Sitbet seat lit hs PESERERLESEEEEROL IEC CE dws speeeep weds as Hiei =e = Wtietiteriasciertettersgtstececcecraszfet betictouehi tied fy ESAS ete teagd tet cat dda dete f audit 1t2eh Cornell University — Library OF THE Mew Work State College of Agriculture SB Cornell Universit The principles of fruit-growing, with ap ii Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924002834541 Che Kural Science Series Eprrep sy L. H. Barer THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT. GROWING THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK + BOSTON + CHICAGO * DALLAS ATLANTA + SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limrrep LONDON + BOMBAY - CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lrp. TORONTO THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT-GROWING WITH APPLICATIONS TO PRACTICE BY L. H. BAILEY WITH 186 {LLUSTRATIONS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS dPew Work THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Lro. 1916 All rights reserved Loh. G D6 355 Gis pis @, él. Ag. ¥ 6% | CopYricut, 1897, 1915 By L. H. BAILEY Set up and electrotyped June, 1897 Reprinted July, 1898; July, 1900; July, 1901; June, 1902; February, 1904; January, 1905; January, November, 1906; October, 1907; June, 1908: January, July, 1909; January, 1910; January, November, 1911; April, 1912; March, 1913; February, i914 Completely 1evisea edition. Published february, 1915 Reprinted September, 1915; January, August, 1916 PREFACE This book was first published in 1897, seventeen years ago. The second edition was called for in 1898, and the preface for it was written in the Tyrol, where I was then looking into the interesting fruit-growing of certain regions. Aside from minor changes in the text, this edition included an addition to the appendix of “remarks on classifying and describing fruits.”’ The third edition ap- peared in 1900, with no change except in details; and the fourth in 1901. The present issue of the book, which is the twentieth, is a new work, it having been rearranged and reset, and largely rewritten. In the years since the book first appeared, much new knowledge has come to the aid of the fruit-grower. The advanced opinions of that day on the merits of tillage over hay and sod have now been affirmed by experience and experiments, although the sod-mulch method has proved itself under certain circumstances. The many investigations of insects and fungi, and the means of attacking them, have resulted in a new literature and more certain means of control. We are beginning a new line of approach ‘to the difficult problem of protection from frost. We have more rational recommendations to make on the fertilizing of fruit-lands. We are begin- ning in many ways to adapt practices of caring for the (vii) viii Preface plants to the better understood physiology of the plants themselves. The older and traditional opinions and notions are gradually giving way to the results of careful investigation. In this edition I have had the great advantage of the advice of many persons. I have freely incorporated the work of others, as appears in the text. Particularly am I indebted to Prof. C. 8. Wilson and Prof. W. H. Chandler, of the Department of Pomology in the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University. The one has read all the proof in galleys and the other has read it all in pages. They have helped me over many doubtful places, and have thereby made the book more worth the ‘ while. L. H. BAILEY. Irnaca, N. Y., December 25, 1914. CONTENTS CHAPTER I Pages (ue Frevp oF Inquiny ... 2... 2.2... 137 INVENTORY OF FRUITS ..... 2... 2... ee ee 2 8 Tur Course or DEvELOPMENT or a Fruit Recion . . 8- 10 THe D&TERMINANTS IN FRUIT-GROWING e ~ ee » 10 20 The temperature determinant ........... 11-12 The moisture determinant .. . at in Datdey 12- 13 The soil determinant... ............. 13815 The subsoil. . . ai eae ¥ 2a ee >) 15 16 The parasite determinant . i ee Me Rae me ee Oe Tue OvUTLOOK FOR FRUIT-GROWING ic @ ee we BO Be Tue ORGANIZING OF THE BUSINESS .. ..... .. 24 31 Cost-accounting . 4 roee we ee Se a1 Tue Two Kinps oF CoMMERCIAL FRUIT-GROWING . . . 31- 34 GARDEN AND AMATEUR FRUIT-GROWING ....... . 34 36 Tur GENERAL PRACTICE AND THE SPECIAL PrRAcTIcE. . 36— 37 CHAPTER II Tar Location anp Its CuimaATE .......... 88-63 Tue Puace . rae ae ah Sew agp Ee Ace 39- 51 Location with reference to market .......+.-. 40 Location with reference to weather... ...... 41- 51 Rain at blossoming time ........-.-.. 41-42 Wand eo oe en ge Oo eee ee ata gt ie ee a: Pe A Low temperature .. 2.2.1 ee eee eee AE 48 Atmospheric drainage SWS. ROL as ae 49- 51 Tur SITE FOR THE FRUIT-PLANTATION.. ...... . 52-55 The aspect ..... eek tee we ew ee 58 55 (ix) x Contents Tue Location anp Its Cuimars, Continued Pages WINDBREAKS FOR FRUIT-PLANTATIONS. ....... . 55- 63 Benefits ..... be Gr A Ral Re aw 56 Mnjuriess! (ye. ke ww ee BO . 56 Forests and fruit-growing ..........+ee.e 57- 58 General statement. oe 8 Re BOE | ” 58- 60 How to make the andbrests St ante 46 sa ee es 60 63 CHAPTER III Tue TILLAGE oF Frurt-Lanps .... oo « » + » « 64-108 The case of the early apple Stuns sae @ & @ » G7 69 Sod orchards .. . 6 gt an we! Rate Sah ee, pe DS TZ Allowable use of aod. Wise eae Fac calak cages iv ay Sa ap tae See aus Tue PuitosopuHy ofr TILLAGE ........... . T5- 84 The structure of the soil . . ......... 77- 81 The moisture of the soil ‘ é 81- 84 Use oF THE Various ToOLs IN be elect TO itanarai BAVING «5s 6 ee KR ee Re we ee 84- 91 Plowing to save moisture... .......... 84— 85 Harrowing to save moisture. ge Choe? A ee BE ee 85-— 88 Cultivators and moisture-saving. ......... 88- 89 The roller, in its relation to aoilanoisiues wee ew es 89 91 SUGGESTIONS FoR THE TILLING OF FRUIT-LANDS . ... 91-102 Preparation of theland.........4... . 91- 94 Subsequent tillage . ............244.4-. 94— 97 Specific advice on tillage . .... oe + ta ee « BTHRO2 CropPING THE PLANTATION ...... ss + « » . 102-106 Qrehard crops « « BROOKS THe GRADING AND PackING oF FRUIT. . . 2. . . . 883-407 What is first-class fruit? ..........00. . 383-384 The gradings 2: sk ww & & ew a ww & BX . . . 884-385 The packages... 0 7 1 1 ew ee ee te ee 386-392 How to‘pack 6. ce es .» . . 392-400 Box-packing of fruits . er oe ae 400-407 Farm PAcCKING-HOUSES AND APPLIANCES... .... . . 407-413 Srorinec Fruits at THE Farm : 2... 4138-422 Requisites for domestic storage wathont 1C@ a x a 4 s 415-418 Farm storage buildings. . . . . ce ig Su Bas be « . «418-422 THE PRINCIPLES OF FRUIT- GROWING CHAPTER I THE FIELD OF INQUIRY Ir 1s natural for a fruit-plant to bear. There are cer- tain hindrances, however, that must be overcome; and the better the conditions under which the plant is placed, the better will be the results in the production of accept- able fruit. The whole subject of producing fruit is known as fruit-growing or pomology. This subject comprises the art of raising and handling fruits and fruit-plants, and the applications of the various sciences thereto. It is impossible exactly to define what a fruit is, in the sense in which the term is understood in pomological writings. It is best delimited by giving a list of the products that are commonly known as fruits. If a definition were attempted of the pomological use of the word, it would be approximately correct to say that a fruit is the edible ~ product mostly of a woody or a tree-like plant—as of a: tree, bush, or vine—that is intimately associated in its development with the flower. This conception of a fruit is unlike the botanical idea, for the botanist defines the fruit to be the ripened pericarp and attachments. It should be said, however, that this confusion in terminology A qd) 2 The Principles of Fruit-growing is not the fault of the horticulturist, for the botanists have given a special or technical meaning to a common- language word. The word belongs primarily to general literature and horticulture, and if the botanist desires to impress it into other service, he must be prepared to accept the confusion that arises. The “fruit” of the pomologist is not defined in terms of botanical structure. It may be a ripened pericarp (or ovary), as in the currant, gooseberry, cranberry, grape, plum, peach, orange, olive; an ovary or pericarp im- mersed in a receptacle, as the pomes, comprising apples, pears, quinces; a greatly enlarged fleshy receptacle bear- ing achenes, as the strawberry; an aggregation of peri- carps, as in the raspberry, or combined with the recep- tacle, as in the blackberry; an aggregation of thickened flowers and flower-parts, as in the mulberry and pineapple; a nut inclosed in a husk, as in hazel and chestnut. Among fruit-growers, several large classes of fruits are recognized, as stone-fruits, pome-fruits, citrous fruits, berries, grapes, and nuts; or the division may be orchard- or tree-fruits, grapes, small-fruits or berries. None of these classifications is inclusive or exact; and it would not be profitable to enlarge on the discussion here. INVENTORY OF FRUITS Pomological fruits may be roughly classified under four heads from the cultural point of view,—tree-fruits, vine-fruits, small-fruits, and herb-like fruits. The follow- ing is an inventory of the staple fruits of the United States and Canada, and of many of those lesser known species which, having been tried in this territory, either give The Species of Fruits 3 promise of successful cultivation here or have been more or less prominent subjects of discussion or sale: CLASS I. Orcuarp* Cuururs, or Tree-Frurr Cutrors. Susciass 1. Pomaceous fruits. 4 Apple, Pyrus Malus. * Crab-apple, Pyrus baccata and P. prunifolia. Prairie crab, Pyrus ioensis. Atlantic crab, Pyrus coronaria. y Pear, Pyrus communis. v Sand pear, Pyrus serotina. ‘;Quince, Cydonia oblonga. Chinese quince, Chenomeles sinensis. Japan quince, Chenomeles japonica. Maule’s quince, Chenomeles Maulei. Medlar, Mespilus germanica. Loquat, EHriobotrya japonica. Susciass 2. Drupaceous or stone-fruits. ¥ Common plum, Prunus domestica. - Bullace, mirabelle and damson plum, Prunus insititia. ~ Cherry and myrobalan plum, Prunus cerasifera. ~ Japan plum, Prunus triflora. ? American plum, Prunus americana. Canada plum, Prunus nigra. /Hortulana plum, Prunus hortulana. Chickasaw plum, Prunus angustifolia and P. Munsoniana. Sand plum, Prunus Watsont. Beach plum, Prunus maritima. Pacific plum, Prunus subcordata. « Apricot plum, Prunus Simonii. ze Sweet cherry, Prunus Avium. , Sour cherry, Prunus Cerasus. Sand cherry, Prunus Besseyt. ¢ Peach and nectarine, Prunus Persica. _Apricot, Prunus armeniaca. Japan apricot, Prunus Mume. Purple apricot, Prunus dasycarpa. *Orchard, an inclosure, assemblage or plantation of fruit trees. Oranges are commonly said to be grown in ‘‘groves.’’ The word orchard is not used in this country for the shrub fruits. 4 The Principles of Fruit-growing Suscxass 3. Citrous fruits. Common or sweet orange, Citrus sinensis. Sour or Seville orange, Citrus Aurantium. King orange, mandarin, tangerine, and satsuma orange, Citrus nobilis. Calamondin orange, Citrus mitis. Citron, Citrus Medica. Lemon, Citrus Limonia. Lime, Citrus aurantifolia. Grapefruit, Shaddock or Pomelo, Citrus grandis. Kumquat, Citrus japonica. Trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata. Glycosmis, Glycosmis aurantiaca. Lime berry, Triphasia trifoliata. White sapote, Casimiroa edulis. Susciass 4. Moraceous fruits. Fig, Ficus Carica, F. Sycomorus. White (and Russian) mulberry, Morus alba. Black mulberry, Morus nigra. ‘Red mulberry, Morus rubra. Downing mulberry, Morus multicaulis. Japan mulberry, Morus japonica. Bread-fruit, Artocarpus incisa. Jack-fruit, Artocarpus integrifolia. Susciass 5. Annonaceous fruits. Sour-sop, Annona muricata. Sweet-sop, sugar-apple, Annona squamosa. Cherimoya, Annona Cherimola. Custard-apple, Annona reticulata. Pond-apple, Annona glabra. And other annonas. Northern papaw, Asimina triloba. Susciass 6. Myrtaceous fruits. Guava, Psidium Guajava, and others. Feijoa, pineapple guava, Feijoa Sellowiana. Rose-apple, jamrosade, Eugenia Jambos. Surinam cherry, Eugenia uniflora. Jambolan, Eugenia jambolana. And other eugenias. The Species of Fruits 5 Suscrass 7. Sapotaceous fruits. Sapodilla, Achras Sapota. Marmalade tree, Lucuma mammosa. Star-apple, Chrysophyllum Catnito. And others. Susciass 8. Anacardiaceous fruits, Mango, Mangifera indica. Jew plum, Spondias dulcis. Cashew, Anacardium occidentale. Susciass 9. Ebenaceous fruits. Kaki (Japan persimmon), Diospyros Kaki. Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana. Suscrass 10. Leguminous fruits. Tamarind, Tamarindus indica. ‘St. John’s Bread, or Carob, Ceratonia Siliqua. Suscrass 11. Nut-fruits (Nuciculture). Walnut, Juglans regia. Japan walnut, Juglans Steboldiana. v Black walnut, Juglans nigra. , Butternut, Juglans cinerea. And other species of Juglans. - Pecan, Carya Pecan. v Shellbark hickory, Carya ovata and C. laciniosa. And other species of Carya. Beechnut, Fagus grandifo"ia. European chestnut, Castanea sativa. ~ American chestnut, Castanea dentata. Japan chestnut, Castanea crenata. Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima. Chinquapin, Castanea pumila. Filbert, cobnut, Corylus Avellana, C. Colurna, C. pontica, C. maxima. Hazelnut, Corylus americana, C. rostrata, and others. Japan hazelnut, Corylus Sieboldiana. Litchi, Litchi chinensis. Longyen, Euphoria Longana. Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba. ~ Almond, Prunus Amygdalus. _ Russian almond, Prunus nana. 6 The Principles of Fruit-growing Tropical almond, Terminalia Catappa. Pistacio, Pistacto vera. Pili nut, Canariwm ovatum. Brazil-nut, Bertholletia excelsa. Chile-hazel, Gevuina Avellana. Susciass 12. Palmaceous fruits. Coconut, Cocos nucifera. Date, Phenix dactylifera. Peach palm, Bactris Gasipaes. And other palms. _ Susctass 13. Miscellaneous tree-fruits. Olive, Olea europxa. Pomegranate, Punica Granatum. Papaw, Carica Papaya. Hovenia, Hovenia dulcis. Jujube, Zizyphus Jujuba, and others. Myrica, Myrica Nagi (M. rubra). Sea-grape, Coccoloba uvifera. Otaheite gooseberry, Phyllanthus disticha. Spanish lime, Melicocca bijuga. Avocado, Persea gratissima. Strawberry tree, Arbutus Unedo. Mammee apple, Mammea americana. And many others. CLASS II. Vine-Frurr Curure. Supcrass 1. Viticulture; comprising y Wine grape, Vitis vinifera. Fox grape, Vitis Labrusca. Summer grape, Vitis xstivalis. Post-oak grape, turkey grape, Vitis xstivalis var. Lir Herbemont grape, Vitis estivalis, var. Bourquiniana. Muscadine and scuppernong grapes, Vitis rotundifolia. Sand grape, Vitis rupestris. River-bank grape, frost grape, Vitis vulpina. And other native species of Vitis. Susciass 2. Passifloraceous fruits. Granadilla, Passiflora edulis. And others. The Species of Fruits 7 CLASS III. Smaut-Frurr* Curroure (THe BrErrigs). Suscuass 1. Bush-fruits.f : Group a. Rubaceous fruits, or (bramble-fruits). e’ Raspberry, Rubus ideus. vl’ Blackcap raspberry, Rubus occidentalis. /“ Red raspberry, Rubus strigosus. Wineberry, Rubus phenicolasius. Blackberry, Rubus nigrobaccus and other species. Thornless blackberry, Rubus canadensis. Evergreen blackberry, Himalaya berry, Rubus laciniatus. 2 Northern dewberry, Rubus villosus, R. invisus. Southern dewberry, Rubus trivialis. Pacific dewberry, Rubus vitifolius. Group b. Ribaceous fruits. ~ Currant, Ribes vulgare. v Black currant, Ribes nigrum. Buffalo currant, Ribes aureum. Gooseberry, Ribes Grossularia. yy American gooseberry, Ribes oxycanthoides (or R. hirtellum). Group c. Blueberries. Swamp or High-bush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum. Canada blueberry, Vaccinium canadense. Low-bush blueberry, Vaccinium pennsylvanicum. Group d. Miscellaneous bush-fruits. Juneberry, Amelanchier oblongifolia, A. alnifolia and others. Buffalo berry, Shepherdia argentea. Goumi, Eleagnus multiflora. Caraunda, Carissa Carandas. Natal plum, Carissa grandiflora. Amatungulu, Carissa bispinosa. *Small-fruits. A term applied to all small and berry-like fruits produced on bushes or perennial herbaceous plants; as currant, blackberry raspberry, strawberry. In Europe the strawberry is classed with garden vegetables, and melons are often treated with the fruits. Small-fruits is an American term. +Bush-fruits. Fruits borne on bushes, or small woody plants destitute of a central stem or axis. It is an English term, and is equivalent to small-fruits, except that it does not include the strawberry. 8 The Principles of Fruit-growing Susciass 2. Strawberry-fruits. 4 Garden strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis. Hautbois strawberry, Fragaria moschata. Alpine strawberry, Fragaria vesca. Virginian strawberry, Fragaria virginiana. Everbearing strawberry, Fragaria mexicana. Susciass 3. Cranberry-fruits. Common cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon. Cowberry, Vaccinium Vitis-Idxa. . CLASS IV. MisceLtLangeous Non-woopy or HERB-LIKE FRUITS. Suscuass 1. Musaceous fruits. Banana, Musa Sapientum. Plantain, Musa paradisiaca. Suscuiass 2. Pineapple. Common pineapple, Ananas sativus. Susciass 3. Cactaceous fruits. Prickly pear, Opuntia Tuna, and others. Indian fig, Opuntia Ficus-indica. Barbadoes gooseberry, Pereskia aculeata. Supcuass 4. Other herb-like fruits. Cyphomandra, Cyphomandra betacea. Cerinam, Monstera deliciosa. THE COURSE OF DEVELOPMENT OF A FRUIT REGION Fruit-growing has usually been a comparatively late development in any region. The epochs that precede the agricultural occupation of a country are commonly about as follows: Discovery, exploration, hunting, specu- lation, lumbering, or mining. The real and permanent prosperity of a country begins when the agriculture has evolved so far as to be self-sustaining and to leave the soil in constantly better condition for the growing of plants. From Lumbering to Frutt-growing 9 Lumbering as now practised, and mining, are simply means of utilizing a reserve that nature has laid by, and these industries, therefore, are self-limited, and are constantly moving on into unrobbed territory. Agriculture, when at its best, remains forever in the same place, and gains in riches with the years; but in this country it has so far been mostly a species of mining for plant-food, and then a rush- ing on for virgin lands. . The first effort in an agricultural region is usually the growing of the staple crops, as the grains or breadstuffs. This is both because the capabilities of the country are all unknown, and because such regions are far removed from the markets, and must, therefore, grow such commodities as can be stored or shipped long distances; and it may be said, also, that the growing of these crops in a new country demands comparatively little special skill. Moreover, the new lands are cheap, and the supply of labor is small; and grain-raising and cattle-ranging are economically possible. The second development is very often a well- regulated stock-raising or grazing industry. If the country possesses special adaptabilities for fruits, a man here and there will be found enlarging his orchards or small-fruit plantations, and in time there is a wide- spread change from general farm practices to fruit-grow- ing. The growing of specialties, or perishable products, or those that are essentially luxuries, demands the finer skill, the more developed ideals, and the less fluctuating employments of an old or at least of a well-settled country; and it is in such areas, also, that the best special markets are to be found. It has been a frequent experience that when any area has fully committed itself to the raising of any particular fruit, the business is devoted too exclu- sively to one product and the individual farms may not be 10 The Principles of Fruit-growing good economic units. The lesson is that mixed industries are best for any community, even though the region make a specialty of one or of a few commodities, and that it is practically impossible to reduce the agriculture of any large region to a dead level of uniformity. The diversity _of industries also brings a diversity of population. In the present development of the newer parts of North America, however, these stages in the evolution of fruit- growing may not be marked. Fruit has now come to be such a standard commodity that virgin areas in newly opened regions may be developed at once as fruit lands; but there is a large element of risk in such undertakings in virgin regions. THE DETERMINANTS IN FRUIT-GROWING Fruit-growing, in common with all agricultural pur- suits, thrives best in certain geographical areas. That is, the business is not capable of equal development in all parts of the country. Four of the most apparent determinants of the distri- bution of fruit-growing may be mentioned briefly. The distribution of fruits may also be studied in their relations to life-zones, and particularly as determining the adapta- bilities of varieties (see for example, Bull. No. 10, Div. of Biol. Surv., U. 8. Dept. Agric., 1898, by C. Hart Merriam, on “Life Zones and Crop Zones,” as one of the early con- tributions to the subject). The leading determinative factor in the distribution of fruit-culture is clynate. The particular factor of climate that determines the fruit-~ zones differs with each type group of fruits; but in gen- eral it may be said that the relative annual temperature is the most influential factor. The Climatal Zones 11 The temperature determinant. It is customary to recognize three general climatal fruit-zones,—the temperate (typified by the apple and the peach), the semi-tropical (citrous tribes, fig, olive, pomegranate), and the tropical (coconut, banana, annona, mango). There are no positive limits of temperature to mark off or separate these zones; but it is sufficient for our purpose to say that the temperate zone is marked by a long winter of freezing and by the deciduous types of fruits; in the semi-tropical zone the winter is a short sea- son of light frosts or only occasional freezes, and the fruit trees are evergreen or very nearly so; and the tropical zone is frostless, and is marked by evergreen and largely ever-growing fruit-plants. The limits of these climatal zones‘ are exceedingly devious. In eastern North America, the northern limit of profitable fruit-growing is not far from the 45th parallel, and the limit sinks considerably lower than this in the Middle West, and rises much above it on the Pacific slope. The northern limit of the subtropical zone in the East is northern Florida and a narrow area skirting the Gulf of Mexico, and on the western side of the continent it extends in the valley climates as high as the 40th parallel. The only part of the tropical fruit-zone in the United States is in extreme southern Florida, comprising about 2 degrees of latitude (reaching northward to about 27°). Beyond all these bounds are special localities in which fruits of the adjacent zone may thrive for a seriesof years, and the fruits of contiguous zones overpass. The strawberry is probably the most tractable of all our fruits as respects climate, because its stature and habit allow it to be protected from extreme cold, and its short period of growth allows it to thrive in the cool season of the subtropical regions. 12 The Principles of Fruit-growing The annual temperature of a region is chiefly deter- mined by four factors,—the latitude, the altitude, the physical configuration, and the proximity or remoteness of large bodies of water. The motsture determinant. The second chief factor of climate in determining the fruit-zones is relative humidity. Whilst the isotherms— or lines of equal temperatures—run easterly and westerly, the isohyetals—or lines of equal rainfall—have no in- trinsic direction. They are determined by physiographical features. In the United States, we might recognize very roughly six general fruit-zones marked by pecu- liarities of rainfall. These are the Atlantic zone, a moist area bounded westward approximately by the Mississippi River; the Plains zone, extending westward to the Rocky Mountains, mostly of low rainfall and in some parts semi- arid; the inter-mountain region, being mostly arid and requiring irrigation; the Sonoran zone of New Mexico and Arizona and southward; the California region, mostly arid and semi-arid; the upper Pacifig region, comprising the humid belt of Oregon, Washington, and British Colum- bia. Within all these regions are geographical areas of special precipitation conditions. The interior or plains region is particularly trying to fruits because of the strong and dry winter winds, which evaporate the moisture from the trees while the ground is often so deeply frozen that the roots cannot supply moisture. There is probably always evaporation from tree tops in the winter when the air is drier than the wood. The fact that moisture may be lost from winter twigs is a most important consideration “in the study of the winter injury of trees, and it throws light upon the severe damage that often follows the “dry Soil Adaptations 13 freezing”’ of nursery trees in transit and of fall-planted trees. The soil determinant. There are special adaptations of fruits to soils. Pomol- ogists have been well aware of this fact as a general truth, but only recently has close attention been given, in this country, to the minor and detailed applications of it. It is well understood that pears flourish best in clay soils and peaches best in sandy or at least in open soils, but no doubt there are distinct preferences in the varieties of pears and peaches themselves. It is possible, in fact, that each distinct family or type of varieties of any species has preferences of land and location, and it will be the business of coming generations to determine what these peculiarities are. With the increasing refinements and competitions of the future, the special and local problems must receive more and more attention. If these positions are well taken, it must follow that the promis- cuous and wholesale dissemination of a few varieties over the country must eventually cease, and that local and special sorts must constantly tend to drive out the cos- mopolitan and general varieties. | These questions of soil adaptations for fruits have been made the subject of study over a wide range by Wilder of the national Department of Agriculture, and he is able to discuss the soil requirements of the Baldwin apple, the Wagener, Spy, Hubbardston, Gravenstein, and others, with considerable definiteness. He points out that the common advice as to “any deep, well-drained soil, on hill or slope,” being adapted to apple-growing is not sufficiently exact and discriminating. ‘The loss from choosing a soil for orchard planting that is not adapted 14 The Principles of Fruit-growing to the purpose is so much more serious than a similar mistake with an annual crop that too much care can scarcely be taken in selecting the most suitable soils located on sites otherwise favorable.” (Tribune Farmer, April 3, 1913.) Many fruits are very cosmopolitan as to soils, although probably none of them is indifferent to even comparatively minor variations in land. Of the temperate tree-fruits, the apple undoubtedly has the most generalized adaptabilities to soils, and this is closely followed by the domestica plum. Among semi-tropical fruits, the orange thrives in a wide range of soils. The peach and grape are more exacting, and the same may be said of the pineapple. * Now and then fruits are made to grow in uncongenial soils by working them on adaptive stocks. Thus the plum is said to thrive best in sandy regions when it is budded on the peach, the pear is recorded as sometimes grown on very light lands by working it on the mountain-ash, and the mahaleb cherry is thought by most persons to be a better stock for strong soils than for light soils. We may look for the time when certain varieties of the same spe- cies may be selected as stocks for given soils. But all this forced adaption to soils is a very special matter, and it only illustrates the more strongly the great importance of giving particular attention to the general subject of the adaptabilities of species, varieties, and even of strains, to variations in soils. ; The grower should give particular attention to the character of the land. An experienced fruit-grower com- monly determines whether the land is adaptable by its “Jooks;’”’ and this suggests that the novice secure the ad- vice of an experienced person if he would choose a farm for fruit. The success or failure of existing trees or orchards Soil Adaptations 15 in the neighborhood may give some indication of soil conditions. If the region is soil-surveyed, the intending grower should attempt to recognize the successful orchards on the soil-map. In a few cases, special studies by an ex- pert have been made of the soil types in relation to fruits, and advantage should always be taken of suzh work. The subsotl.