eggs are usually all destroyed. The Railroad Worm or Apple Maggot. — There is not much satisfaction in discussing this insect because, up to date, there has been so little discovered that can be done for it. Life nistory and Habits. — The adult insect is a little fly which deposits its eggs just under the skin of the apple. This egg-laying is likely to occur at any time during the summer and on hatching the little maggot burrows through the flesh of the apple. If there are several maggots in one apple the fruit may be completely riddled. An affected apple has a peculiar pitted appearance on the outside, the sunken areas being of a different color from the balance of the surface. On cutting open the apple the flesh will be found to be a net-work of little tunnels. The first tunnels made by the little worm after hatching, usually close up and appear merely as little hard threads running through the flesh. The later tunnels remain open. An apple attacked by this insect is practically worthless as human food, but may be fed to stock. It is a curious fact that the apple maggot seems to have very decided preferences for certain varieties. In a general way those varieties which are soft in flesh and mild in flavor seem BORERS 155 to be especially acceptable to it. Such varieties as Ilubbard- ston, Porter and Tolman Sweet may be badly attacked, while adjoining trees of other varieties are little injured. Destroy the Wind-falls. — About the only generally accepted thing to do for this pest is to destroy the wind-fall apples. It one has any number of trees and attempts to do this by hand it is a good-sized contract. But if it can be arranged to run hogs or sheep in the orchard they will effectually clean up the wind- falls. The one objection to these animals in the orchard is that they do not always wait for the apple to drop before they eat it, and they are likely to clean up not only apples but leaves on low-hanging branches. In many old orchards, however, where there are no branches near the ground this objection does not apply. Hogs are especially adapted to this purpose. They not only dispose of the drop apples, but by their rooting they furnish a good substitute for cultivation and their droppings will enrich the soil. They are particularly good in old orchards on lands too steep and rocky to be cultivated. Occasionally they make some trouble by barking the trunks and branches, but this does not often happen if they are kept well watered and fed. Effect of Spraying. — The one other hopeful suggestion in connection with this insect is that it seems to do relatively little damage in orchards which are well sprayed. Some of the most recent experiments seem to show that it is possible to do some special spraying for it, using some poison combined with molasses to make a sweet poison which, when sprayed upon the leaves, attracts and kills the adult tiies in the same way that poison Hy-paper kills our house tiies. Results have been conflicting, but in some cases this treatment has reduced the damage. Cultivation. — It is also worthy of note that early spring plowing, follow^ed by thorough cultivation, seems to reduce con- siderably the damage from this pest. Borers. — The apple grower is likely to be troubled by two species of borers, the fiat-headed and the round-headed apple- tree borers. They differ principally in the fact that the latter requires much more time to reach maturity than the former, but either one will stay in the tree long enough to make it look sick. All parts of the trunk and main branches are 156 ORCHARD INSECTS liable to attack, but especially the lower part of tlie trunk. The larvEe burrow in the wood, principally in the sap wood, and in bad cases they may completely girdle the tree. Clean Culture. — Trees standing in sod, or with weeds about the trunks, are especially liable to attack, much more so than in well cultivated orchards. Take the case of a single young orchard which was examined on account of some of the trees being badly attacked by borers. The land was under cultivation, but several patches were very weedy. Other parts were entirely free from weeds; and without exception the trees attacked by borers were those standing in weeds. This suggests one of the best methods of fighting this pest in sections where it has been found trouble- some — thorough cultivation. Careful Examination. — The presence of the borers may be detected usually by the castings or dust which is thrown out by the larva as it bores through the wood. In badly affected trees it is also shown by the sickly appearance of the tree, but no one should ever wait for this sign. In sections where this pest is likely to be troublesome the trees should be examined carefully at least once a year, the best time being early autumn. Dig Out Borers. — ^When a tree is found to be affected the only thing to do is to cut out the borer. A good sharp knife and a stout wire are the usual equipment. Cut into the burrow and follow it up until the borer is found. Sometimes the wire is used to push into the hole and kill the borer without getting it out of the burrow. This is all right provided one is certain that the borer is killed, and of course it saves some cutting of the tree. Prevention. — It seems unfortunate that some really satisfac- tory method of prevention has not been devised. Various schemes have been suggested and some of them are certainly worth trying. A piece of wire screen, if put on carefully so that the female insect can neither crawl down behind it, nor deposit the egg through it where the screen rests against the bark, will prevent any attack on the trunk, where most of the trouble occurs. Another plan worth trying, in sections where these insects are known to be plentiful, is to wash the trunks PEAR PSYLLA 157 with soft soap or whale-oil soap, made the consistency of thick paint. To this is added some crude carbolic acid, an ounce to each gallon of the wash. Another borer which is worth mentioning here is the shot- hole or pin borer, a small, cylindrical insect of the size of the lead in an ordinary pencil. It makes many small holes in the trunk and main branches, but, so far as known, never attacks a thoroughly healthy tree. If this insect is found, therefore, it is an indication that the trees have been damaged in some other way, and the cause of and remedy for this injury should be investigated INSECTS ATTACKING THE PEAR The pear is attacked by much the same list of insects as the apple. The San Jose scale is even more partial to it than to the apple, the codling moth attacks it, so does the curculio, and the canker worm is by no' means averse to a pear diet. Of course the treatment for all these insects is the same as when they attack the apple. Two other insects, however, which have not been mentioned may be given here. Pear Psylla. — This insect prefers the pear and it frequently becomes so serious as to practically ruin an orchard. Cases are known where men were actually driven to cut down their pear trees because of the difficulty of keeping the psylla in check. Life History. — The adult insect is very small indeed, perhaps a tenth of an inch in length, and is likely to escape notice en- tirely unless a systematic search is made for it. The adults are very active, jumping and flying readily, and from this are often called "jumping lice." They pass the winter in this stage, in cracks and crevices or under scales of bark on the trees. "With the first warm weather the eggs are deposited, principally upon the twigs. The young soon hatch and begin feeding, which they do by sucking the juice of the tree, attacking principally the leaf stems. The insect gives off a "honeydew" similar to that of the aphis, which coats the whole tree, trunk and all, with a shiny, and later a blackish, varnish. So abundant do they become by successive broods, that the trees are seriously 158 ORCHARD INSECTS weakened, making little growth and sometimes dropping both leaves and fruit. Control. — The psylla may be largely controlled by spraying with lime-sulfur and in bad cases there should be an application of this wash just as soon as the leaves are off the trees in the autumn. This ought to be followed by another application in the spring and both of these should be of such a strength as to do thorough work. If the specific gravity hydrometer test is made, 1.03 is the proper strength after diluting. About one gallon of commercial lime-sulfur to 9 or 10 gallons of water will usually produce this strength. "Where the dormant spray- ing has been neglected, or if the insects are plentiful in spite of winter spraying, some summer applications must be made. Any of the contact sprays are likely to be useful, but some of the tobacco extracts seem to be most efficient. If this summer spraying can be done just after a rain has washed off the honey- dew so much the better. Leaf Blister Mite. — Another pest which is frequently trouble- some on both pears and apples is the blister mite. This is not a true insect, but is related to tlie red spider of plants and to the mite which causes "scab" in sheep. It is entirely too small to be seen without the aid of a microscope, so that the orchardist is never likely to see it, but if he lives in an infested district he is likely to become altogether too familiar with its work. Habits and Injuries. — The winter is passed in the adult stage under the scales of the buds, where the mites collect in large numbers. As soon as the leaves begin to expand in the spring they are entered by the adults and the eggs are deposited in the leaf tissues. The eggs soon hatch and the old and young feed upon the cells of the leaf, causing the galls or blisters which are very characteristic. These are at first light-colored in the apple and reddish in the pear, but later turn brown when dead. This is the most notice- able and distinctive stage of the injury and is easily recognized by anyone who once becomes familiar with it. The small brown blisters are scattered somewhat regularly over the surface of THE PEAR SLUG 159 the leaf, giving it a peculiar and very characteristic appearance. In serious cases, however, the most of the leaf is affected and sometimes both leaves and fruit may drop as a result of the injury to the leaves. The fruit is itself also attacked, though much less commonly, and the injury is less severe and much less conspicuous. The principal injury comes through the interference with the functions of the leaf. The mites remain in the leaves until autumn, when they seek the buds and work in under the outer scales for the winter. The tnost convenient treatment is to spray with lime-sulfur in the early spring. This catches them in their winter quarters among the bud scales. Any of the forms of this wash which are used for the San Jose scale will be effective, and fortunately one application is usually all that is needed for both pests. In the event of a very serious attack Professor Parrott of New York, who has carefully investigated the blister mite, recom- mends two applications, one in the autumn and one in the spring, using kerosene emulsion diluted with five parts of water. The autumn application is likely to be most effective, since the mites have not yet secreted themselves in the bud scales. This double treatment, however, is rarely necessary-. The mite has seldom been serious in orchards which are care- fully sprayed for San Jose scale each year, while it is often seen both in neglected orchards and in those where the spraying is done carelessly. The Pear Slug. — The foliage of the pear, plum, quince and cherry is likely to be attacked by a shiny, olive-green little slug with a brownish head. Frequently the first intimation one has of any trouble is to notice that some trees in the orchard are turning brown as though from the effects of dry weather. A closer examination will show these little slugs scattered over the upper surface of the leaves. They eat out the tissue of the leaves till only the ribs and the epidermis of the lower surface remain. The leaves turn as brown as in winter and are later sometimes replaced by a new crop. The slugs spend the winter as larvas in the soil and emerge in late spring or early summer. 