—In making soil-determinations, the planter should not be guided by the character of the surface-soil alone. ) With modern methods of soil-examination, the subsoil is always taken into account. Booth goes so far (Okla. Exp. Sta.) as to say that ‘The character of the sur- face-soil appears to have little or nothing to do with mak- ing good tree land. Good orchards will be found on all kinds of soils, from dense clays to light sands. It is cer- tainly not due to the richness of the soil, for many of the best orchard sections of the United States have thin soils which require constant feeding. In fact, there is only one thing which is found constantly associated with good or- chard land, and that is an open porgus subsoil. The adap- tability of land for tree-growth is shown by the character of the soil from 1 to 6 feet below the surface. If the land is satisfactory for 4 feet down, usually this is deep enough for satisfactory tree-growth, although 6 feet is better. The average farmer knows but little about his land below the bottom of the furrow made by the plow, so that he is frequently but little better fitted to say where his trees should be planted than someone who has never seen the land. “There are many ways of becoming acquainted with the subsoil. One of the best is by the use of a spade.— The digging of a few holes 5 or 6 feet deep in different parts of the farm will reveal an astonishing amount of informa- tion as ‘to the character of the subsoil. The number of x 16 The Principles of Fruit-growing holes necessary to give satisfactory information as to the character of the underlying strata will vary. If it be found that half a dozen holes dug in a certain 5- or 10-acre tract give practically the same result in each case, it may usually be assumed that these indicate the general character of the subsoil. If, on the other hand, the verdict is variable, more holes will have to be dug until the limits of the differ- ent formations are shown. Where neither rocks nor stones are present, this work may be done more quickly and quite as satisfactorily with a ground-auger as with a spade. A home-made auger is usually quite as satisfactory for this purpose as the more expensive article purchased on the market. Take an old 114- or 2-inch wood-auger and have the local blacksmith weld it to the end of a 6-foot length of 34-inch pipe or 14-inch wrought iron rod. The welding of a short cross-piece at the top completes the device. €An open porous subsoil insures drainage and thus pro- motes the establishment of deep feeding roots) Trees with such root-systems are not subject to the vicissitudes of vary- ing seasons to the same extent as those of a shallower root- system. . . .. The capacity to penetrate impervious subsoils does not depend on the boring power of the root- tip. All roots have a boring power which is quite sufficient to force their way down in any ordinary subsoil. The rea- son for the absence of roots is that they are unable to live in the denser soil, owing to the lack of the necessary air. Thus it will be found that a soft mucky subsoil is quite as efficient a barrier to root-growth as solid rock.” The parasite determinant. Inasmuch as many of the organisms that seriously in- terfere with fruit-growing are more or less restricted in their range, it would seem to follow that the zones of profit- Bugs and Things 17 able fruit-culture may be determined more or less by the parasite factor. A moment’s reflection will show, however, that the geographical distribution of the parasite is deter- mined primarily by climate and by the distribution of its host-plants; so that, on the one hand, the climatal limit of the cultivation of the fruit may be approximately the climatal distribution of the pest, and, on the other hand, the parasite may be local or cosmopolitan according as the fruit is either local or widely grown. Many of the common pests are restricted in range because they have not yet reached the full limit of their distribution. An excellent illustration of this fact is the codlin-moth. Once Michigan was represented to be the Eutopia of the apple-grower because of the absence of this pest, and in our own day similar recommendations have been made of far western states. To the naturalist} , however, it was evident from the first that the insect was" ,following closely behind the apple frontier, as a storm' follows an area of high pressure. In practice, the energetic and intelligent fruit-grower will think last of the parasite factor when locating his plantation, for this factor is variable and migratory, and, moreover, there are means of keeping most fruit pests under control. Insects and fungi are of course to be reckoned with, and for this reason they are the direct and perhaps the most effective means of keeping the farmer in a state of mental alertness. There are a few cases, of course, to which these remarks will not well apply, but they are clearly exceptions. One of these is the dreaded . nematode root-knot of the southern states, and one might ~ hesitate in planting peaches on certain land where it does not freeze deep enough to destroy the pest. The pro- fessional experimenters can determine the course of the B 18 The Principles of Fruit-growing life-histories of the various pests, and can point out their most vulnerable points, and may even devise general means for their eradication; but the final application of this knowl- edge is a local problem, which each man must work out for himself. Laws are only secondary means of keeping in- sects and diseases in check on a man’s own farm; they are chiefly useful in providing a way of controlling the man who is neglectful, ignorant, or devoid of public responsi- bility. They are most applicable in those cases in which disease is more or less permanent or perennial, and in which there is no practicable recourse but to destroy the plant or the part affected. Such troubles are peach yek lows and black-knot of the plum and cherry.) A law can- not be enforced unless public sentiment is behind it, and when public sentiment is completely aroused the law may not be needed. Yet a good law is one of the best educators, and if properly enforced may save an industry, but it must be remembered that the final recourse is always greater knowledge and enlightenment on the part of the individual growers. That the grower may not expect so much of the opera- tion of laws as to lessen his own activity, let him consider the practical difficulties in the enforcement of them. It is practically impossible to detect the eggs of insects or, spores of fungi on large numbers of plants, and there are many natural and uncontrollable ways in which the para- sites may spread. A law may very properly require that “whenever any trees, plants, or vines, are shipped into this state from another state, every package thereof shall be- plainly labeled on the outside with the name of the consignor, and a certificate showing that the contents had been in- spected by a State or Government officer, and that the trees, plants, or vines therein contained are free from all San José Inspection 19 scale, yellows, rosette, and other injurious insect or disease;”’ yet it would be impossible for any botanist to certify that a dormant tree were certainly free of all disease; and even in the matter of some insects, an entomologist could not give a clean bill of health without giving more time to the examination of the tree than it is worth. These difficulties are not justification for opposition to statutes or for in- difference to them, but they are reasons why the grower should be careful to avoid a false security. The grower must add his personal endeavor, and watch his plantation minutely with his own eyes even if it has passed the scrutiny of the inspector. A knowledge of the natural history of the pests provides the only final security. Most insects and diseases are be- yond the reach of legislative fiats. Some of the demands for functionary proceedings against the bugs recall the laborious efforts of the Middle Ages. ‘At one time,” writes Fernald, ‘‘a thoroughgoing procedure, according to all the rules of jurisprudence, occurred before the spiritual judge. The accused insects were summoned, and in case of non-appearance, which always occurred, unless the in- sects were moving to new feeding-grounds and the court- house happened to be in their way, a proxy was appointed . to represent the accused insects, who debated the whole subject with the accuser, after which judgment was ren- dered, invariably against the accused insect in the form of an excommunication, which was carried into effect only when the insects disappeared at the time of pupation.” The most effective legal means are those that endeavor to regulate the commerce in diseased and affected plants, —to prevent the spread of the difficulty rather than to solve the difficulty on a given plantation. In recent years, 20 The Principles of Fruit-growing a useful body of inspection and quarantine laws has arisen that puts the power of the people behind the effort to stop invasion. It is to be expected that these laws will tend toward greater uniformity and therefore toward greater effectiveness, between the different political units of the country. It is particularly important that ports of entry and points of distribution be watched. The grower also must recognize that he has no right carelessly or wantonly to harbor an insect or a disease that may inflict great damage on his neighbors, and that if he violates this principle he is morally liable (as he ought to be legally liable) to correction. THE OUTLOOK FOR FRUIT-GROWING Two sets of factors chiefly control or determine the outlook of the fruit-grower: the ability of the grower, and the prospective conditions of the market. Few persons appreciate how personal a thing success is: yet everyone knows that any two persons placed in the same physical and environmental conditions, and given an equal chance, will arrive at very different results in business. The real directive forces are matters of character and personality, of which the most important requisites seem to be love of the occupation, indomitable energy, cool judgment, honesty, and ability to handle the details of the business. It is not probable that agricultural products are to be raised in too large quantities. Both population and rate of consumption are increasing. It is a common practice to estimate the amount of fruit which will be produced at any given time in the future by multiplying the number of acres of plantation by the yield of a normal acre of that kind of fruit. The fallacy in these calculations Competition in the Business 21 lies in the fact that very many of the orchards that are planted in hope and expectation yield only indifferent results. Not often is there a sufficiency of the best in any com- modity. It is in the production and careful marketing of the best that the greatest hope lies with any individual; and this raises at once the personal qualifications, A man cannot make the best unless he has ability for it. It is more important, therefore, that the first tillage and fertilizing and pruning and spraying be applied to the man rather than to the land or the crop; and while the man is acquiring discipline for the direct prosecution of his business, he is at the same time opening his mind to all the satisfactions of living. On the other hand, there is commonly a surplus of the ordinary. In fact, it is the ordi- nariness that often makes it a surplus. Now, inasmuch as most men are ordinary, it follows that most things which they make will be ordinary; and it does not matter if we raise the standard of all men, the greater part will still be ordinary, for we have only raised the ordinariness of the mass. This is equivalent to saying that the effort at excel- lence must be continuous and must not be satisfied with any achievement. One cannot expect to escape competition in the fruit business. As a rule, the best results are to be anticipated when one grows his fruit in a fruit-growing region in com- pany and in competition with other fruit-growers. If every occupation is already full, then it follows that the choice of an occupation resolves itself into what one cares for and what he has capital for, provided always that he can secure the proper land and location for the prosecu- tion of the business. He need have no fear of his success if he grows what people want, or puts it up so as to make 22 The Principles of Fruit-growing them think that they want it. In its common levels, fruit- growing, like every other business, is undoubtedly over- done, and there is only a precarious living in it. This is specially illustrated in apple-growing,—to which the least skillful attention has been given,—for the years of crop are years of low prices. This means that apple-growers allow the seasons and other circumstances to dictate the bear- ing time of the orchard, and when one man has a crop other men may havea crop. Yet there is no fruit that comes so near to being a staple commodity as does the apple, and none that has a longer market season, or is capable of manufacture into a greater number of secondary products. The demand for first-class apples, delivered in prime con- dition at the proper moment, is seldom fully satisfied. The most profitable stock-in-trade of the fruit-grower, therefore, is training for his work; and if a good part of his training is in business methods, very much will be gained, for there are probably ten men who can grow a given quality of fruit where there is one who can sell it to advantage. All this is proved by the fact that many successful farmers were not brought up on the farm, or they soon left it for other business. Good business men are likely to make a success of farming, if they are not too old and if they have learned the occupation. They come into the business with trained minds, skilled judg- ment, and especially without too much prejudice. They are willing to learn, and they quickly assimilate new ideas. There are most important non-commercial rewards in fruit-growing. A fruit-grower need not set before himself the single standard of money-getting. The end of life is satisfaction, and it may often be secured just as well on a moderate income as on a large one. It is one of the bless- ings that agriculture bestows on both the individual and Over-Production 23 the nation that it may make its workers happy and com- fortable without making them wealthy. Of all the lead- ing occupations, perhaps there is less scramble for big money in agriculture than elsewhere; and for this reason the farmer should remain a stalwart and conservative element in the national structure. Farming on a modest scale is capable of yielding a competent income; but the larger part of the wealth of the small farmer is of a different kind from that of the tradesman or manufacturer. All these remarks raise the old inquiry as to whether there is an over-production of fruit. The probability is that there is not over-production except in special years; that is, that there is not more fruit grown than can be con- sumed in one way or another. It is very likely, however, that there is frequently a relative over-production,—that there is more fruit grown than can be consumed in the mar- kets that are-ordinarily at the reach of the grower. The difficulty is probably rather more of unequal or imperfect * distribution than of over-production of the commodity. The tendency of the time is to remedy this defect by more perfect means of dissemination, but it is too much to hope for a perfectly equal distribution of fruits, since the fruit areas are more or less limited in their geographical position, whereas the fruit-consuming population is distributed far and wide; and most fruits are very perish- able under shipment. When there are heavy gluts in some markets and fruit does not pay for the freight, there are often other places, a few hundred miles away, in which the commodity is insufficient or even scarce. The intro- duction of special fruit and refrigerator cars and the better grading and the practice of pre-cooling have lessened the difficulties of distribution. But these appliances are of use mostly to organizations, or to those growers who have a 24 The Principles of Fruit-growing large quantity of product; or, to those localities in which so much fruit is grown that the community of interests amounts to an organization. Of course, one cannot succeed commercially in the growing of fruit if his land, location, and climate are not proper, even though he may have all the personal qualifica- tions for the business; but if he has these personal quali- fications, he will probably not choose unfavorable or im- possible conditions. Many orchards reared with the great- est care and looking well in photographs are on lands un- suited to the production of profitable yields; or they may be in frosty localities, or too far from market or shipping stations, or be otherwise seriously handicapped. These disabilities must all be eliminated in any effective discus- sion of the general outlook for the fruit business; and this outlook seems to the writer to be good. THE ORGANIZING OF THE BUSINESS Perhaps the last thing the farmer learns, in respect to his own business, is thoroughly to master his local problem. He must feel that his problems of soil and exposure, his limitations of capital, and his own tastes, are all special and possibly unique, and he must then begin to work out his results for his particular conditions. From books and teachers he can learn principles and truths, he can pick up suggestions, and he can, above all, acquire an ability to grasp his particular situation; but he must solve his problems for himself. This is the secret of that close and single-minded attention to business that makes for the greatest success. A knowledge of the details and the local special require- ments should enable the grower to organize all the units The Farm Plan 25 and items into a consistent business procedure, or to sub- divide it into its parts. Merely to raise fruit is not the end and consummation of fruit-growing. The raising of the fruit is a part in an enterprise, and this enterprise should make the best use of capital and of labor and equipment, and it should secure the greatest results with the least expenditure of effort. In other words, the enterprise should be economically efficient. Fruit-growing is preferably one part—perhaps the leading part—of a farm scheme; but usually it should not comprise the entire farm scheme. Farm-management studies have shown that the most profitable fruit-growing is often that which is combined with general farming. The general farm, with liberal parts of it devoted to crops other than fruit, provides economical use of men, teams, and equipment for the larger part of the year, as also a stimulating variety in work. It also enables the fruit-grower to produce much or all of the feed and bed- ding for his work animals, as well as many supplies for his family; it insures him against years of failure in the fruit crop. On the other hand, too much general farming directly detracts from the fruit-growing part of the business. Oats and potatoes must be planted at a certain time, but the orchards may wait. What one gains in the raising of feed and other supplies, may be more than lost in the neglect of the fruit-plantations. Years may be required to repair the damage accruing from one or two seasons of neglect to the orchard, with the stunted growth, lack of pruning, neglect of spraying, injuries from borers, and other disabilities, although this damage may not be im- mediately expressed in dollars and cents. Where the happy mean shall be drawn between a business devoted too 26 The Principles of Frutt-growing narrowly and exclusively to fruit-growing and one demand- ing too much diversion and dividing of one’s energies, only the grower himself can determine. It is certain that if one is to make a good business of fruit-growing, he must devote his best energies to it. Other things may wait, but not the fruit-plantations. He must have a “feeling” for fruit more than for anything else, and the fruit must have first call on men, teams, time, and painstaking oversight. If he does not have this feeling, he does not possess the essentials of a fruit-grower. The pride of a fruit-farm is in the fruit. By this it is not meant that the fruit-farm must be a “show place.” Nothing is more attractive in a picture than a fruit-farm with rows all regular and uniform and the trees or bushes all complete and perfect, and with tillage faultless; and yet some of the most profitable fruit-plantations exhibit little of this beauty of regu- larity. Perhaps it would be better if the plantation were more comely and attractive, but this condition is not necessary to success. In fact, heavy bearing often makes the orchard irregular; and if there are many varieties, it is impossible to secure stereotyped uniformity. The good fruit-farm is told by its performance and not by its looks. Caution should be strongly expressed to those who would undertake fruit-farming by proxy. Delegated and absentee farming is ineffective enough at the best, but there are special difficulties in fruit-farming by that method or lack of method. One year’s neglect to fight borers and other pests may be disastrous. Every tree or bush is liable to special injury, from winter-killing or otherwise, and much skill may be required to repair or overcome the damage. It is alluring to anticipate an orchard waiting for one on retirement from active busi- Absentee Orcharding 27 ness and which has been grown and cared for by others; but if the plantation has good care, in most cases it will be because the owner maintains a complete establishment of work animals, tools and men and does not depend on the hiring of the work from neighboring farmers. This means a general farming business. The costs accumulate rapidly, and the risks are heavy. The contingencies and difficulties are more than anyone can foresee. It is a com- mon opinion that the tilled crops from the orchard land will pay for the care of the orchard until it comes into bearing, but this is seldom true (if the orchard receives good care) and then only when this cropping is part of a good farm scheme and does not depend on fugitive hired labor. Purchasers should be careful of orchard land-schemes in which the work and oversight are all provided for in advance. Orcharding by others is rarely profitable. The annual cost of the care of an orchard for the first five years, including first cost of trees, pruning, fertilizing, tilling, cover-cropping, interest on moderate-priced land, may be expected to run from $25 to $30 an acre if one has his own equipment and does the work well. Cost-accounting. A well-organized business plan calls for a system of keeping account of costs, founded on an annual inventory and an analysis of the labor of men and teams and ma- chinery on each crop or for each part of the plantation, the general outlays, and the receipts. A daily work- report is necessary. The elaborate bookkeeping forms often devised for farmers’ use should be avoided. It is more important to analyze the business than to keep a perfect set of books. Most of the bookkeeping blanks do not bring out the facts that the farmer needs. Warren 28 The Principles of Fruitt-growing gives the following example (Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture) of a useful accounting with a 3-acre apple orchard: Work-Report ror APPLE ORCHARD.—THREE ACRES Man Horse apis Hrs. Min. Hrs. Min. April 1. Manured iG AUREL SSeS ey ss 9 45 18 May Siu) 0. gua seonku ae caer ene 2. 30 5 15; Priitied es anne che eeans ex 3 25..|Brush hauled and burned..... 1 30 3 27. (SPTAV EM 6 css wiemecacs sees ee 16 30 13 28.. He hg ee quam S BEEN REE 4 30 5 31.. Pe” 9 ssthyugehasaiteasuasy Ane ceeti tals 10 15 10 June 1.. MCC Tee ey ees 13 45 3 45 3.. Me, dapeterqtathy abba garni oes 16 30 9 4.. | cass Nctnche dugeey eto gutyseys i nde 9 30 5 5.. Oe tte Baan wean deanna ah teem 14 7 7..|Cleaned and put up sprayer... 1 15 July 31../Removed borers............. 7 15 Aug. 19.. Thinned Sher eR wae nae 30 20.. a 4 Manured. .. 8 30 17 Sept. 7..|Picked.............. on 4 15 Oct. 11..|Hauled barrels............... 8 16 12..|Picked and packed........... 34 30 2 30 14.. an sa BR ole ed pit i 7 2 15.. “ os Te cahgtavhe tk ca 11 30 5 Hauled to station............ 2 30 a 17..|Picked and packed........... 15 45 4 18.. ie ne OE arene a eae 12 30 30 19.. Rs i Sa ree 28 30 2 2... g te - Ridhe sai sa yopgase Pacey ese 22 15 25\e< oe ie a ere 19 30 1 26.. us as Ss dae og aaa ah 25 30 1 28.. oe es Seo slave musty (ite 36 30... a ae 9: Stacavaia aria ua abate 34 30 Hauled to station............ 5 30 11 31..{/Picked and packed........... 21 30 1 Nov. 4... Selling... ...00c0ceeseaees sane 2 1 30 6..|Packed............. DB rer. taies 7 30 Picked up drops............. eg 3 8..|Hauled to station............ 10 15 8 12../Got ready for shipping....... o 8 30 13..|Hauled to station............. 4 30 9 14.. He eS Me SEk oes SERRE 6 9 10 15.. aap creek er 9 30 14 Dec. 10..|Hauled manure.............. 2 4 Total hrs. and mins...... 492 45 196 15 1 R10], an eee sueyoryo 0} sdoip ‘snq GZ ee ULApreg “snq 0% ‘moug "snd ¢ :osn asuT0Y 10J ydeyy g “' Bury ‘snq g ‘uoyspieqqny ‘snq ¢ i pate cat tonaien eee o seca Dee “BT 9 |" 02 er |; (Adg "194 T ‘Surweerp “Tq4 T UIMAPIPA “S14 & “SUM “144 T) “S19 S|" "8s Gh OFE$ 7 *paqooT[oo 90U TA” UIMAPIeT “STAI & |° "3S eaearnae: gst | «Gummo “s1qq Fe “UEMPTE “s1qq Ce aren 69 ‘woyspreqqny “s1qq 6 ‘wddrg G6 BACB lee 1210, Tel 144 1 ‘souese yy “s[qq 9 ‘Buty aie : 140 T ‘Binquezydg ‘Iqq 1) “S14 TIT O06. [peer Ere $3809 00 4ser9}UT rococo eave teoy sate eed smo ‘snq ¢ |" “Tz 00 OL |°""830 T°¢ @ soqel quatadibe “sry 96T sey Tr he Tg ‘reueseM “19d T 20 96 |'° °°" "S20 SET © AOqQep-asioy “sIy 96T ‘goes ‘Adg “19q T ‘ee'g$ ‘surueeryy co 06 | $79 SI © Joqvl-uvul ‘sIy Eby ‘S190 F :Og'9¢$ ‘UApred “SIqq ZT |" 0% OOO ee ee te ee re puey fo asf) SEM OTE To BIE eS Ages sy[No UIApTeg ‘sng cy 6% Dott teste ester eeessee tgnoqdazad. ee Oo Aiea aigte' suaieninues ULApTe “14d Z |° “TT yn {TRS Oj seyddy,, “apy Oy |iilete ee GLS ‘Adg “194 T *98'T$ zoe “+ *SUISIZIBAPB 10} Sprvo-jsog uTIMpIEg “Taq 1 ieezs ‘Bary aq tle aon low. [tcc tet tee aveysog 6 ‘you ‘Moug “sq 9 “OD 3» UoOovepyoIy cg *°879 GZ ‘FYBIorf £°S30 QQ ‘s1oUl] PIE, Ge fects zydg "Jaq T 00 GL [otters s[az1eq OCT ‘Adg ‘s[qq p ‘Surmeery “sqq % ‘surly OOO. | ee Se1zeq UO FYSTOLT “194 ¢ UIMpreg “staq 2 ‘Urpaerg “Spy }'-ez “990 lez eo foot e aINUBUL SPeoy 34g Q frrttt ee tents sr serra sdorp ‘snq ¢z |*-¢¢- ye a ce aINUeUl SpEoT F Ge | er ea uapleg ‘snq 7 ‘Adg ‘snq Z|" "1% 8% 8 ""*890 8Z TYSTOIy + gg ‘nyMs-ouTT] “1qq T nn gjarieq Adu 7 ge fee Peo] Jo ayuuasre Uo JYySTOAT a +++++gozdde dorp ‘snq zt |* “ZT ols +++ pga] Jo eyeMasre “SqT OOT T “‘syo Gy ‘moug “snq T ‘TS ‘sury ‘sng T |" ZT 00 ZIg | °°" **** puey uo serreq—ArozUeAUyT ee plos sjeareq Aydune F |* “TT “suv SOVq ONVH-LHOIY GOVq ONVH-LiaT e 30 The Principles of Fruit-growing Much may be learned from such simple records, for the mere keeping of cost-accounts is not the end. The fol- lowing are a few of the facts that the farmer used in the preceding records and the suggestions derived from them: -Total crop: Bus. Total crop: Bus. Bald witts.)secaiceaeweeee aoe 421 Brought forward........ 611 Greening......cccceeceees 93 Wagener sac ccitiageaeenas 21 Hubbardston.........025- 30 Spitzenburg.........00eees 6 SDY's cane ceeuguonawew ees 23 Fall Pippin. ..........6-.