160 ORCHARD INSECTS The pest is easily controlled by spraying with arsenate of lead or any similar poison. Contact poisons may also be used and even fine dust or water is effective. INSECTS ATTACKING THE STONE FRUITS There are not nearly so many serious insect enemies of the stone fruits as of the pome fruits. Probably this is due in con- siderable part to the more pungent taste of the foliage of most of the stone fruits. However, there is no real dearth of insect enemies, even of the stone fruits. The peach, like the rest of its relatives, is attacked by very few insect enemies. The San Jose scale, the plum curculio and the aphis are all likely to attack it, especially the first named, but about the only " specialty " in the insect line is the borer. Peach Tree Borer. — ^]\Iost people who grow peach trees are familiar with this pest. Its presence in the tree is shown by a sticky gum which is thrown out in large quantities at or near the surface of the ground. Life Cycle. — The adult insect, which one rarely sees, is a very pretty moth, looking, however, much more like a wasp. It is variously marked with black, brown and several shades of yellow, and the two sexes are quite unlike. The eggs are laid throughout the summer on the bark and usually well down on the trunk. The larva, on hatching, burroAvs into the inner bark and sap wood, where it feeds, causing the copious production of gum just mentioned. Here it feeds for nearly a year, ceas- ing operations only during the winter, and emerges during the early part of the summer to begin the round of life again. Dig out the Borers. — The orchardist is likely to have little difficulty in identifying the work of this insect. The gum already mentioned is the first indication. On digging into this the brown- ish castings of the larva will be found, and a little searching with a knife will soon disclose the burrow and later the larva itself. Sometimes the larva will even be found outside the tree in the mixture of gum and castings. A small, sharp-pointed trowel will be found an excellent implement to work with. It THE CHERRY APHIS IGl can be used to dig a\\'ay the gum and some of the surface soil, and may even be used to follow up the burrows and locate the borer itself. Usuall}^ a fairly heavy wire is a useful addition to the equipment and a good knife ought also to be included. Experience seems to differ as to the best time to dig out the borers, but autumn is usually preferred for the work. In south- ern peach districts the "worming of the trees" takes place twice a year, say about April and October. This is the remedy on which the greatest reliance must be placed and is frequently the only one used. Mounding up the trees with earth early in the season, wrapping the trunks with building paper and using various washes are all recommended, but are, after all, only makeshifts. The plum curculio perhaps deserves some further mention in connection with its work on plums and peaches, though it has already been discussed under apples*. The larva is the white "worm" so often found about the pits of plums and peaches. The injured fruit usually drops prematurely, sometimes when very small and green, and at other times they merely ripen prematurely. Often this dropping is not a serious matter, as it serves merely to relieve the tree from an overburden of fruit. But when the tree has set a light crop, the loss from curculio may be a very serious matter. The spraying already discussed is generally all that it is worth while to attempt in the way of remedies. The jarring of the trees to make the insects fall upon a sheet and thus give an opportunity to destroy them, while it is usually an entirely effective method, is too slow and expensive to be warranted under most conditions. The Cherry Aphis. — The cherry has a special aphis of its own which attacks especially the tips of vigorous shoots and often does very spectacular work, especially on the big, sweet cherries. On young trees, which are making long, vigorous shoots, each shoot will be terminated by a cluster of curled leaves which later turn brown. The insect itself is dark brown or black and large compared with other aphids. But the general treatment is the same. 11 162 ORCHARD INSECTS QUESTIONS 1. Contrast insects with biting moutli-parts and those with sucking moutli-parts. 2. What three things make the San Jose scale especially dreaded by orchardists? 3. What kinds of plants are attacked by this insect? 4. Wliat are the principal remedies used to combat the scale? 5. Give reasons wliy the spraying for scale should be especially thorough. 6. Give some idea of the damage done by the codling moth or apple worm to the American apple crop. 7. WTiat methods should be used in combating tliis insect? 8. Outline the life history of the aphis. 9. Give methods of controlling the aphis. 10. Describe the damage to the apple from attacks of the curculio. 11. Outline the life history of this insect. 12. What remedies should be used? 13. Describe the life history of the bud moth. 14. How is it combated? 15. Tell what you can of the canker worm and its work, 16. How is it controlled? 17. Tell how to combat the tent-caterpillar. 18. Describe the life history of the railroad worm, or apple maggot. 19. What methods are recommended in fighting this insect? 20. Give directions for controlling borers. 21. Give a list of insects attacking the pear. 22. Wliich of these is most destructive in your section? Give meUiods of controlling it. 23. What are the serious insect enemies of the stone fruits? CHAPTER XII DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES As in the case of insects, the writer makes no claim in the present chapter to anything like a complete list of the fungous troubles which may beset the orchard owner. He merely hopes to give some suggestions, taken principally from personal ex- perience, which may help the student and the orchardist in recognizing the more connnon pests and in deciding what to do for them. Importance of Knowing Why. — To the student, the fungous diseases of fruit trees form an extremely interesting group of organisms, one that he likes to examine and to study. To the orchard owner they are a pestiferous collection of annoying troubles against which he must be constantly on his guard. But even with the practical orchard man it is very desirable that he should give them sufficient study to know what methods are best and why they are best. This latter point has received much study. It has always seemed to the writer that almost anyone ought to do better work if he knew ivhy he did it in a certain way rather than in some other way. If the man who sprays understands that when he leaves live San Jose scales on the tips of a lot of branches he is likely to have the entire tree reinfested because the scales breed all through the season and crawl down onto the part he sprayed ; if he understands this he is far more likely to do good work than if he is merely told to spray thoroughly. If in cutting out fire blight, he understands just why he cuts as he does and why he disinfects his shears, he is much more likely to do his work properly than if he is merely "shown." So it seems worth while to understand something of the life history of these fungous diseases that cause so much extra work to the orchardist and to know just how the fungicides affect them. Nature and Types of Fungus. — The fungus is merely a very low form of plant life. It does not manufacture its own food, 163 164 DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES as the apple tree does, out of air and water and various other ingredients, but it allows the tree to do this and then it comes in and steals the manufactured foods. It is a robber pure and simple. And in order that it may absorb these manufactured, foods such as sugar and starch, it has to establish a very intimate contact with the host plant (and a very unwilling host it is) . Sometimes it grows on the surface with very slight attach- ment to the host, as in the case of mildews, and such a disease may be treated by the use of dry sulfur dusted upon the leaves after the fungus has become established, because practically all of the fungus is spread out there open to attack. Again, the fungus has a much more intimate connection with the host, although still growing on the surface. Such a type is the apple scab. In this case a large part of the fungus is im- bedded in the host, and treatment, after the fungus has become established, is of relatively little value. Lastly we have a type of fungus which, grows wholly or largely within the host. The black knot of the plum is such a fungus. Here the fungus is entirely safe from attack after it once enters the host and until it emerges in the black knots of the fniiting stage. The most rational treatment for all fungous diseases is that which attempts to prevent their ever gaining a foothold on the host, and we are enabled to give our trees this kind of protec- tion because men have discovered certain substances which are harmless to the host plant but which will kill the fungus. Fre- quently the margin of safety is very slight and a substance to be effective against the fungus must be of such a strength or such a composition as to come very near to injuring the host plant. Sometimes varying conditions of weather or of the plant cause the fungicide to pass the margin of safety and become injurious to the host as well as to the fungus. Bordeaux mixture is one example of this. As sprayed upon the apple tree it is probably in the form of copper hydroxide, or some similar com- pound, and in this form it does not hurt the apple tree but does destroy the apple scab. But under certain weather conditions the chemical form of this fungicide undergoes a change which SCAB 165 makes it dangerous to the apple and we have the apples on the tree "russeted" and the leaves of the tree damaged so that they turn yellow and fall. Action of a Fungicide. — ^Most fungicides become effective against the fungus by entering its cells and destroying its tissues. For example, the spore of the fungus becomes lodged upon the leaf of the host plant and, the conditions of heat and moisture being favorable, it germinates much as a grain of wheat might do, sending out a little germ tube which grows about over the surface of the leaf and finally enters the tissues, either by way of one of the breathing pores or by actually working its way through the tissues. Now if the germ tube is able to do all this without encountering any injurious substance, it establishes itself within the host and goes on thriving. But if the tree has been properly sprayed, then the little germ tube in its wandering prior to entering the host comes in contact with some of the fungicide, absorbs it into its tissues and is thereby destroyed. This is the whole story in a few words and the aim of the man who sprays should be to do his work so thoroughly that no wandering fungus can escape coming in contact with a particle of the fungicide used, whether this be lime-sulfur or Bordeaux mixture or plain copper sulfate. SPECIFIC DISEASES Now let us consider a few of the more important specific diseases. They may perhaps be considered in two sections, those attacking the pome fruits and those attacking the stone fruits, because it so often happens that a particular disease attacks both the apple and the pear, for example, or the peach and plum. DISEASES OF POME FRUITS Scab. — This list may be very appropriately headed by the scab or black-spot, which stands in about the same relation to apple diseases as the codling moth does to apple insects. Slightly different but closely allied forms attack the apple and pear. It attacks fruit (Fig. 71), leaves and twigs. On the fruit it 166 DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES produces very characteristic spots which are a peculiar olive green in the early stages but soon become blackened, the skin usually breaking about the margins of the spot. In very bad cases the spots coalesce and the fruit may crack open nearly to the core (see Fig. 90). On the leaves the spots are usually somewhat circular in outline, at least in the beginning, and are of a peculiar light green color which gradually changes to dark brown or black as tlie tissues die. In many cases tlie leaves wrinkle in a peculiar manner, due to the growth of the surface being re- tarded irregularly. The scab passes the winter upon the old leaves in the orchard and the pores reinfest the trees the folloAving spring from these old leaves ; the first infections usually coming on the lower side of the leaves. Fig. 71. — Scab, or black-spot of the apple. This is the most serious of all the apple diseases, but can be cuiitioUed by thorough spraying. ^Susceptibility to Seal). — There is a very marked difference in the relative susceptibility of different varieties of both pears and apples. Among pears the Flemish Beauty is peculiarly liable to attack and the crop is frequently ruined, many specimens being cracked nearly to the core, while adjoining trees of Bartlett may be relatively little affected. With apples the Fameuse, Rhode Island Greening, Mcintosh and Spy are among those which are especially subject to attack. The treatment for scab, in either pears or apples, consists in spraying with lime-sulfur or Bordeaux mixture, and the number of applications varies with the locality, the season and the variety. If a bad attack is expected the trees should be sprayed before the blossoms open, just after they fall and once or twice thereafter at intervals of two to four weeks. The rela- tive importance of these sprayings will vary with the season. If BLOTCH 167 the weather is dry during the early part of the season and wet at the last part, a single late spraying may give better results than two or three early ones. With varieties of either pears or apples which are especially susceptible to scab, it is desirable to make two applications before the blossoms open. One of these is made before the blossom buds and the clusters separate from each other ; and the second is made just before the blossoms open. (See Fig. 88). Rust. — Similar forms of this disease attack the apple, pear and quince. It is one of those peculiar diseases which at one stage lives on one host plant and at another stage on another host. In this case