- 3 ad ein oo lave odes Adierieiete eos S 641 earths Poke eee pee Drops and culls...........105 Carried forward......... 611 He was able to determine the yields to the tree of dif- ferent varieties; Yields to the acre good apples, 214 bushels; Yields to the acre culls and drops, 33 bushels; Percentage of culls and drops, 14; Total receipts, good apples, less cost of barrels, $233.07; Average price a bushel, good apples, without barrels, 36 cents; Hours of man-labor, to the acre, 164; Hours of horse-labor, to the acre, 65; Profit, to the acre, $17; Profit, by hour of man-labor, 10 cents; Cost, by bushel, good apples, without barrels, 28 cents; Profit, by bushel, 8 cents. It will be seen that the cost of barrels was very high owing to buying late in the season. Ten cents a barrel extra cost is more than equal to the profit on a bushel of apples, or one-third of the entire profit. Usually the profit on an enterprise can be greatly changed by small changes in cost. The profit to the acre is in addition to pay for use of land. The Two Markets 31 If all the profit is expressed in terms of land, the orchard paid $27 an acre rent, or gave a profit of $14 an acre. If the profit is all expressed in terms of labor, the orchard paid 28 cents an hour for time spent on it, or gave a profit of 10 cents an hour. THE TWO KINDS OF COMMERCIAL FRUIT-GROWING With the foregoing points of view in mind, we may ~ make a further contrast of the two aims in fruit-raising for market. We may classify the business, in respect to the objects in view, into the fruit-growing that desires the product primarily for home use, and into that which desires it primarily for market. Of market or commercial fruit-growing there are again two types—that which aims at a special or personal market, and that which aims at the general or open market. The ideals in these two types of fruit-growing are very unlike, and the methods and the varieties that succeed for the one may not succeed for the other. The man who grows fruits for the special market has a definite problem. The product is desired for its intrinsic qualities; and special products demand special prices. The man who grows fruit for the world’s market has no personal customer. The product is desired for its extrinsic or market qualities; and the world’s products bring the world’s prices. The special-market fruit-grower usually works on a small base. The world’s market fruit-grower works on a large base; or he sells to another who, by combining similar products of many persons, is able to command the atten- tion of the market. It is the large base on which American fruit-growing is established that enables it to enter European markets.. 32 The Principles of Fruit-growing In America are thousands of acres of one variety, and the conditions under which the fruits are grown are so similar as to produce uniformity in the product. We speak one language, and, although we are two nations, we live in practically the same political environment. We go to Europe, and to our own great markets, with wholesale quantities. In Europe, on the contrary, nearly every fruit-growing center is special; it may be unique. The industry is the outcome of years, maybe of centuries, of local effort and tradition. There is no general uniformity of methods and varieties. Community of interests on a continental base is impossible. There are insurmountable difficulties of physiography, of races, languages and political systems. In the staple products, the European grower may not be able to compete with Americans in his own markets, so long as those markets remain naturally open. The American fruit-grower quickly assimilates new methods. He is unfettered by tradition; and how much this means only those can understand who know the European customs and ideals. He is bold and confident. He easily buys and sells land. He controls his own efforts and destinies. He has much help from teachers and experi- ment stations. In many parts of Europe, the farmer is a tenant, and he therefore has little interest in planting trees. But even if he owns land, the area is usually small, notwithstanding the fact that there are many very large individual planta- tions. The environments of the Old World farmer are relatively inflexible. The result is that his methods tend to become stereotyped and rigid. He lacks the inspiration that comes of conditions which are easily recast and modified. His small areas must be so crowded with many Specialty Fruit-Growing 33 kinds of plants that machine-work is often impossible. There are few orchards in most parts of Europe, as orchards are understood in America, meaning an area devoted exclusively to tree-fruits set at regular distances and culti- vated systematically with labor-saving machinery. For these and other reasons, as well as for the fact that our fruits and their manufactured products are attractive and of good quality, the American fruit-grower should find an increasing market in Europe. But the greater the quantity sent abroad, the more discriminating will that market become; and it must be true that the brands and the varieties of inferior quality tend to supply the inferior markets. But if American fruit-growing is in advance of the European in its general commercial aspects, it is equally true that the European is in advance in growing for special and personal uses. The narrowness of the enter- ‘prises, the competition in restricted areas, the respect for traditional methods and varieties, conserve the very elements that appeal to the discriminating consumer, while, at the same time, they develop great skill in the fruit-grower. The care bestowed on individual plants, the niceties of exposure and of training, the patient hand- work, may almost be said to develop special traits in the fruits themselves. Such fruits may not find a place in the open market, but for that very reason they may have a higher commercial value. At the head of a little valley, closely shut in by the Alps, is a famous apple plantation. The trees are trained upright on the opposite sides of a double espalier or trellis, the sides of which are less than 2 feet apart. In each of these rows, the trees are 2 to 4 feet asunder. These trellises are perhaps 10 feet the one from the other, and between Cc 34 The Principles of Fruit-growing each two is a row of apples on cordons or single horizontal wires; and in the intervals potatoes or other annual crops are often planted. Even the wires that brace the end posts of the trellises have apple trees trained on them like strands of vines. Each tree is trained to a definite number of branches or arms, and even the fruit-spurs are carefully determined. This plantation is the property of a company whose business it is to care for the land and the trees, and to find a market for the fruit. It is expensive to grow apples in this way; but the best Calvilles often bring a gulden (about 41 cents) apiece. Perhaps the most important lesson the American fruit-grower has yet to learn is the fact that there are two types of effort in commercial fruit-growing, and that there may be pecuniary reward in fruits that are unknown in the market. Failure to distinguish these two categories is the result of a confusion of ideas. One grows fruit either for a special and personal market, in which case he looks for his own customer and is independent of general trade; or he grows what the market demands, and allows the machinery of trade to handle the product. In the latter effort, the American fruit-grower is preéminent; but in the former he has made little more than a beginning. GARDEN AND AMATEUR FRUIT-GROWING The point of view of most current American writing on fruits is to give advice for the management of the commercial plantation. There is another large realm of fruit-growing, however, that must not be overlooked, and which is as much worth the while within its sphere or place: this is the growing of fruits for home use and for the personal satisfaction in the effort. Once the amateur The Fruit-Garden 35 or connoisseur growing was relatively more important, even in North America; that time preceded the great commercial extension. The prominent American pomo- logical writers made their reputation mostly in the ama- teur field, as the Downings, Robert Manning, Wilder, Thomas, Kendrick, Cox, and others. At one time, a pleasant collection or museum of growing fruits was _ considered to be a part of a good private estate; but instead of the fruit-garden for fancy and for keen enjoyment, it is now the custom to grow collections of shrubs, native plants, roses or other plants, and to pay great heed to lawns, ornamental planting, and landscape designs. It is much to be desired that the fruit-garden shall return to men’s minds, with its personal appeal and its collections of many choice varieties, even the names of which are now unknown to the fruit-loving public. The discriminating admiration of fruits for odor, good form and color, and for choice quality is little known amongst us today. Our desire for fruits is mostly uncritical, easily contented, and confined within narrow and uninteresting limits. Such fruits as the Ben Davis apple, Kieffer pear, and Elberta peach have done much to deprave the pub- lic taste and to lower the level of appreciation. The commercial market ideals have come to be controlling, and most fruit-eaters have never eaten a first-class apple or pear or peach, and do not know what such fruits are; and the names of the choice varieties have mostly dropped from the lists of nurserymen. All this is as much to be deplored as a loss of standards of excellence in literature and music, for it is an expression of a lack of resources and a failure of sensitiveness. In practically any part of the country, a small collection of fruits can be grown in a well-placed plot. In fact, to 36 The Principles of Fruit-growing overcome the difficulties of soil or climate is one of the compensations in the effort. The exchange of cions and specimens of fruit with connoisseurs and collectors is another recompense. A person with a few acres should be able to supply himself with choice fruits of his own raising as well as with choice flowers. It is easily possible from an outdoor plantation to have good fruit every day in the year; in fact, this can be accomplished with apples alone. The raising of grapes, peaches and other fruits under glass may add greatly to the interest, if one is so inclined. In the home fruit-plantation, very few of the ordinary commercial varieties should be attempted. Collections should be built up by exchange, representing only those kinds that grade not lower than nine and ten in a decimal scale of quality.* A good fruit-cellar should accompany it, and this should be readily provided in an unheated basement or in a simple separate outdoor construction. THE GENERAL PRACTICE AND THE SPECIAL PRACTICE The standard methods, that rest on broad underlying principles, are general practices. They are the essentials. The intending fruit-grower should grasp these practices at the outset. The methods that meet particular local or personal conditions or modifications are the special practices. They are naturally in endless dispute. The clean tilling of orchards is a general and funda- mental practice; the sod-mulch method is a special practice, and it must be proved in every case. The grow- *For lists of fruits graded on a decimal scale of quality, see Repts. Amer. Pomol. Soc., 1901 and previous; and Repts. Mich. Hort. Soc., 1890 and previous. For lists of fruits, see Bull. No. 151, Bur. Pl. Ind., U. S. Dept. Agric. (1909). Special Practices 37 ing of standard full-size trees is the general practice; the growing of dwarfs is the special practice and must justify itself. Leaving the roots on trees when they are trans- planted is general practice; cutting them off is special practice, and it may work. The general practice is always the norm. It is not to be discarded except for very good reasons. The burden of proof is on the special practitioner. The grower may save himself much confusion, as also considerable bad and injudicious labor, if he keeps these distinctions in mind. He should read every article and analyze every lecture with this conscious discrimination. Much needless com- bat is waged over special practices. CHAPTER II THE LOCATION, AND ITS CLIMATE Aut the difference between failure and success may turn on the particular location or site in which the fruit- plantation is placed; and yet it is apparent that any advice respecting the proper place for engaging in fruit- growing must be of the most general nature, - since the species of fruits are so numerous, and the elements that enter into a choice of location and soil are so various and indefinable. That is to say, the problem is local. Yet there are certain considerations of general appli- cation and to which the reader may profitably give heed. These may be found to be suggestive in improving one’s practice in his established plantation, as well as useful in aiding him in the choice of location and land. The intending fruit-grower will usually find it to his advantage to locate himself among fruit-growers. In a “fruit-region”’ he finds conditions adapted to the growing of the product. Such a region attracts buyers, speakers, experimenters; it invites association and discussion. The constant association with fruit-growers quickens inquiry, keeps one informed, and develops the fruit mind. Regions that carry a reputation for fruits not only attract buyers and sellers, but also encourage many forms of codperation. Buying and selling exchanges, shipping associations, societies, and other groups are likely to grow out of the situation and to be very useful to all active (38) The Location and the Site 39 growers. The educational value of such associations is likely to be beyond calculation. THE PLACE The choice of the place in which to grow fruit, leaving aside the element of soil, is determined by the location and the site. The problems comprised in the selection of the proper soil must be determined for each particular fruit. They are, therefore, special questions, and must be treated in books devoted to the different fruits and different regions, and not in a general work on fruit- growing. The location is the position of the place as fixed by the map or the surveyor. It is in such and such a township, and lies along such and such a highway. It is a question of local geography; it may lie in any one of a thousand places in the general fruit-zones that were outlined in the preceding chapter. The site is the particular or actual place, in the location or on the farm, upon which the plantation is set. It comprises the aspect as to whether the exposure is toward the north or the south, and the consideration of the minor elevations and other topographical features of the place. To proceed, then, from the general to the specific, we may say that a certain fruit-plantation is located at X, in the state X, and that it has a high site, with a sharp eastward exposure. In the choice of a location with reference to its geo- graphical position, there are two chief elements to be considered, the choice with reference to market and that with reference to weather; and to these we may now proceed. 40 The Principles of Fruit-growing Location with reference to market. . Time has overcome distance. Market facilities are, therefore, determined more by transportation facilities than by nearness to the market itself. To have the choice of two or more means of shipping—as by rail or water, or by more than one railroad—is a most desirable feature in the location of any fruit-farm. This is not only because competitive rates may be secured, but also because more and various markets may be reached. The choicer the fruits and the greater the desire to reach personal markets, the more should the grower prize any means that will enable him to reach a number of markets. Such a grower will desire to locate within easy reach of a number of cities or large towns. He will not care, perhaps, to grow what may be called the staple varieties, leaving that effort to those persons who are farther removed from points of consumption. It would seem to be unwise, therefore, for the fruit-grower who has access to several or many unlike markets to attempt to copy the methods of those in the West or South, who must grow largely of one thing and in sufficient quantity to command concessions from trans- porters and salesmen. Fruit-growing can never be reduced to a dead-level of ideals and practice. In one place great specialization may be most profitable, but in another place generalization—the extensive growing of general- purpose varieties—may be best. The cost of haulage to the shipping-point or to the market is a most important item, and one that is often overlooked. It is expensive to haul peaches or berries 5 to 10 miles, particularly if the roads are indifferent. This cost alone may forestall any profit in the enterprise. Temperature and Rain 41 Location with reference to weather. In the preceding chapter, the general influence of cold and heat in determining the fruit-zones was discussed. At that place, the subject was the average annual tempera- ture. But within these various zones there are endless minor variations in physiographical features that have a direct influence in determining the areas of the incidental frosts of late spring and early fall. Moreover, the exposure to destructive winds is to be considered, and in some regions the liability to rains at blooming time, and to drying winds when the fruit is maturing. While these dangers are beyond the control of man, nevertheless they may be avoided to some extent; and we are beginning to construct charts and tables of average local weather so that the grower may calculate his risks in advance. Herein is one of the greatest services that the science of meteorology can render the farmer. “The average daily range in temperature,” as found by Hedrick, is “an important constituent of blooming-time weather. When the daily range is highest the danger to blossoms is greatest. The most jeopardizing weather to the fruit-crop, from the standpoint of temperature, consists of warm, sunny days followed by still, cloudless, cold nights. The danger is all the greater in such stresses of weather because the heat of the day forces out the blos- soms prematurely.” Rain at blooming-time——In his study of New York conditions for the years 1881 to 1905, Hedrick concludes that ‘‘Rain and the cold and wind that usually accompany it at blossoming-time cause the loss of more fruit than any other climatal agencies. The damage is done in several ways. The most obvious injury is the washing of the pollen from the anthers. The secretion on the stigmas also 42 The Principles of Fruit-growing is often washed away or becomes so diluted that the pollen ‘does not germinate. It is probable that the chill of rainy weather decreases the vitality of the pollen and an excess of moisture often causes pollen-grains to swell and burst. Rain also prevents bees and insects from carrying pollen. “A temperature low enough to be harmful to blossoms is usually associated with frost or rain; but a low tempera- ture, even though it does not touch the frost point, nor accompany rain, is often disastrous to the setting of fruit. The injurious effect is probably due to the prevention of the growth of the pollen-tubes.” Wind—tThe effects of wind, according to Hedrick, who has studied the question, may be summarized as follows: ‘‘Winds whip blossoms from the trees and prevent insects from working. Long continued, warm, dry winds injure blossoms by evaporating the secretion from the stigmas, thereby preventing the retention and germination of pollen. Damp, warm winds, if long continued, are unfavorable to pollination. A cold, dry, north wind in blooming-time chills vegetation and stops the normal functions of flowers and leaves. On cold, clear nights, winds keep off frosts by renewing the heat; or by bringing fogs or clouds from lakes or ocean, frosts are prevented on the leeward side of the water.’”’ In compiling the records of weather in relation to the setting of fruit from 1881 ‘to 1905 in New York, Hedrick found that ‘‘wind of sufficient strength to damage blossoms”’ occurred in the years 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1895, thus making an element of risk; and similar risks must be general. ‘The disasters from wind often occur in winter when trees are laden with ice; and the damage to ripe or matur- ing fruit is often very great: Protection from high winds, if it can be accomplished without interfering with the Effects of Winds 43 usual movement of air, is much to be desired. A naturally protected area is to be preferred; but in default of this, windbreaks may be planted, as subsequently advised. There are the most various and contradictory opinions amongst fruit-growers as to the influence of winds on fruit- plantations. It is commonly admitted that high or rolling lands are best suited to most fruits, and many growers sup- pose that the reason of it is that winds there find free course. The truth is, however, that several features con- spire to render these lands congenial to fruits. Some of these characteristics are the following: Good atmospheric drainage; the avoidance of still air in frosty weather; good water-drainage; earliness or lateness, according as they are southward or northward exposures. High or strong winds are always to be avoided, if possible. As a rule, winds are beneficial to fruit-plantations only when they bring warmer air, or when they keep the air in motion in frosty weather. If, therefore, high lands could be protected from winds without endangering atmospheric drainage or exposing the plantation to frost, much should be gained. In dry regions there is a special reason for desiring to abate the winds, from the fact that they subtract so much moisture from soil and plants. Even a slight obstruction in the path of the wind may give marked results in the conservation of moisture. On this point, King writes as follows: “In arid or semi-arid countries, and in districts where the soil is light and leachy, but especially where there are large tracts of land whose incoherent soils suffer from the drifting action of winds, it is important that the velocity of the winds near the ground should be reduced to the minimum. We have in Wisconsin extensive areas 44 The Principles of Fruit-growing of light lands which are now being developed for pur- poses of potato-culture; but while these lands are giving fair yields of potatoes of good quality, they are in many places suffering great injury from the destructive effects of winds. On these lands, wherever broad, open fields lie unprotected by windbreaks of any sort, the clearing west and northwest winds after storms often sweep entirely away crops of grain after they are 4 inches high, uncovering the roots by the removal of from 1 to 3 inches of the surface soil. It has been observed, however, that such slight bar- riers as fences and even fields of grass afford a marked protection against drifting for several hundred feet to the leeward of them.” Low temperature, however, is the greatest danger in the weather environment. The reader must clearly distinguish between frosts and freezes. Frosts occur on still, clear nights, and are more or less local; freezes are usually accom- paniments of storms, often of high winds, and are general or even continental in range, and their courses are not marked by the whiteness of frost. They were freezes, and not frosts, that swept over Florida in the winter of 1894-5, and over the northeastern states in May, 1895, and which have made much havoc in recent years on the Pacific coast and other regions; and most of the serious disasters of untimely cold are of this kind. These freezes are mostly beyond the reach of man. Particular men may protect themselves by means of fires, but in the main the grower can only move beyond their limits. But injurious frosts may not only be avoided, in many cases, by the choice of the location or even of the site, but they may sometimes be prevented on the very night when they are expected. (For ways and means, consult Chap. VII.) Of course, we eliminate from this discussion all consideration of regions Bodies of Water 45 in which the winter temperature is too low for the grow- ing of fruits. The chief local determinant of immunity from frost (aside from latitude and altitude) is proximity to bodies of water. These bodies act as equalizers of temperature. The water holds latent heat, and it does not respond quickly to atmospheric fluctuations. Therefore, it is cooler in summer and warmer in winter than the adjacent land. The larger and deeper the body of water, the greater is this equalizing effect on the temperature of the shores, other things being equal. As between the two, great depth is more important than great expanse of surface. Lakes only a mile or two wide may exert a very profound influence over the adjacent land if they are very deep. The distance to which the protecting influence of the water may extend is determined very largely by the con- formation of the shore lands. As a rule, there are distinct slopes toward the water, and it is rare that the effect of the water on the temperature extends much beyond the crest of the elevation. When the elevation is 300 feet or more, in the northeastern states, the region of immunity from frost ordinarily does not extend more than two- thirds of the distance to the summit. Along the central New York lakes, when the slopes are steep, the area of the tender fruits, as grapes, does not reach more than 14 mile or one mile. The famous Chautauqua grape-belt is confined to a strip about 2 to 3 miles wide lying against Lake Erie, and reaching an elevation at its landward mar- gin of less than 200 feet. Along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, the peach area extends from 1 or 2 miles to 15 or 20, depending on the conformation of the surface. Along the lower Hudson River the area of the tender fruits does not depart, as a rule, more than a mile or two from the 46 The Principles of Fruit-growing stream. In very gradual slopes, the ameliorating influence of the water usually extends farther, but it is likely to be less marked than on the lower parts of abrupt slopes. In all these cases, the limit of the boundary of the area is determined largely by two factors,—the distance from the water, and the elevation above it. Tarr, after studying the local geography of the Chau- tauqua grape country, makes the following observations on the ameliorating influence of Lake Erie, and the remarks will apply to most other bodies of water: “The lake is a great modifier of climate. In the spring, by reason of the low temperature of its waters, it holds back the vegetation, and this tends to keep it behind the ordinary frosts. Its very presence checks frosts by moderating the temperature of the neighboring air. In the summer, the water tends to cool the air of the day and to keep the nocturnal tempera- ture fairly high. During the fall, the water has been warmed by the summer sun, and the influence of this warm body of water lengthens the growing season and tends to keep off the early autumn frosts. There are many other influences, but nothing of importance can be stated, excepting on the basis of a careful study extending over several years. The lake breeze of the day must moderate the daytime temperature; and the land breeze of the night may, in some cases, so keep the air in motion as to prevent frosts. That there is a marked influence upon climate as a result of the peculiar conditions of topography and neighborhood of water, is evident at the very first. Sketch maps show that the mean annual rainfall is greater on the escarpment than on the lake plain, and that the mean annual temperature of-the hills is lower than that near the lake.” The particular influence exerted by the water over Bodies of Water 47 frost-injury in spring is often due more to the retardation of the period of bloom than to the actual prevention of frost, although its influence in the latter direction is important. The lands adjacent