the second host, with all three forms of the disease, is the cedar tree. On this it forms the peculiar rough brown knots known as ' ' cedar-apples, ' ' and the first thing to do, where possible, is to get rid of the cedar trees. On apple leaves the rust appears as small roughened spots, generally in the form of a distinct ring. The tissue of this ring is thickened and on the under surface of the leaf there are numerous little protuberances, while on the upper surface the tissue turns yellow and finally a bright orange. On the fruit the disease is less conspicuous, but appears about the same as on the under surface of the leaves. Varieties of fruits differ greatly in their susceptibility. Among apples the Wealthy is conspicuous for its liability to the disease, and the bright orange spots will be found on the leaves of this variety if the disease is in the neighborhood. When the disease cannot be controlled by destroying the cedar trees, the only thing to do is to resort to spraying and the same applications given for the scab are a.s effective as any and will do something to keep this disease in check. It is much more troublesome in southern sections than farther north. Blotch. — This is a relatively new disease and is much more common in the Middle West than elsewhere, but is sometimes found in most apple sections. It resembles the scab verj^ closely and is often mistaken for it, but on the fruit it is apt to be scattered rather uniformly over the entire surface, while the scab is confined to one side of the fruit. The blotch also makes a less compact growth on the areas affected. It produces cankers 168 DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES upon the twigs and branches and peculiar light brown spots upon the leaves. It works later in the season than the scab, necessitating, where serious, one or two sprayings afxer the last spraying for scab. Cankers. — There are a number of diseases which attack the twigs, branches and even the trunks of apple trees (and less frequently of pears and quinces), producing ugly roughened brown areas. Sometimes the diseased section is very well de- fined with a distinct line marking its boundary where the dis- eased tissue has shrunken and broken away from the adjoining healthy tissue. In other cases, as the European canker, there are many concentric rings or folds where the tree has repeatedly attempted to heal over the wound and each time the fungus has. Pia. 72. — Apple canker. There are several different diseases which pass under the general name of canker and some of them are quite serious. during its season of rapid growth, gotten the upper hand (Fig. 72). Treatment. — These cankers vary greatly in the organism which causes them and in the appearance, but the general line of treatment is much the same. There are three ways of fight- ing such diseases. First, all affected twigs and branches which can be spared should be cut out and burned. Second, in case the branch is too valuable to be spared, or in the event of a canker spot on the trunk, the diseased tissue should be cut out carefully and then the wound painted over as in the case of wounds made in pruning. For the preliminary work of cutting out, a light, sharp hatchet will be found very FIRE BLIGHT 169 satisfactory, and the smoothing up of the wound may be done with a knife or a heavy chisel. Third, the trunk and branches of the trees should be care- fully sprayed whenever an application of any fungicide is made to the orchard. In particular they should be given a thorough spraying before the buds start in the spring. These three lines of attack will generally keep things fairly well under control, though cases are found where the attacks are so bad as to make the task of cleaning up the trees almost hopeless. Sooty Blotch and Fly Speck. — These two diseases are very similar, the difference in appearance being that suggested by the names. Some observers have even considered them as two forms of the same fungiLs. They are both superficial, with very little attachment to the host, and can frequently be entirely rubbed off with a cloth. They injure the appearance of the fruit so as to render it unsalable. There is usually little or no trouble with them in orchards that are sprayed for scab, but occa- sionally a later spraying may be necessary. Fire Blight. — This is one of the most serious diseases of the pome fruits, both because it injures the trees so severely and because the methods of eradicating it are so expensive. It attacks pears, apples and quinces, as well as many allied plants, such as mountain ash, hawthorns, and crab apples. The dis- ease is most noticeable where it attacks the tips of vigorously growing shoots. Here it works rapidly, killing both leaves and twigs and causing them to turn brown and eventually nearly black, especially on the pear. It will also, on bearing trees, attack the fruit spurs, where it does more serious, though less spectacular, damage, because new terminal shoots are easily grown, but new spurs are grown with great difficulty. By follow- ing down the spur or twig the disease frequently becomes estab- lished on the main branches or even the trunk, where it produces what is popularly known as "body blight." The Cause. — The disease is caused by a bacterium which works in the tender parts of the twig, largely in the cambium layer, and during the actively growing stage the organisms may 170 DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES be found some distance below where there is any outward sign of the disease. It winters over in the old, diseased tissues and is spread in the spring to the growing shoots, largely through the instrumentality of insects, particularly bees. Bearing apple trees may often be seen with one-quarter of the fruit spurs dead, and in every spur the infestation came through the blossoms, doubtless having been carried by the bees in their visits to the blossoms. There is a marked difference in the susceptibility of varieties, the Wealthy and Rhode Island Greening, among apples, and the Bartlett, Clapp and Flemish, Beauty, among pears, being especially liable to attack, while the Mcintosh and Baldwin apples and the Anjou and Seckel pears are much less so. The Remedy. — The disease cannot be influenced by spraying. The only satisfactory remedy is to cut out the diseased parts, and the best time to do this is in the autumn. If all the dis- eased areas can be cut out and burned during the dormant season there will be no outbreak in the spring. Of course this cannot always be done, but systematic effort will go a long way towards it. If the work can be done in the autumn before the leaves fall, so much the better, as the affected areas are more easily located then. The diseased shoots should also be cut during the growing season, though this is a less efficient time than the other. Great care should be taken to get well below the diseased portion in this cutting so as to be sure that all the bacteria are removed. The shears or knife with which the cutting is done should be disinfected after every cut to prevent any germs being carried to healthy tissue; otherwise this cutting may really spread the disease from branch to branch. For this disinfecting a solu- tion of corrosive sublimate is used (1 part to 1000). A cloth or sponge dipped in this may be nsed to wipe the shears, or it may be carried in a can and the shears dipped into it. In the winter work all affected parts which are cut out should be gathered up and burned. This is not so important in summer work, since the parts removed are soft and soon dry up and kill the bacteria. BROWN ROT 171 In addition to this active work of control it is well to keep the trees in only moderate growth. Withhold nitrogenous fer- tilizers and cultivation, perhaps seed down the orchard and do not prune heavily in winter. DISEASES OF THE STONE FRUITS Brown Rot. — This attacks practically all of the stone fruits but especially the plum and peach. It is most conspicuous on the fruit, causing it to turn brown and shrivel and eventually to dry up. The fruit also becomes covered, as the decay ad- vances, with a powdery material, tlie spores of the disease. Fruit in clusters is especially liable to attack, and thinning should be practised so that no two fruits may touch. The disease may also attack the blossoms and even the spurs, fol- lowing down from the fruit or blossoms. Damp and warm M^eather is especially favorable to its spread and the rapidity with which it works when the trees are not carefully sprayed and when all the conditions are favorable for the disease is something alarming. It passes the winter largely in the mum- mied fruits which frequently remain hanging to the trees until the following season. Efforts to control the disease should be along two lines. In the first place all of these mummied fruits should be destroyed if possible. They may be shaken off the trees and then either gathered up and destroyed or else buried or plowed under. The second line of attack is by spraying. The trees should be given a thorough spraying with lime-sulfur, at the winter strength, applied shortly before the buds swell in the spring. Strong copper sulfate solution is satisfactory, if more con- venient, and may be used if there is no San Jose scale in the orchard. Then the trees should be sprayed later with self- boiled lime-sulfur. "When a bad attack is feared, three applica- tions should be made: The first perhaps three or four weeks after the blossoms fall, again two or three weeks later, and a third time two or three wrecks after this. Under less serious conditions one spraying may be all that is needed and this should be probably six weeks to two months after blossoming. 172 DISEASES OF FRUIT TREES In any case care should be taken not to spray these fruits, espe- cially peaches, so late that the spray will still be on them at pick- ing time, as it detracts very serionsh^ from their attractiveness. Peach Scab. — This is a very common disease on many varieties of peaches, produchig small, blackish spots which may be so plentiful as to make practically one whole side of the fruit black. The growth of the side attacked is retarded so that the fruit becomes one sided, and in bad cases this side frequently cracks open. Fortunately the treatment just outlined for the brown rot will also entirely check the peach scab. FiQ. 73. — Black-knot of the plum, showing how new knots will start from the old stubs when these are not cut back far enough. Leaf Curl. — This is a very striking disease and one which it is very easy to recognize. It attacks all parts of the tree, leaves, branches, flowers and fruit, but is so inconspicuous on all parts but the leaves that it usually escapes notice. The leaves thicken, curl up, and are often highly colored in certain parts and in others of a light yellowish green. As the disease advances the leaves turn brown and soon fall, causing a severe loss of vitality to the tree, which not only loses the food which the leaves would have produced had they remained healthy, but also is further exhausted by being obliged to put on this second crop of leaves. The spores of the disease live over winter on the bark and gain entrance to the buds when growth starts in the BLACK-KNOT 173 spring". The spread of the disease is markedly favored by cold, damp weather in the sprinpr. It may be controlled practically by a sinj^le spraying: with lime-snlfnr at the winter strength applied just before the buds break in the spring. Black-knot. — This is another very striking disease and attacks both the plum and the cherry, principally upon the smaller branches but often upon both main branches and trunk. Fig. 74. — A plum tree badly affected with black-knot. Fig. 75. — The same plum tree as shown in Fig. 74 after the knot.s have been cut out. It is possible to recover trees which are trees sprayed. ary badly affected if the kn(Hs are cut out and the The spores gain entrance to the tree during the spring or summer and grow for a season entirely within the branch. The follow- ing spring the affected part of the branch begins to swell and soon the well-known knot develops. At first it is soft in texture and light brown in color, but gradually turns darker and becomes harder in texture. During late spring and early summer the knot is covered with a velvety appearance, which is caused by the production of summer spores. Later these disappear and the surface becomes hard and roughened. 174 DISEASES OF FKUIT TREES The knots may develop in new positions or by the side of old knots (Fig. 73). It is very common for them to break out where a small twig joins a branch, the fungus having apparently gained entrance in the angle between the two where the bark is probably less impervious. The disease lives over in the tissues adjoining the old knots and breaks out again either above or below the knot. The most practical remedy is to cut out and burn the knots (Figs. 74 and 75). This is especially important in the spring before the spores are produced, but should be kept up through the season. Care should be taken to cut well below the knot, othen\4se the disease may break out again as shown in Figure 74. Spraying, particularly just before the buds break, is also effective. This may be supplemented by an earlier application in late winter and by others during spring and summer if the outbreak is serious. QUESTIONS 1. What is a fungus? 2. Describe the action of a fungicide. 3. Describe the apple scab. 4. Wliat methods are recommended for combating t!ie apple scab? 5. VVhat remedies are recommended for rust? 6. Tell what you can of the disease known as blotch. 7. Outline the methods of fighting canker. 8. Describe the work of the fire blight. How may it De controlled? 9. Describe peach scab. 10. Describe leaf curl. How is it controlled? 11. What is the most practical method of controlling the black-knol ot plums and cherries? 12. What are the worst fruit diseases in your district? CHAPTER XIII SPRAYING APPARATUS It has already been said that it pays to have a good equip- ment with which to work. There is as great a difference between an ordinary spray pnmp and an exceptionally good one as there is between a No. 3 Baldwin and an Extra Fancy Baldwin. And usually the best pump does not cost much more than the medium. Fig. 76. — Using a bucket pump on a bearing apple tree. This is a very efficient little pump for the money and is entirely satisfactory for a few trees. It is the same with buying a spray pump as with buying a suit of clothes. Get a good one and it will last for years and be a satisfaction all the time. Buy a poor one and you are sorry for it from the start. IMoreover, the styles in spray pumps do not change much. A good spraying outfit consists of a pump at one end and a nozzle at the other, with more or less hose and extension-rod between. We will begin with the pump. 175 176 SPRAYING APPARATUS Spray Pumps. — There are quantities of them on the market. Some are better than others, but most of them are good. A few of them are worthless or nearly so. Of course the type of pump one ought to have depends on whether he has six trees, or sixty, or six thousand; also on whether his trees are old or young, peach or pear, dwarf or standard. There are five general types of good pumps which it seems worth while to mention. I. The hucket pump is shown in Figure 76. This is for the man with the six trees. And it will surprise anyone who has not tried it to see what an efficient little pump it is. The writer has never been able to figure out where it gets its pressure, but it certainly develops one. The ^ good points are: (1) That it ^•^' S"^^ develops this high pressure ^^i' and will, • therefore, deliver a good spray; (2) that it is very cheap, so that anybody can afford one; and (3) that it is very simple in construc- tion, and consequently easy to repair and to operate. We do not mean from all this that it will do as good a job as a power sprayer, but it is not a toy, by any means. Its shortcomings are (1) that the operator has to be constantly going back to the base of supplies after more spray material; (2) that it is inconvenient to move about; (3) that there is no agitator; and (4) that the pressure runs dowTi quickly. And yet for all this it is entirely adequate for a few trees. II. The knapsack sprayer is shown in .Figure 77. This is not adapted to very tall trees nor to very large operations, but is Fia. 77. — Knapsack sprayer.. This is an excellent pump for rough ground or where- soever it is difficult to get about, but is rather heavy when one has much spraying to do. SPRAY PUMPS 177 the most convenient thing made for the man with a garden and dwarf or otherwise small trees. It is also especially good where a man wants to go over the trees in a young orchard in search of occasional trees affected Math the tent-caterpillar or with the red-hnmped apple caterpillar. It is handy to get about with, one man can handle it, it agitates the liquid w^ell and maintains a good pressure. On the other hand, it is heavy to carry about, particuhirly in the late afternoon if one has been using it all day ; it requires filling rather frequently, and it has an unpleasant r; oxrf-IIent for wi irking among old treet khicli h:ing low. habit of slopping and wetting the operator in the small of the back. On the whole it is a very efficient little pump, but, like most sprayers, it is more comfortable to ' ' use it by proxy. ' ' III. The barrel pump (Figs. 78 and 79) is by all odds the most generally satisfactory of all the smaller spraying machines. It is adapted to more different circumstances, and a good one will always give a good account of itself. If a man has only a few trees he can combine w'ith one or more neighbors and the cost of the barrel pump Avill not be great for each one of them, while the satisfaction in using it will be great. On the other 12 178 SPRAYING APPARATUS hand, a barrel pump ■will be satisfactory^ for a goodly number of trees and if the owner of the large orchard gets enough outfits he can handle any size of orchard with them. The following are some of the important points in a good barrel pump. 1. It ought to be mounted on the side. It is singular how few pumps are mounted this w^ay, because there seem to be good practical reasons for preferring it to the end-mounted pump and Fig. 79. — A barrel spray outfit with two extra barrels of water; a device that will save much time where the water supply is far from the orchard. no reasons or none of importance for the other plan. The ad- vantages of the side-mount are: (1) That it brings the pump itself lower, thus reducing the danger of catching on trees; (2) that it brings the center of gravity of the whole outfit lower, thus reducing the danger of tipping over (Fig. 79) ; and (3) that the sediment in the spray mixtures (and there is usually more or less of this) naturally works down under the pump and is drawn out instead of collecting about the comers as it does in the end-mounted pump. SPRAY PUMPS 179 2. It ought to have a good-sized air-chamber. This does not mean that the air-chamber should be conspicuously placed on top of the pump as is often the case. It can be as low down as desired, but it will keep the pressure much more uniform, 3. There should be as few and as small openings about the pump as is compatible with the free working of the plunger and agitator. The splashing of the liquid through these openings is bad enough at best; a prize awaits the manufacjturer who develops a pump which does not splash the operator. 4. The pump ought to have a good agitator. As already suggested, most of our spray materials carry more or less solid material in suspension, and these ought to be distributed evenly with the liquid. With an inefficient agitator the operator gets nearly all the poison on the first few trees and the balance are sprayed with plain water, or nearly so. 5. There ought to be a good strainer at the bottom of the pump. Even with the most careful preparation of the materials and the most thorough straining there is always danger of some- thing getting into the pump that will clog the nozzle. The strainer is an additional safeguard. If it can be such as can be readily taken off and cleaned so much the better. And if the actual straining area is on the bottom instead of on the sides of this strainer it will come nearer to emptying the cask. 6. The pump should have all brass working parts. In these days of strong corrosive materials the best of pumps will wear out soon enough. 7. The valves should be simple and easily accessible. It is astonishing how often a valve will get stuck, even when the pump receives reasonably good care. The operator should know just ^vhere it is and how to get at it and the manufacturer should put no unnecessary difficulties in the way. 8. The type of pacldng ought to be simple and the method of renewing it or of tightening it should be easy. This is an extremely important point. The packing is bound to wear and allow leakage, and no one wants to be obliged to resort to a machinist or a high-priced (and low-speed) plumber to get his pump fixed. 180 SPRAYING APPARATUS 9. There ought to be an opportunity for two leads of hose if they are wanted. 10. There should be a pressure-gauge. This can be dispensed with, but it helps one to keep track of what the pumper is doing and it stimulates him to do better work. IV. The large, double-action hand pump attached to a large tank is shown in Figure 80. Many of the points discussed under the barrel pump apply with equal force to this type of pump. It has the great advantage over the barrel that it will carry more y^m. H^ ? %' 1 ^ FlQ. so. — A larRG, double-action, hand pump with 200-gallon tanli. but it 13 a liian's job to do the pumping. An extellent outfit, liquid. This is especially important where the orchard is some distance from the water supply. The chief disadvantages of this type of pump are that it requires a good, strong man to work it, and it requires an equally good team to haul it, if the orchard is on a side hill or if the land is rough or soft. V. The Power Sprayer. — There are four different types of these and many variations under some of the types. We have in the first place the traction power sprayer. Here the power is gen- erated by the movement of the wagon wheel, which, by means of a sprocket wheel and chain, works a pump that compresses the air SPRAY PUxMPS 181 182 SPRAYING APPARATUS in a large chamber. This compressed air, in turn, forces the liquid out of the tank. The great objection to this machine is that the pressure runs down as soon as the wagon stops. And since it is absolutely necessary to stop in order to do good spraying on trees of any size the best orchardists have ruled this machine out of their list. It is all right with small trees where the outfit travels a considerable distance for every gallon of liquid put out, but most orchardists cannot afford so expensive an outfit for this one type of spraying. This type is fairly rapidly going out of use. The second type of power sprayer uses compressed air as a source of power. It is, therefore, essentially like the type just discussed, except that it uses air instead of carbonic acid gas. Fig. S2. — A gasolene power outfit. The most efficient power sprayer. The cut also shows an excellent arrangement for filling the tank and mixing the materials. The air is compressed by a special apparatus which has to be installed on the farm, and this makes the first cost high. There is also the same objection in reference to scaly coating from the inside of the tank clogging the nozzles. The last and by all means the most important type of power sprayer at the present time is that run by a gasolene engine (Fig. 82), The best of these engines have been perfected until they give relatively little trouble in running and the pumps are also admirably adapted to the work. Of course the great ad- vantage of any power sprayer over other types of pumps is the high and relatively constant pressure that it develops. With SPRAY PUMPS 183 a 3 ... o ~. a. 184 SPRAYING APPARATUS the gasolene type the owner may also easily adapt it to doing other kinds of work, such as pumping and sawing wood. There are many different styles of gasolene outfits, from one costing one hundred dollars and using a one and one-half horse-power engine and a hundred-gallon tank, up to a twelve hundred dollar machine with a ten horse-power engine and a three- or four- hundred-gallon tank. Of late several good forms of the small machine have been developed which seem to give promise of great usefulness (Fig. 83). They are especially acceptable where Fig. 84A. — Old style of vermorel nozzle. This type hag the serious ■weakness that the ejectors are constantly catching on the branches of the tree. Fia. 845. — Angle vermorel nozzle. This type has great advantages over the last; it has no ejectors and it delivers the spray at an angle. good, reliable labor is scarce. AVith one of these machines a man, if "put to it," can do his spraying alone, and they are light enough to get about on relatively rough land and cheap enough so that the small orchardist can afford to buy one. One of these machines will easily take care of two or even three small orchards, so that if a man is on sufficiently good terms with his neighbors there is nothing to prevent his clubbing in with one NOZZLES 185 Fig. 85 a. FiQ. 85S. or two of thom and thus bringing the cost of his power outfit nearly down to that of a good barrel pump. Nozzles. — Next to the pump in importance, in fact more important in some ways, is the nozzle. The number and variety of them on the market would bewilder a novice, yet they may nearly all be reduced to three or four principal types. The Vermorel Type. — This is a relatively small nozzle and delivers a small amount of liquid as compared with other types. This shortcoming is usually gotten around by mak- ing them in clusters of two or more, but of course such a nozzle is heavy and therefore hard to use (Figs. 84.1 and 84B). This type gives a very fine, mist-like spray, but the small size of the orifice renders it very liable to clog, and tliis in turn makes it necessary to have some kind of ejector to push out the clog. This means a double annoyance, first because one must constantly stop and clean the nozzle and -It ii • . • a relatively coarse snrav which is fre- second because the ejector is quentiy objectionable ,.,,. ,1 J.11- 1. Fig. 85S. — Disc nozzle. This i.s rapidly liable to catch upon the branches