to the water ordinarily warm up later in spring, and the trees are not likely, therefore, to swell their buds until danger of serious frosts is past. The extent of this retardation of bloom is often as great as ten to twenty days within a stretch of 10 or 20 miles from a large body of water. It is well known that the danger from frosts is greatest in mild climates, in which “warm spells” are likely to occur in late winter or early spring. In the central and southern states, this frost injury following a period of warm weather is commoner than true winterkilling, whereas in the northernmost states and Canada serious injury to the trees from late spring frosts is comparatively infrequent. In the northern states, also, the plant usually goes into the winter in a perfectly dormant and ripened condition, and is thereby able to withstand great cold. It has been said that injury from cold is more frequent in the Gulf states than in New York. The elevation of any place also stands in close relation to frostiness. Perfectly flat lands are nearly always frosty, because there is no atmospheric drainage, a subject to which we shall soon recur. On the other hand, very high lands are also frosty, because the air is drier and rarer and therefore allows of rapid radiation of heat from the land; and they are exposed to cold, unbroken winds. The local altitude to which the fruit-lands may be carried can be determined only by actual experiment; but in the North the best elevations for the tender fruits are usually between 100 and 300 feet above the local rivers or lakes. While it is extremely important that the location for 48 The Principles of Fruit-growing the growing of tender or early-blooming fruit should be chosen with reference to its immunity from disastrous winter temperatures and untimely frosts, it should also be said that climate is often held responsible for failures that are chargeable to ignorance or neglect. This is particularly well illustrated in the perishing peach-grow- ing of some parts of the North. The date of last ‘killing frost,” however, may mean little to the grower of orchard fruits, for fruit-buds or even expanding flowers are not destroyed by frosts that kill tender plants on the ground. In a subsequent dis- cussion (Chap. VIII), the degree of cold that fruit-buds may withstand is given in some detail. Growers attribute to frost injuries that may have been caused by cold rains or to long-continued cold weather at blooming-time. Good phenological studies need to be made, whereby there shall be complete correlation of weather phenomena and vegetation phenomena. Frost data need to be worked out for every state and province, for the risk is great in every one of them. The imminence of this risk enforces the importance of rein- ° forcing the fruit business with the raising of other crops and products, and also the necessity of choosing one’s locality carefully. Frost recordsmust be compiled, to exhibit the average last killing frost, or the last freeze, in spring, the latest date of such freeze, the average first killing depression in autumn, the first killing temperature that has occurred in any year, and the length of the crop sea- son. (See for example, Bull. No. 5 of the U. 8. Weather Bureau on “Frost Data of the United States,” 1911.) We shall eventually work out such records minutely for small regions, for the farmer will find the information of value in proportion as it applies to his farm. D oe Drainage of Cold Air 49 Location with reference to weather—Atmospheric drainage. The air is rarely, if ever, perfectly still. This is well illustrated in the vagaries of light frosts, which touch here and there where the air is the stillest or the radiation most rapid. This is particularly true in the growing months, when the earth becomes very warm in the day and loses the heat rapidly at nightfall, and when, also, the Fia. 1. Atmospheric drainage. Peach buds on the trees in region of X are eranently: destroyed by late frosts, while those on trees in region of O are not injure ‘sky is less overcast by clouds than it is in the winter months. Much of this unrecognizable movement of the air ig due to the draining off or settling away of the cold air, which is densest and therefore heaviest. It pours down the valleys of hilly and mountainous countries, and as its vapor condenses it gives rise to the valley fogs and clouds It lies in the low places, and there may cause frost. A person riding across an undulating country on a still sum- 50 The Principles of Fruit-growing mer night can scarcely fail to notice the chillier air of the depressions. This escape of the cold air is the secret of much of the success of fruit-growing on rolling and sloping land; and this fact explains the importance of giving great attention to the selection of the site and aspect when setting a plantation of the tenderer fruits. Barden and Eustace (Mich. Bull. No. 63) give a picture (drawn in Fig. 1), of a peach-orchard containing a pocket in the Fie. 2. The frosty belt on a hillside below a wood. region X in which buds are frequently destroyed by late frosts, whereas those in the region O escape uninjured. Features of such little apparent importance as not to appeal to the fruit-grower often exert great influence on the quiet movements of air. A frequent case is this: A strawberry field is on a gentle slope, and on the upper side is a wood. In time of frost, the only injury occurs in a belt two or three rods wide just against the wood, in the very place where the greatest immunity was expected. This is probably because the slight bodily movement of the air down the hillside and over the forest strikes obliquely downward from the edge of the wood-top, and leaves a narrow belt of dead air against the timber (as at A in Fig. 2). The atmospheric drainage is marked only in still air. Winds mix up the air, and bring it all to a comparatively uniform condition. The slightest obstacles may sufficiently retard the movement to leave their impress in the distribu- Atmospheric Drainage 51 tion of a light frost. A rail fence, a stone wall, a row of bushes, a slight elevation of land, the earth thrown out of a ditch,—all of these, when they extend across a slope, are obstacles to drainage of cold air. In some cases, there may be a difference of 10° in temperature in as many feet of elevation. A dense row of trees standing diagonally across a slope may convey away the cold air that settles down against it, and thereby prevent injury to plants on the lower levels. The range of elevation through which atmospheric drainage acts beneficially to the fruit-grower is limited. A fall of a few feet in a plantation is often sufficient for the very best protection from light frosts; and a fall of 100 to 200 feet on a farm or large plantation may be regarded as the general maximum throughout which the benefit may be observed, for very high elevations are, as we have seen, bleaker and colder in sum-temperature than comparatively low ones. What may be gained by air- drainage may be lost by coldness of elevation. The tem- perature decreases by 1° F. for each 300 feet elevation, and, according to Hann, is independent of latitude. “Tt is a common experience,” writes W. M. Wilson, “that vegetation at the surface is sometimes killed when the temperature of the air 4 feet above the surface remains above freezing; but rarely is there an absence of frost or of injurious temperature when the air temperature 4 feet above the surface falls to 32°. This is due to the fact that on clear, quiet nights when frost is likely to occur, the air at the surface is nearly always colder than it is a few feet above the surface. This difference may amount to as much as 10°, or even 15°, in as many feet, but usually it is much less. The difference is greater on clear nights than on cloudy nights.” 52 The Principles of Fruit-growing THE SITE FOR THE FRUIT-PLANTATION The grower is confined to his general region, but he may have much choice in the lay of the land, or the par- ticular site of his plantation. The preceding discussions will enable the reader to approach this subject reasonably. As a rule, especially in northern countries, the ideal site for a fruit-plantation is somewhat elevated above adjoining lands. Such a site presents the two advan- tages of atmospheric and soil-drainage. Of these advan- tages, the atmospheric drainage is the greater, inasmuch as soil-draiflage can be secured by artificial means. In speaking of elevated lands, it is not necessarily meant that they be rolling. Some entire farms that are almost level may be sufficiently elevated above the local streams or the general contour of a flat country to answer all purposes of an ideal fruit site. The pronounced minor elevations often present other advantages of temperature than those incident to atmos- pheric drainage. They offer various exposures, and they may be utilized as windbreaks by placing the plantations on the slopes opposite the severest winds. If they are near large bodies of water, they are usually more pro- foundly influenced by such bodies than flatter lands, because more open to the movements of air from them. Despite all these remarks, there are certain cases in which comparatively low lands are preferable for fruit- raising, but this is because such lands are moister, richer, leveler, or more sheltered, rather than because they are lower than surrounding areas; for all these advantages may sometimes be secured on comparatively elevated lands, and atmospheric drainage be secured in addition, Strawberries are grown on lower lands largely because The Exposure 53 such lands are moist and level. Quinces and blackberries demand. a moister land than is usually found on pro- nounced slopes. In any event, however, the grower should avoid flat lands that are hemmed in on all sides by elevations, for these ‘pockets’ are nearly always frosty. The aspect. The aspect or exposure of a fruit-plantation is deter- mined by the direction and extent of the slope of the land. The exposure exerts great influence on the temperature of the soil and on the force of winds, and it therefore becomes an emphatic problem in the location of a fruit area, especially when the tender and early-blooming fruits are under consideration. There is the greatest diversity of opinion respecting the proper exposure for fruits, some growers contending that the northward slope is always the best, and others preferring a southward exposure. The truth is that no one exposure is best in all cases. Much depends on the location and the particular environment of the plantation, and on the kind of fruit which it is proposed to grow. The subject may be analyzed by discussing it under five generalizations: 1. In locations adjoining bodies of water, the best slope is toward the water. The very reason for the location of fruit-farms in such places is that the ameliorating effects of the water may be secured, and these effects are most marked when the fruit-land is most exposed to the influ- ence of the river or lake. In all these cases, therefore, the particular direction of the slope in respect to the points of the compass is of a very secondary importance. There is often great choice between the two sides of the river or small lake, particularly when the slopes are sharp and 54 The Principles of Frutt-growing high. The side facing away from strong prevailing winds is usually preferable, particularly if the elevation back. of it is sufficient to act as a windbreak. 2. In interior or frosty regions, the best slope for the ' tender and early-blooming fruits, as a rule, is one that retards the blooming period, thereby causing the plant to remain comparatively dormant until the incidental spring frosts are passed. In such places, therefore, the northward and westward slopes are commonly most advisable; although, if these slopes are too pronounced, they may be so very cold and backward that what is gained by the retardation in spring may be lost by the retardation in fall, and the fruits may fail to ripen properly, or be caught by early fall frosts. In wholly interior places, a somewhat pronounced northward exposure is usually preferable for peaches and apricots, since these fruits are likely to swell their buds with the first fitful warmth of spring. 3. In regions in which there is much danger of sun- scald on the trunk and larger branches,.as in the mid- continental country and in hot arid areas, it is well to avoid pronounced southwestern exposures if possible; or if it is not possible, extra precaution should be exercised to train the heads of the trees in such a way as to pro- vide the requisite shade. 4. If one desires to secure particularly early results and bright colors of fruits, a warm and sunny exposure, to the southward or southeastward, is most advisable. This is a matter of considerable moment with the finer dessert varieties of fruits. 5. It is sometimes necessary, also, to study the expo- sure with reference to prevailing winds, when these winds are more or less constant and strong. The selection of the Checking the Wind 55 aspect may, in a large measure, obviate the necessity of establishing elaborate windbreaks. The contour of the land should always be carefully considered when the planting of shelter-belts is under advisement. WINDBREAKS FOR FRUIT-PLANTATIONS We are now able to approach the troubled subject of windbreaks in a rational way. Although the best writers on horticultural topics are nearly unanimous in recom- mending windbreaks for fruit-plantations, there is, nevertheless, wide difference in opinion and practice among good cultiva- tors. Fruit - growers Fre. 3. The protected area, A, behind 3 hold, as a rule, decided opinions concerning === = windbreaks. In fact, they usually hold ex- treme opinions, either wholly opposing es shelter-belts in all yo, 4, The upward deflection of winds by a cases, or strongly ad- pick aie vocating them. All who are engaged in the growing of fruits or who attend fruit-growers’ gatherings, have heard the most positive experiences cited in support of both opinions. There must be good reasons for these opposing views. There appear to be no well-grounded maxims or precepts among growers themselves, and statements con- cerning the merits of shelter-belts are commonly vague. Of course there is no dispute as to the marked effect 56 The Principles of Fruit-growing of breaks in deflecting or checking strong winds. Even a fence may have a marked effect. Persons and animals instinctively seek shelter. Two simple illustrations will suffice. Fig. 3 shows the still area back of the shelter- belt’ which stands across the prevailing winds. Fig. 4 is a diagram of the effect of a high bank on the Great Lakes. The strong winds strike the bank and are deflected upward and reach the surface at some distance back, leaving a relatively dead area at A. Benefits—An epitome of the benefits derived from windbreaks as reported by growers of fruit may be arranged as follows: ‘ 1. A windbreak may protect from cold. 2. It reduces evaporation from the surface of the land, tending to mitigate drought in summer and root-injury in winter. 