displacing other types for most work. It , . . , , , . , seldom clogs, does not catch on branches, and twigs when one attempts to makes a fine spray, and delivers a large , , . . , „ , , , -n amount of material in a given time. spray the mside oi the tree. JB or these reasons the vermorel has largely gone out of use except with smaller pumps like the knapsack, where it is still the main type used. llie old Bordeaux nozzle is still largely used in many sec- tions. It thi-ows a relatively coarse spray, which is not suited to many kinds of work. It will throw a long distance, which is very important for high trees, and for such spraying as the Fig. S5A. — Bordeaux nozzle. Useful in spraying tall trees, as it will throw the ly material a long distance, but it makes sla ■ ■ 186 SPRAYING APPARATUS winter application of lime-sulfnr it is excellent. It is not likely to clog, and can be adjusted to throw anything from a solid stream to a fairly fine spray. (Fig. 85A). The disc type of nozzle is shown in Figure 855. This has been on the market a relatively short time but is rapidly displacing the other types for most kinds of spraying. It has three advantages : First, it does not catch on the branches of the trees ; second, it throws a relatively fine spray and lots of it ; and, third, it seldom clogs. For most spraying the orchardist should choose this type of nozzle. Fig. 86. — Long- and short-tailed hose couplings. The former are much to be preferred, as they do not allow the hose to pull apart so easily. Spray Guns. The spray gun consists of a very short but heavy brass rod, with usually a single, large disc nozzle. Its great advantage is in the saving of time. With plenty of pressure behind it (at least 250 pounds), and with careful workmen it will give excellent results. Spray the centre of the tree first and then the outside. And do not stand too close to the tree otherwise he force with which the liquid is delivered is likely to bruise the tissues of the leaves which may be followed by serious spraying injury. One should also use hose not less than %-inch in diameter. The Angle of Delivery. — Any nozzle, of whatever type, is very much more efficient for most work if it delivers the spray at an angle of 45° instead of straight ahead. Many nozzles are made this way by the manufacturers, and others can be changed into this type by introducing a small angle connection between the nozzle and the extension rod. The advantage of the angle THE HOSE 187 nozzle is that the direction of the spray may be changed by simply twisting- the extension rod, while with tlie straight nozzle the whole rod must be moved. The Hose. — A third important feature of the spraying outfit is the hose. It has little effect on the kind of spraying done, but it does make a difference to the man who does the spraying. The writer is very strongly in favor of a reasonably small hose, preferably about one-fourth inch in diameter. It is true there is some loss of pressure as compared with the large hose, but the greater ease and comfort of doing the work will far more than offset this loss. The following table gives the weights of various kinds and sizes of hose. If anyone who is accustomed to using the large size will once try the small size he will never go back again. It is like play in comparison, and anything which makes spraying seem playful, even in the remotest degree, ought to be adopted. Tabi,e V. — Comparison of Weights of Hose of Different Sizes Length Size Kind of Hose Weight Empty Weight Full lbs. lbs. 25 ft. 3/4 ill. Rubber 10.S7 13.56 25 ft. 1/2 in. Rubber G.6G 9.16 25 ft. 1/4 in. Rubber 4.11 4.45 25 ft. 3/16 in. Special cloth- covered 1.00 1.75 When buying hose get plenty of it. The ordinary spray out- fit equipped with 8 to 15 feet of hose is a " delusion and a snare. ' ' The operator has to adjust his machine almost as carefully as he would a cannon in order to even hit the tree. Twenty-five feet is the least any outfit ought to have, and if two leads of hose are used let one be twenty-five or thirty feet and the other fifty. "With the small hose this is not unduly heavy and the spraying 188 SPRAYING APPARATUS can be done with an ease and comfort and thoroughness im- possible with the short lengths (see types of couplings, Fig. 86). The Extension Rod. — In addition to these more important parts the outfit should have an extension rod on each lead of hose. This may be either an iron rod or a bamboo lined with a brass tube. The latter is preferred because it is much lighter and its larger size makes, it easier to handle, but the iron rod is certainly much cheaper and does not break as easily. There should also be at least one, and preferably two cut-offs for each lead of hose. It is absolutely necessary to have one at the base of the extension rod so that the operator may shut off the liquid at will, and it is very desirable to have a second one at the pump, if there are two lines of hose, so that in case of accident to one line it may be shut down for repairs, while the other may continue to operate. QUESTIONS 1. \^niat are the good and bad points of the bucket ijump? 2. Discuss the knapsack sprayer. 3. What can you say of the barrel pump? 4. Give the important points of a good barrel pump. 5. What are the advantages of the double-action liand pump? 6. Name the different types of power sprayers. 7. Give the special advantages of each type. 8. Describe the Vermorel type of nozzle. 9. What are the advantages of the disc type of nozzles? 10. ^^^ly is an angle nozzle preferred to a straight one? 11. Give some points to be considered in the purchase of spray hose. 12. What type of extension spray-rod would you prefer? Give reason. 13. What power sprayers and what type of hand sprayers are used in your section? CHAPTER XIV SPRAYING MATERIALS The selection of spray materials is just about as confusing to the beginner as is the choice of spray apparatus. There are many manufacturers in the field and each one is putting on the market his own special brand of each of the different materials, so that there are almost innumerable things to be had. If the orchardist wants a spray made from a copper salt he has his choice between Bordo-lead, Sal-Bordeaux, Pyrox, Tiger Brand Bordeaux and a dozen other patent preparations. If he wants to use sulfur in some form he is embarrassed by an even longer list of possibilities. He can buy commercial lime-sulfur of a dozen different manufacturers, or he can make his own con- centrate or make the home-boiled wash, or use self-boiled lime- sulfur. Or, again, he can use atomic sulfur, soluble sulfur, sul- focide or various other special forms. The list of any of these principal sprays is so long that even the old stager is sometimes in doubt. Is it any wonder if the novice feels like giving up in despair? Yet if we wdll study into the matter it is not as bad as it seems on the face of the returns. Doubtless new materials, and new combinations of old ma- terials, will continue to come along, so that what was the best thing possible this year may be out of date a few years to come. This is going to make it necessary to do some experimenting all the time and to keep in touch with the Experiment Stations and the Fruit Growers' meetings. But all orchardists should do this anyway. When the list of spray materials in vogue at any one time is sifted down it will be found that there are really only a relatively small number that have to be considered. If a man buys from reputable manufacturers he is not apt to go far wrong, even though he may not get absolutely the best form. Commercial Mixtures vs. Home Mixing. — There are two or three general questions that ought to be discussed before we 190 SPRAYING MATERIALS speak of specific remedies. The most important of these is the question of buying the mixtures already prepared or of buying the materials and preparing the mixtures on the farm: com- mercial mixtures vs. home mixing. There are certain things like arsenate of lead which cannot be made as well at home as they can by the manufacturer. ]\Ioreover, the price for these is relatively low because so many firms are manufacturing them. It seems, therefore, much better for any grower, large or small, to buy ready-made stock of such materials. On the other hand, there are certain other things such as the various substitutes for Bordeaux mixture which often come at a high price to the orchardist and which it is relatively easy to make on the farm. It would seem that such mixtures might be prepared by the grower, at least when he is operating on a reasonably large scale. If a man has only a few trees probably it is better for him to pay the manufacturer his extra price for doing the mixing, rather than to bother to "post up " on methods, and then go to all the trouble of getting the different ingredients and combining them. But for the man who has as much as ten acres of orchard the writer is very strongly of the opinion that it pays to prepare these mixtures at home. Classify Spray Materials. — Another point which has already been mentioned is the need of getting all these remedies classified in one's mind so that he understands which are insecticides and which are fungicides and which are a combination of both. Dusting. — A third general question is the relative value of spra^^ng and dusting. In many sections the latter has come to be largely used, particularly for controlling insects and diseases of peaches. And in a few sections, notably the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, it has to a considerable extent displaced spraying. But in most sections spraying is still the main reliance and dust- ing is used for supplementary work where rapidity of applica- tion is the all important factor. Copper Salts. — We come now to a consideration of some of the principal spray materials which are used by the fruit grower. Moreover, up to the present time satisfactory dusts for dormant applications have not been developed, though of course they may be in the future. COPPER SALTS 191 Among the fungicides the two principal substances used are some copper salt and some form of sulfur. Copper Sulfate.— Oi the copper salts by far the most im- portant is copper sulfate, which is used either in the form of a plain solution on dormant trees or as Bordeaux mixture. This plain solution has the advantage of being as easy to apply as water, and where the grower does not Have to fight any scale FiQ. 87. — Spray injury on apples. Any copper salt is likely to cause this under certain con- ditions of weather. insects, especially San Jose scale, it makes an excellent dormant spray. It is usually applied at the strength of 3 or 4 pounds of copper sulfate to 50 gallons of water. Bordeaux Mixture. — Where it can be used without danger, Bordeaux mixture is still probably the most efficient fungicide on the list. There seem to be two dangers from its use. On apples, in certain seasons, especially where there are many rains or a great deal of foggy weather, it may produce a russeting of the surface of the fruit that injures its appearance and some- times its keeping quality (Fig. 87). This damage is sometimes very severe, in particularly bad cases even cracking the fruit open. It affects some varieties more than others. In some 192 SPRAYING MATERIALS sections where there is not much trouble from the apple scab, more harm than good is often done to the fruit by spraying with Bordeaux. Another trouble that is sometimes experienced with it is that it aggravates the tendency, frequently seen in fruit trees, for the leaves to turn yellow or brown and to fall. Yet with all its faults Bordeaux is such an efficient fungicide that it ought to be used whenever it can be without too much danger. For example, it ought to be used on all such fruits as grapes, currants and gooseberries because here it does no damage and these fruits are especially liable to damage from fungous enemies. Many good orchardists prefer to use it, particularly on those varieties not seriously injured by it, where apple scab is especially troublesome, because a considerable russeting of the skin is to be preferred to even a small amount of scab. Formulas for Bordeaux. — There are two formulas for Bor- deaux mixture which are in general use at the present time. One which is used most generally is as follows : 4 pounds copper sulfate, 4 pounds lime, 50 gallons water. For those fruits or varieties which are most susceptible to injury, such as Japanese plums, peaches, and certain varieties of apples, a weaker formula is used, made as follows : 3 pounds copper sulfate, 3 pounds lime, 50 gallons water. Stock Solutions for Bordeaux. — Where Bordeaux is to be used in any quantity it is much better to use in preparing it what are called ' ' stock solutions. ' ' These are prepared as follows : Weigh out 50 pounds of copper sulfate and dissolve it in 50 gallons of water, by hanging it in a cotton bag in the top of a barrel of water. It will dissolve much more quickly in this way than if thrown into the barrel. In fact, it never will dissolve if merely thrown into the barrel, as the water immediately sur- rounding the crystals soon becomes saturated and as this solution is heavier than plain water it remains right in the bottom of the barrel. The amounts mentioned give us one pound of copper sulfate to each gallon of water. THE VARIOUS FORMS OF SULPHUR 193 The "stock solution" of lime is prepared in the same general way. Fifty pounds of lime is slacked in a barrel, taking care to use enough water to prevent the lime from ' ' burning, " as it is called, which makes it tlaky so that it is likely to clog the nozzles. After it is slacked enough water is added to make 50 gallons. With the stock solutions thus prepared the making of a cask of Bordeaux mixture is a very simple matter. The ideal way is to have two half barrels, into one of which we measure four gallons of the copper sulfate solution and into the other four gallons of the lime water. Then add to each enough water to make 25 gallons. Next pour the diluted lime into the spray cask, add the copper sulfate solution, agitate thoroughly and the mixture is ready to apply. Or, better yet, the two solutions may be allowed to run into the cask simultaneously. A man may in- troduce several variations in the procedure and still be quite successful, but the thing which must be avoided always is mixing the lime and copper sulfate in concentrated solutions. This invariably leads to trouble, a thick, cheesy precipitate being formed which will clog the nozzles and will not stick to the trees, and is unsatisfactory in various other ways. Now is there anything so complicated in this operation of preparing Bordeaux mixture that a good, intelligent orchardist cannot master it? The writer would vote most emphatically " no " and has no patience with those who argue that ready-made Bordeaux should be bought because the farmer cannot prepare it properly. There may be something in the ar^^ument of saving time and bother, but not in the argument of "lack of ability." The Various Forms of Sulfur. — Just at the present time there seems to be a very marked interest in sulfur sprays. New forms are constantly being introduced by manufacturers and many growers are using them to the exclusion of most other sprays. There are four forms which it seems worth while to discuss at some length. 1. The Commercial Lime-sulfur Solutions. — These come as more or less clear, amber-colored liquids which mix readily with water, giving a yellow liquid. They come at various strengths, varying about 30° to perhaps 35° Beaume (hydrometer test), 194 SPRAYING MATERIALS the test supposedly varying with the amount of sulfur in solu- tion. As a matter of fact a handful of salt or various other cheap materials will raise the strength as indicated by this hydrometer test just as surely as more sulfur will, so that the only reliable standard is the per cent of sulfur in solution. In preparing these commercial lime-sulfur sprays for use in the orchard the common method is to dilute them by taking a certain number of gallons of water to each gallon of the con- centrate. This is not a reliable method because, as already sug- gested, the concentrate may vary from 30° to 35° Beaume. The latter would give the proper strength for San Jose scale by diluting with dYi gallons of water, while the former could take only 71/^ gallons of water to each gallon of the concentrate. A hydrometer should therefore be used to test the concen- trate and again to test the spray when ready to apply to the trees. The hydrometer is a simple instrument, consisting of a graduated glass tube weighted with shot at the lower end. This is immersed in the liquid to be tested and the lighter the liquid the more deeply the hydrometer sinks. The reading is taken at the surface of the liquid. Most hydrometers give both the specific gravity and the Beaume strength. Anyone can therefore tell by the use of this instrument, and by knowing what strength he should have for a certain pest, just exactly how much water to use, provided that he has confidence in the manufacturer and knows it is sulfur and not salt in the solution. This is quite a proviso, but most manufacturers, no doubt, intend to be honest and if the buyer selects a reputable brand he is not likely to get into any serious trouble. The Saving and the Cost. — The great advantage of the com- mercial lime-sulfur solutions is that they save all the annoyance and messiness of home preparation. And this is a great deal. They are also very simple to use. On the other hand, the buyer pays considerably more for a hundred gallons of spray by this method than he does to prepare his own concentrate. 2. Home-made Concentrate. — This is the same material, in a general way, as the commercial, but it does not run as high in THE VARIOUS FORMS OF SULPHUR 195 sulfur content. The great advantage of this form is tliat it can be made up on the farm during the winter when work is slack and when the labor expense is relatively small. The general method of preparation is as follows, though formulas and methods are still undergoing changes : Formula. — 50 pounds rock lime, 100 pounds sulfur, 50 gallons water. It seems to be immaterial whether the sulfur is the flour (finely ground) or the flowers, but the lime should be good and should preferably have little magnesium in it. Slack the lime in the kettle in which the cooking is to be done and when the slacking is well started add the sulfur and mix thoroughly. Then add enough water to make a thin paste. Continue boiling vigorously until the sulfur is all dissolved, which will usually take from forty-five minutes to one hour. When the boiling is finished the concentrate may be put into barrels and stored. If these barrels are perfectly tight and are filled full, no other precaution is neces- sary than to cork up tightly. If these conditions do not obtain then the concentrate must be covered with oil. Any oil which will not injure the trees and which does not take fire at the boiling point of water will do, and the various miscible oils are used with entire satisfaction. There is sometimes considerable sediment, but this does not seem to be a serious objection. The proper degree of dilution either with the home-made or the commercial, as measured by the specific gravity scale on the hydrometer, seems to be about as follows: For San Jose scale, blister mite, peach leaf curl and other spraying when trees are in dormant condition, 1.03. For apple and pear scab and similar diseases, summer spray, 1.01. For peach scab and brown rot, summer spra^', 1.005. It is probably better not to use this material at all in spraying the stone fruits, especially peaches and Japanese plums as while it will often do no harm, it will, on the other hand, sometimes do serious injury to the leaves. 3. The '' self-hoiled " lime-sulfur is that in which the heat of the slacking lime is relied upon to cook the mixture. It is a very mild form, being little more than a mechanical mixture of sulfur and slacked lime, and is useful only as a summer fungicide. 196 SPRAYING MATERIALS But for that purpose, particularly for use against the brown rot of stone fruits, it is very efficient. The usual formula is as follows : 8 pounds sulfur, 8 pounds rock lime, 50 gallons water. An old oil cask is a good receptacle in which to prepare it. The lime is placed in the bottom of the cask, and it is imperative that it be good, hard rock lime and not air-slacked lime, since the heat for cooking is to come entirely from the lime. On top of the lime place the sulfur. Then add hot water slowly until the lime is slacked, stirring carefully, as needed, to prevent the "burning" of the lime. After slacking is complete allow the mixture to stand and cook for from ten to fifteen minutes, depend- ing on the amount of heat generated by the lime, keeping the barrel covered Avith an old burlap to keep in the heat. Then add enough water to make 50 gallons, strain into the spraying cask and apply at once. Remember this is merely a summer fungicide and has no value for San Jose scale and relatively little as a dormant fungicide. Dry Forms of Sulfur Compounds. — At the present time the most interesting of the special forms of sulfur on the market are the dry forms in combination with other substances such as calcium, sodium and barium. They come as powders of varying degrees of fineness and dissolve fairly readily in water. Some of them are very promising and of course all have the advantage over the liquid forms that they eliminate expense in handling. If further experiments shall show they are efficient under all con- ditions and do not injure foliage they ought to prove of value, ** Atomic sulfur " is another form. This is a very finely divided paste form of pure sulfur which seems promising, but at the present writing needs further testing, INSECTICIDES There are two general classes of insecticides : The food-poisons, used for chewing insects and of usually some form of arsenic ; and the contact spray used for sucking insects. ARSENATE OF LEAD 197 In the first of these classes, at the present time, the arsenate of lead is used much more generally than any other form, with Paris green as a second. Several others are on the market and are used to a limited extent, but from the commercial orchard standpoint they may be ignored. Arsenate of Lead. — The great advantages of arsenate of lead are (1) that it is very adhesive, remaining on the leaves through the entire season; (2) that it is finely divided, remaining in sus- pension much longer than Paris green; and (3) that it is usually harmless to foliage. This is a strong combination and it is small wonder that arsenate of lead is so generally used. It is, how- ever, sometimes injurious to trees, and one should take every precaution possible to avoid trouble. There are two forms on the market, one of which, known as the tri-plumbic form, has a higher percentage of lead and no hydrogen ; while the other, known as the standard, has a higher percentage of arsenic but also has some hydrogen in it. This latter form, while more effective pound for pound in killing insects, is also more dangerous to plants. On such tender foliage as Japanese plums and the peach it is sometimes injurious. Arsenate of lead can be had either as a paste carrying about 50 per cent, of water, or as a dry powder. The dry form is rapidly replacing the paste as the cost of transportation and handling is less, and it is much less work to get it mixed with water. Paris Green. — The only advantage of Paris green is that in some sections it is more easily secured than arsenate of lead; and possibly we might add a second, that it has a very distinctive color which prevents its ever being mistaken for anything else. There is now little danger that it will be adulterated, but if anyone wishes to test it he may easily do so. Put a small quantity of Paris green in a glass tube or bottle and pour on it some strong ammonia. If the Paris green is pure it will all dissolve, if not pure there will be some sediment. Tlie value of this test rests on the fact that the materials generally used to adulterate Paris green are not soluble in ammonia, while pure Paris green is soluble in ammonia. "When some cheap material which is soluble 198 SPRAYING MATERIALS is discovered the test "will lose its value. However, with our present laws and methods of enforcing them, there is relatively little danger from adulterated materials. It is usually recommended to use Paris green at the rate of four ounces to 50 gallons of water, but many orchardists use it at the rate of five or six ounces to 50 gallons on the theory that poison is cheaper than labor, and at the latter strength they are sure of killing the insect enemies. It is well to add an equal weight of lime when the Paris green is not used in combination with a fungicide. The lime combines with any soluble arsenic Avliieh may be present. Contact Insect Sprays. — There are four contact insecticides which are verj^ commonly used, each one of which has its good points. Miscible Oils. — First of all there are the soluble, or, more properly, the miscible, oils. There are several of them, but they all agree in being made from crude petroleum and in mixing more or less readily with water. They are intended for use only on dormant trees and in particular for fighting the San Jose scale, and for this purpose the writer has found them very satisfactory indeed. They have the advantage over lime-sulfur that they are much less disagreeable to apply, which is certainly an important consideration. They will also " creep " on the sur- face of the branch, thus insuring a somewhat better distribution. While these oils are usually bought already prepared, they can be easily made at home and frequently at some saving in cost. However, the commercial forms are usually so satisfactory and they are sold so cheap that it is doubtful whether it would pay the grower to make his own. It certainly would not except where he is in the orchard business in a large way. Whale Oil Soap. — A second material frequently used for suck- ing insects is whale oil soap, which comes as an ill-smelling sticky, brown soap. Only very distant relatives of the whale enter into its manufacture, as any cheap fish-oil is used in making it. For orchard use it is well to prepare it beforehand by boiling the soap with a certain quantity of water. This gets it into a con- CONTACT INSECT SPRAYS I99 dition where it will readily mix with water when wanted for use, and if this ' ' stock solution ' ' is made at the rate of two or three pounds per gallon it is a very simple matter to prepare a batch of spray for use in the orchard. It is generally used at the rate of one pound of the soap to about 8 to 10 gallons of water. Kerosene emulsion is another very efficient remedy for such insects as the aphis. The chief objection to it is that it requires a special operation to make, but that is certainly not a serious matter. The formula is as follows: Vy pound of hard soap, 1 gallon water, 2 gallons kerosene. Cut up the soap and dissolve it in the water by boiling. Then remove from the fire and add the kerosene ; reheat and agitate the mixture violently. A good way to do this is to have a small pump, and pump the liquid back into itself until a creamy white mixture is produced. This is a " stock solution," and ought to keep for weeks or even months without the oil separating out. It is diluted for use according to the insect to be attacked. With aphids, which have very soft bodies, one part of the stock solution to ten or even fifteen parts of water may be strong enough. For tliose insects which are more difficult to kill, such as the San Jose scale, it may require one part to four or five of water. Tobacco Extracts. — There are a number of tobacco extracts on the market which are very satisfactory for sucking insects, especially for the aphids. In the Northwest it is customary in many sections, where the aphis is plentiful, to include some form of tobacco extract with the regular sprayings for fungous pests and chewung insects so that the spray kills sucking and chewing insects and fungous diseases at one operation. Spreaders. — There are various products, usually with casein as a basis, which are added to spraying mixtures with the object of making them spread more evenly over the foliage and fruit. At the present time they are coming quite largely into use and seem to give not only better spreading of the materials, but greater adhesiveness and less chemical action between such materials as lime-sulfur and arsenate of lead. 200 SPRAYING MATERIALS QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the importance to the orchardist of a knowledge of spray materials. 2. Under what conditions is it best for the orchardist to prepare his own spray mixtures? 3. What are some of the objections to the use of Bordeaux mixture? 4. Describe the preparation of stock solutions for Bordeaux. What is the advantage of these solutions? 5. Describe the making of Bordeaux mixture from these stock solutions 6. What is commercial lime-sulphur? How is it used? 7. Describe the home-made lime-sulfur concentrate. 8. Tell how to make self-boiled lime sulfur. 9. Give the advantages of arsenate of lead as an insecticide. 10. Give directions for the use of Paris green. 11. What are miscible oils? 12. Why are oils especially valuable in killing scale insects? 13. Give the formula for kerosene emulsion and describe the methods oi preparing and using it. CHAPTER XV THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN Disagreeable but Necessary. — If anyone were to take a vote of the orchanl men of the country as to which is the messiest and most thoroughly disagreeable operation connected with grow- ing fruit, spraying woald be elected unanimously to the position. There is no question about that. Neither is there any question that it is more important than any other one operation. We may neglect to prune our trees, Ave may fail to fertilize them and we may grow them in a hay field and still we may frequently grow some very good fruit. But the man who can proudly boast that he did not spray his orchard and still had a crop of fine fruit is in a hopeless and ever-dwindling minority. He is still to be found ; occasionally he even gets into a fruit meeting, but his days are numbered. The advent of each new pest makes the non-spraying orchardist more rare, until he will soon be worthy of a place in a dime museum. Now since spraying is so disagi^eeable and yet so indispen- sable, the thing for the orchardist to do is to use the best ma- chinery and the most approved materials and then to fix his mind on the good he is doing and not on how disagreeable the work is. After all, if the operator does use the best apparatus and does protect himself as fully as possible with gloves and a hood he can get through the job with a fair degree of comfort, particu- larly if, as suggested, he thinks about the wormy apples he is not going to raise. While the writer thoroughly believes this, and is satisfied that anyone who once gets at it will find that it is not as bad as it might be, still he has a great deal of sympathy with the novice who feels rather appalled at the prospect of under- taking the work. As the beginner looks over even the condensed list of enemies given in this book, and as he notes that this one requires spraying 20X 202 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN after the blossoms fall and that one before the buds swell; and then as he attempts to select a satisfactory spraying outfit from the bewildering array in even one catalogue (and usually he has half a dozen catalogues at the very least), it is no wonder that he feels as though it was a hopeless undertaking. And yet as he sifts matters out he finds that most of the spraying outfits are a good deal alike, and that most of the pests are accommodating enough to group themselves in such a way that a relatively few sprayings will control them all. So that while spraying is un- doubtedly bad enough, and while the necessity for it may properly be catalogued as one reason why the orchard business will not be over-done, yet any good, intelligent man will very soon master the essential details of the work. Good spraying consists in selecting the right materials, in getting these onto the trees at the right time, applying a uniform strength to all parts of the trees and in doing the work easily and economically and with reasonable comfort. Making up and Applying. — We have already discussed everything except the work of making up and applying. Let us see what can be said to assist in this operation. In the first place, the orchardist should have every con- venience to make as easy as possible the work of preparing the mixtures and getting them into the spray tank. Few people realize how much time and money are wasted by failing to provide for this. To begin with, have a platform sufficiently raised to allow the materials to run by gravity into the spray tank. On this platform are located the stock solutions and other paraphernalia used in the mixing. Know just where to find everything that is wanted, instead of having to hunt all over the place for the arsenate of lead or the strainer, A very convenient outfit of the kind is shown in Figure 82. Then have a convenient and abundant water supply. It is nothing un- common for a spraying gang to spend more than half the time loading up, and most of this is often spent in getting the water. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but frequently a little time and money spent wisely in advance will completely obviate the trouble. To offset the money so spent it must be remembered FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 203 that the time of a spraying gang is worth money and whatever conserves that time is worth doing. The ideal plan is to have a large storage tank, such as is shown in. Figure 82, with a ball-cock to control the water running into it. This tank fills up w^hile the gang is in the orchard and is all ready when they come in to fill the spray tank. A large gate on the storage tank allows the water to run from this into the spray tank in a very few minutes, frequently in less time than it takes to prepare the arsenate of lead and lime-sulfur, or whatever is being used for spraying. Get Things in Readiness Early. — Order the sulfur and lime and arsenate of lead and all the other materials and have them on hand. Go over the outfit and clean it up and repair it. This is good work for winter or for rainy days, and will save any amount of annoyance when spraying actually begins. Have a good repair kit to take into the orchard while spray- ing. This outfit ought to contain wrenches of several kinds (particularly a stilson), pliers which will cut wire and wire for them to cut, washers, nozzles and extra small parts of every description. A few dollars invested in such a kit will save ten times the cost the first season in the time it wrill save running to the house, or, worse still, to the repair shop in town. Make the Work Comfortahle. — In this matter of getting ready for the work, have as good an equipment as can be found to make the work comfortable for the men and horses. The princi- pal thing in this line will be gloves for the men and blankets for the horses. A pair of heavy leather gloves well oiled is perhaps as good as anything. Good rubber gloves are possibly a little more effective, but they cost much more, and a good rubber glove is a difficult thing to find. Any light blanket for the horses will be satisfactory. It protects both the horses and the harness, and, while not indispensable, is worth using, at least in lime-sulfur or Bordeaux spraying. Some men wear a sort of hood for the winter lime-sulfur work, which will frequently be found an acceptable thing, particularly if one's skin is tender. Fundamental Principles. — In the actual orchard work a few cardinal principles ought to be kept in mind. 204 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN 1. Have a Definite Object in View. — Know what you are spraying for. Know what your pests look like, how they work and what will kill them. Perhaps it may seem hardly worth while to mention this, but a very large proportion of the men who spray do not have this clear notion of why they do it. How often a man is heard to say that the aphis is less abundant than it was last year and he thinks it is because he sprayed so thoroughly with arsenate of lead. As a matter of fact, arsenate of lead does not have the slightest effect in the world on them. Or he may say that he must do something this year for the big ants which attacked his apple trees the year previous when in reality the ants were not hurting his trees in the least, but were after the honej'dew given off by tlie aphis. Or that he is con- sidering the use of Bordeaux mixture this season for canker worms, when he should know that Bordeaux is regarded merely as a tonic by any canker worm in good health. Examples like these might be multiplied indefinitely and that, too, among good, intelligent orchard men. So that it seems quite reasonable to urge the importance of having a clear idea of what to do. 2. Spray in Time. — ]\Iany of our orchard pests are not affected in the least by any spraying which is not done promptly. The codling moth and the bud moth are good examples of this class. No amount of spraying after they once gain entrance to the apple or the bud, resjiectively, will have any effect on them. With a great many other pests spraying is of relatively little value if done late, and with only a few is there any objection to doing it considerably beforehand, 3. Spray Thoroughly. — This has already been spoken of more than once, but it will bear repeating, as no other one point is of more importance. A common way of regarding spraying is to consider that it is like a medicine ; if the tree gets a certain quan- tity of it, it will be cured of its diseases. But the proper way to regard it is to think of it as we would of painting a barn. Paint- ing one side of a barn has no effect in preserving the other side. Neither does spraying one side of an apple affect the other side. The case is even stronger than this, because such pests as the San Jose scale may migrate to the parts that were sprayed if EFFECTS ARE LASTING 205 we have left scales undisturbed in some places by our poor spraying. 4. Let the Wind Uelp.—ln spraying when there is a wind blowing if one will get at just the right angle with his tree he can spray into the tree and wet one side of a branch and then the spray will be blown back onto the other side and so the whole tree is reached quite as thoroughly as though there were no wind blowing and one sprayed from each side. Some men make a practice of spraying one side of their trees with one wind and then waiting a few days and spraying the other side with a wind Fio. 88. — Proper condition of apple blossoms for spraying before they open. This is often a very important spraying when scab is troublesome. from the opposite direction. This is all right if the winds are accommodating enough to come that way, but even then it takes more time to go through the orchard twice than if it can be done at one operation. In spraying bearing trees of good size some wind is even desirable, as it keeps the leaves in motion and the spray is apt to reach both sides more thoroughly. Effects are Lasting. — If the orchardist sprays year after year he is almost certain to find that conditions in the orchard improve from year to year. In other words, the effect of spray- ing is cumulative. We get some of the benefit of our 1913 spray- 206 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN ing in 1914. This is a comforting thought and ought to stimulate the owner to keep up the practice regularly. It is still more likely to be true if a whole neighborhood or section takes up the practice. A few poor, shiftless non-sprayers in a section can do a lot of damage to the whole region by keeping up the supply of insects and fungous spores. Spraying is Insurance. — In this connection the fruit grower ought to keep in mind a fact, which is often urged but frequently forgotten, that spraying is really an insurance. He can not always tell beforehand exactly what pests he will have, but he knows somewhat definitely. He must, therefore, map out his program and spray accordingly, knowing that one year with another such a program is going to pay. And in particular he must not become discouraged and give up spraying because in some season Jones, who didn't spraj^, gets just as good results. A man does not become disheartened and condemn fire insurance because his house does not burn down and give him the benefit of the insurance. And he ought to regard spraying in the same light. The Question of Danger to Animals. — Another point which is often asked about is the question of the danger to animals which eat grass that grows under sprayed trees. And less fre- quently there is some concern as to the danger of the sprayed fruit as human food. On the first point, danger to stock, the situation may be thus stated: With any ordinary fruit tree sprayed in any ordinary way with poison there is no danger whatever to animals which eat the grass growing under the tree, either in a fresh state or as hay. The Michigan Experiment Station investigated this matter very thoroughly a number of years ago, pasturing sheep under trees which had been heavily sprayed and in other cases cutting the grass and feeding it to horses, and no injury resulted in either case. On the other hand, there have been cases where animals have fed on grass growing beneath street trees that had been sprayed, and such animals have been either killed outright or made seriously sick. But the case here is very different from any ordinary fruit tree. With these street trees the operator stays in the tree for a long THE QUESTION OF DANGER TO ANIMALS 207 FiQ. 89. — Gravenstein apples sprayed for scab. Compare with Figure 90. Fig. 90. — Gravenstein apples not sprayed. Compare with Figure 89. The matter of spraying was the only difference in the treatment of these apples. One lot is almost worthless and the other nearly all No. 1 apples. time and iises a very heavy stream so that there is a tremendous drip of poison onto the grass beneath. The farmer need have no hesitation in using the grass in any orchard which has been 208 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN sprayed in the ordinary way. In this connection it ought to be said that too great care can not be exercised to prevent animals from getting at the poison. This does not often happen and yet it occurs often enough to make extreme caution desirable. In particular, the empty kegs ought to be destroyed after the poison has been used. Cases are known where such kegs have been left about the orchard and have caught rain water and animals drinking this water have been killed. All poisons should be kept under lock and key and should be taken out only as they are wanted for use. It is a very easy thing to become careless about this where men are using such materials constantly. The question of the effect of sprayed fruit on human beings was also investigated by the Michigan Experiment Station. Grapes sprayed with Bordeaux mixture were chosen and it was found that even though all the spray materials used were to remain on the fruit a person might eat 300 to 500 pounds at one meal without getting enough copper sulfate to be dangerous. In testing the matter of arsenic, apples sprayed with Paris green were examined, and it was shown that a person might eat eight or ten barrels at one time without being in danger from the arsenic. These figures seem fairly reassuring, even for a person with a robust appetite, and we may therefore conclude that it is safe enough to eat sprayed fruits. Nevertheless, it is poor practice to have anything on the fruit which, can be seen at the time it is marketed as it injures its appearance and most people do not care to experiment on the effects of spray materials on the human system. If it becomes necessary, therefore, to spray late in the season use a material that does not show. The spraying program varies somewhat in different seasons and in different localities; yet it is possible to map out a fairly constant program for each of the different fruits, and it may be of interest and value to suggest such a general scheme here. For apples and pears the usual sprayings would be as follows : First spraying in the autumn after the leaves have fallen, using one of the miscible oils — about 1 gallon of oil to 12 gallons THE SPRAYING PROGRAM 209 of water — or using lime-sulfur at the winter strength, say 1 to 9 or 10. This spraying is principally for the San Jose scale and may be omitted altogether where the owner is lucky enough not to have that pest. Second spraying in the spring just as the buds are breaking, using lime-sulfur at winter strength with nicotine sulfate %-pint to 50 gallons of water. This is for the scale, principally, but it also of value for certain fungous troubles and for aphis which is just hatching. It is generally advisable to apply this spraying, though there may be exceptions. At this time the buds will be well broken open and may even show the tips of the individual leaves, but experience has shoAvn that no damage will be done. Third spraying just before the blossoms open using lime-sulfur 1 gallon nicotine sulfate, i/o-pint arsenate of lead paste, 3 pounds l)owder, 1^ ^ pounds water, 50 gallons. This spraying is esiJccially important for scab, but also helps to control bud moth, tent cater- ])illar, curculio, aphis and red bug. Fourth spraying, within a week after the pedals fall from the blossoms, using arsenate of lead paste, 3 pounds to 50 gallons of water, or the powdered form, one and one-half pounds, with about a gallon of commercial lime-sulfur added for fungous diseases. This is primarily for the codling moth, but it is also very helpful with the curculio and is the most important single spraying in the calendar. It ought to be stated here that some people have had trouble at times with the combination suggested above and some authorities have even gone so far as to recommend not using the combination but applying each one separately. This, however, is too much trouble and if this combination will not work we must get one that will. The writer has never had any trouble with the combination, though he has used it for a number of years. These four sprayings will usually go far towards protecting the orchard from attacks, and, as suggested, the first may some- times be omitted, though if the orchardist lives in a San Jose scale district he should always do more or less autumn spraying in case the spring work rushes more than anticipated. On the other hand, in some sections it frequently becomes necessary to spray several times in addition to those outlined. Where there 210 THE SPRAYING CAMPAIGN are several broods of the codling moth it may be necessary to spray four or five times for that insect alone. Or if the scab is especially troublesome it may be necessary to spray twice before the blossoms open ; or if the cnrculio is especially bad it may be necessary to make a special application for that pest a week or ten days after the fourth spraying detailed above. For these and other special sprayings the orchardist must study his own special conditions and consult local authorities. For peaches and plums it is not usually necessary to spray in the autumn, but the program would be as follows : First spraying, lime-sulfur of winter strength before the buds swell, for San Jose scale, leaf curl and brown rot. Be sure that this is applied before the buds even begin to swell as other- wise the leaf curl will not be conti'olled. Some experimenters have even applied this dormant spraying in the autumn with good results. Second spraying, with self-boiled lime-sulfur when the fruit is the size of the end of one's thumb, principally for the brown rot. In sections where this brown rot or monilia is particularly bad it is recommended to make three sprayings for it with the self-boiled lime-sulfur, the first about a month after the petals have fallen, the last about a month before the fruit is ripe, and the second about half way between these two. Cost of Spraying. — It remains to say a w^ord about the cost of spraying. This is an item which varies so much that it might show better judgment to omit the discussion of it altogether. But it is hoped that the following figures, like others that have been given, may be at least suggestive. A block of 53 bearing Baldwin trees, probably thirty years old, was sprayed for San Jose scale, using an outfit consisting of a team and three men at a combined cost of 87% cents per hour. Time, 71/3 hrs. @ 871/2 cents (cost of labor) %GM Materials 431 gal. spray (Oil 1 to 12 = 321/^ gal., @ 3.5 cents) 11.38 Total cost $17.94 Labor cost per tree 121/2 cents Material cost per tree 211/2 cents Total cost per tree 34 cents QUESTIONS 211 It should be said in explanation of these fi^ires that the work was done with great thorougluiess, as it was especially desired not to let any of the scales escape. The same block of fifty-three trees was sprayed for codling moth at the following cost: Time, Gy, hours (3 men and team) @ 871/2 cents (cost of labor) $5.69 Materials 250 gal. spray (3 lbs. arsenate of lead to 50 gal.)= 15 lbs. arsenate of lead, @ 8 cents • • • .1.20 Total cost $6.89 Labor cost per tree 10% cents Material cost per tree 2% cents Total cost per tree 13 cents Total cost per barrel of api)Ies, about 4 cents A block of 1,487 four-year-old apple trees was sprayed for San Jose scale at the following cost: Time, 41 hours (3 men and team) @ 871/3 cents (cost of labor) .. $35.88 Materials 720 gal. spray (Oil 1 to 12 == 551/3 gal., @ 35 cents) 19.43 Total cost $55.31 Labor cost per tree 2.41 cents Material cost per tree 1.30 cents Total cost per tree 3.71 cents QUESTIONS L ^^^lat can be done to make spraying convenient and comfortable? 2. Discuss the importance of knowing why we spray. 3. \Miy is it important to spray in time? 4. Why is thorougliness especially important in spraying? 5. In what sense may spraying be considered as an insurance? G. Under what circumstances is there likely to be danger to animals fiom spraying? 7. Outline the seasons spraying for apples and pears. 8. How should plums and peaclies be sprayed? 9. Discuss the cost of spraying. CHAPTER XVI RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS In all the older orchard-growing sections of the country there are many old orchards which have been neglected for years and are practically worthless as they stand, sometimes worse than useless, since they harbor every imaginable pest, and yet which may be brought back into vigor and made to grow fine crops of fruit if rightly handled. Orchards have been changed from absolute worthlessness into thrifty growth and remunerative crops in from two to thi-ee years. So easily and quickly can this change be made that an old orchard, which is not in too bad condition, offers better and quicker returns than the setting of a new orchard. It seems worth while, therefore, to devote a chapter to this subject, since in many respects it is quite different from ordinary orcharding. Is Cutting Down Better than Renovation? — There are cases so bad that the best thing to do is to cut down the trees and put them on the wood-pile. It may be remarked in passing that they make fine wood for an open fire-place. Anyone who has not used well-seasoned apple wood in his fire-place has something to look forward to. The first question to decide, therefore, is whether the orchard is sufficiently promising to warrant the necessary outlay to bring it back into good condition again or whether it should be used for fire-wood. Of course it is im- possible to make rigid generalizations on the subject, for so much depends on the owner and the farm. Age and Vigor. — There are three or four considerations which seem to be of special importance and which would apply to almost any case. The first of these is the age and vigor of the trees (Fig. 99). The younger they are the better, because the owner has just so many more crops to look forward to. Trees up to fifty years are certainly w^orth considering if they are thrifty. Trees of seventy-five or one hundred years are some- times seen, that should be considered by no means hopeless. 212 THE STAND OF TREES 213 Vigor is far more important than age. The vigor should be in the roots and trunk. Indeed, if the roots are poor the outlook is rather hopeless. But with a good root system and with a sound trunk and main branches it makes little difference how much dead wood there may be among the smaller branches. We can judge of the root system by the amount of growth being thrown out by the top. If the original branches are killed by San Jose scale but the roots remain sound, the tree will at m^m,i iiu. ','1.— A go,.