3. Prevents or lessens windfalls. 4. Lessens breaking of trees laden with fruit or ice. 5. Retains snow and leaves, thus tending to prevent deep freezing and excessive evaporation. 6. Facilitates labor in the fruit-plantation. 7. Protects blossoms from severe winds. 8. Enables trees to grow straighter. 9. Reduces injury from the drying of small fruits on the plants. 10. Holds the sand in certain places. 11. Sometimes causes fruits to ripen earlier. 12. Encourages birds. 13. It may be made an ornament to the property. Injuries reported from windbreaks: 1. A windbreak may render a plantation colder at certain times. 2. Fruit immediately adjoining the windbreak is liable to be much injured by insects and diseases, and to be small and inferior in color. 3. Trees immediately against the windbreak are often less thrifty than others. 4, There may be greater damage from late spring frosts in sheltered plantations. Woods 57 Forests and fruit-growing—One of the reasons why fruit-growing is attended with increasing difficulties is because the forests have been destroyed, thereby opening the country to the winds. There is no evidence that the extremes of temperature or fluctuations in annual means have become larger in recent years from the effects of forest-removal, or that there are more high winds now than formerly, but it is true that winds blow over the farm with greater force. Winds sweep the surface and bear away the moisture of the soil at the same time that they come in contact with the trees and bushes themselves, and take away their moisture. The chief effect of the forest is to check the force of winds in prescribed areas. It has a local influence. Aside from all this, if forests were retained about the sources of creeks and on springy hillsides, a more continuous supply of water might be secured for irrigation, live-stock, spraying and domestic uses. It is worth saying, also, that a country dotted here and there with forest areas is much more attractive to every person who loves variety of landscape and nature. While there are thus many advantages to fruit-growing of small forest preserves, there are also disadvantages. In certain cases they may become the harbors and breed- ing-places of insect or fungous invasions. This difficulty may be largely avoided by cutting out those trees and bushes that breed the fruit-grower’s enemies. The wild cherries are much loved of the tent-caterpillars, the elm of the canker-worm, and wild roses and their kin of the rose- chafer. The cedar-apple fungus thrives on the red cedar, and is thence transported to the quince or apple orchard, and a form of it affects the wild thorn trees. The red-rust flourishes on the wild blackberries, dewberries and black raspberries, and the strawberry diseases breed in the 58 The Principles of Fruit-growing patches of wild berries. It is not often, however, that the forest areas become a very serious menace to fruit-growers. General statement—The advantages derived from windbreaks are many, positive, and they appear to warrant the strongest recommendations of horticultural writers. Yet the injuries occasionally sustained in consequence of shelter-belts may be serious, for it is well attested that trees sometimes suffer from cold in the immediate vicinity of a dense windbreak when they escape injury in other places. This fact is easily explained, however. The influ- ence of a windbreak on the temperatures of an adjacent plantation is governed by its position with reference to prevailing or severe winds. Of itself, wind probably exerts little or no influence on temperature. It acquires the temperature of surfaces over which it passes. If these surfaces are colder than the given area, cold winds are the result, or if warmer, as a large body of water, the winds are warm. But wind often causes great injury to plants because of its acceleration of evaporation; and winds that are no colder than the given area, if comparatively dry, may consequently do great damage to fruit-plantations. This is particularly true at certain times in the winter season. Land winds, being cold and dry, are at that time likely to be dangerous; whereas winds that traverse large bodies of water, and are therefore comparatively warm and moist, are usually in themselves protectors of tender plants. The advantage or disadvantage of the windbreak, ‘ therefore, depends directly on the configuration or topog- raphy of the particular place, and the problem is strictly local. But it may be said that a windbreak is desirable wherever the fruit-plantation is much exposed to strong winds. To prevent possible injury from too little circu- nhl epi ORS #. ha es y ee ZZ ite, Yer Ly BF ZZ Ce ass BLL Ys Ege Ze L/ » Ne V fh & YIM Wy Fia. 5. A Lombardy poplar break protecting a peach orchard from violent winds on the shore of Lake Michigan. The fruit trees are too near the break. (59) 60 The Principles of Fruit-growing lation of air in certain localities, particular care should be exercised in the construction of the windbreak. The pre- vailing winds are the ones chiefly to be avoided. This is particularly important in regions in which these winds are normally strong, as on the ocean shore. In fact, it is usually impossible to grow successful orchards in full exposure to the ocean. How to make the windbreak—From a general study of the subject, it appears that in interior localities dense plantings are commonly advisable, tight hedges often being recommended. This is because the winds, coming off the land, are likely to make the plantation colder. In localities influenced by bodies of water, however, it is apparently better practice to plant a belt only for the purpose of breaking or checking the force of the warmer winds, still allowing them to pass in their course. Such a belt gives the desired shelter to trees when laden with fruit and ice, and may hold the snow, while danger from comparatively still air is averted. The damage from still air is usually observed in the lee of natural forests, and it is in such places that injury is reported by correspondents. The writer has found no indisputable evidence to show that such injury ever accompanies artificial windbreaks; places where such injury was reported have been visited, but the loss of trees and fruit was plainly due to age of trees or other obvious reasons. Still, it is probable that a hedge- like windbreak may sometimes be the cause of mischief; and such should never be made in any locality until the problems of local atmospheric drainage have been well considered. The coarser evergreens, planted close together, are therefore advisable for interior places, while deciduous trees, or evergreens somewhat scattered, are often better “HIOX MON W19}60M UT soNIds ABMION pues se[deur Jo HeeIqpuULA poxtu poo y ‘9 ‘DIY ve at nt Wy a 62 The Principles of Frutt-growing for the lake regions. In these latter cases, however, the lay of the land is important, for if atmospheric drainage is good there is less danger of injury from tight belts. Lower levels, upon which cold air settles, are more in need of open belts than higher lands. For interior places, a strip of natural forest is the ideal windbreak. A Lombardy poplar windbreak alongside a peach orchard is shown in Fig. 5. In artificial belts, the kind illus- FF E SR NZ Wy Fic. 7. Raspberry plantation protected by a windbreak. trated in Fig. 6, is undoubtedly one of the best. The illustration shows two rows of maples backing up a row of Norway spruce. The maples then receive and break the force of the wind, and prevent the spruces from becoming ragged. Fig. 7 presents a good raspberry plantation protected by a windbreak. The gist of the matter is to choose those kinds of trees that are most thrifty and healthy in the particular locality, and that are least infested by fungi and insects common to fruit-plants, and then to study the local conditions carefully to determine how dense or how open the shelter Windbreaks 63 should be. For California, Wickson recommends species of eucalyptus, pepper or schinus, Monterey cypress, Monterey pine, osage orange, locust, and maples. ‘Quite a number of the larger-growing deciduous fruit trees,’’ he continues, “are used to some extent along the exterior lines of orchards for the prétection of the inclosure. The fig, the walnut, the chestnut, seedling almonds, and apricots are especially commended for such use.” In Florida it is a common practice to leave strips of the original forest to serve as shelter-belts. If this forest is hammock land, and therefore well clothed und-rneath, the protection of a belt 2 to 4 rods wide will b most complete. The cabbage palmetto is often allowed to stand promiscuously through the orange plantation, partly to serve as a protection from winds, partly for shade and ornament. In exposed places, orange groves are sometimes protected by very tall open fences. The break should not be planted so close to the rows of fruit as to deprive them of light, food and moisture. It should never be dense enough to force the buds on fruit trees in those localities subject to late spring frosts, as it may sometimes do when it faces the south and acts like a southern exposure for the plantation. Payne makes the following observation (Colo. Exp. Sta.) on windbreaks in a given dry-land orchard: “Trees used for windbreaks - for orchards under dry-farming conditions are expensive unless the trees of the windbreak group are planted far enough from the fruit trees so that the roots of the wind- break group will not compete with the fruit trees for moisture. The root-development of the Russian mulberry and black locust found at the Plains Substation indicate that the windbreak group should be planted 100 feet from the fruit trees.” CHAPTER III THE TILLAGE OF FRUIT-LANDS Tue study of the development of the ideas associated with the tillage of the land opens one of the most interest- ing chapters in history. The subject is all the more suggestive because tillage is such a commonplace and almost universal labor that no one thinks of it as having had a history. Yet the practice of the simple stirring of the soil has been slowly evolved, like all other methods and institutions, through a long period and as the result of many forces that were unobserved or even unknown at the time. We think of tillage as a custom; and if one considers the condition of farming at the present moment, he would seem to be warranted in such an association, for a custom is a habit that is not suggested by reason and inquiry. Perhaps the only reason that most persons could give for the tillage of the land is that they are obliged to practice it. It would seem to be the simplest and dullest thing to till the land. It is merely the driving of the animal and the holding of the plow, or taking care that the harrow ~ scarifies the entire surface; or it may be only the stubborn wielding of the hoe or rake. This view of the matter is wholly correct when one thinks of tillage only as labor. The work must be done because, somehow, plants thrive best when it is done; but the sooner it is done and the less there is of it the easier, and what is the easier is the better. It was, no doubt, some such mind as this that domi- (64) The Early Tillage 65 nated the rude farmers in the early history of the race. Throughout all the years until now—and, unfortunately, too often even now—tillage has been a mere necessity forced upon the husbandman by a most ungenerous Nature. The first tillage probably arose from necessity of breaking the earth to get the seed into it; and the second step was the digging out of other plants that interfered with its growth. In many cases, still another hardship was imposed, for the earth must be disturbed to get the crop out of it. These three necessities served to keep the surface of tamed lands in a greater or less state of agitation until it finally came to be seen that there is something in the practice which causes plants to thrive wholly aside from the lessening of the conflict with weeds. But it is only in the last century or two that there appears to have been any serious attempt to discover why this age-long practice of stirring the earth is such a decided benefit to plants. One reason why the art of tillage has made such slow progress is because it seems to be contrary to the order of nature. In recent years it has been proclaimed that the proper treatment of an orchard is to plant it thick and to allow the leaves and litter to cover the ground, wholly omitting the stirring of the soil, for this is the method of the forest; and forest lands increase in fertility from year to year and the moisture is held in them as in a sponge. The reasoning is plausible but not exact. There are two ways of testing it,—by experience and by reflection. It needs only to be suggested that the experiment has been tried, and is now trying, upon an extended scale, as a large part of the apple orchards of the country testify. The chief beneficiaries of the experiment are the bugs, mice and fungi, all of which would vote the method a success. The reasons why the forest method is successful E 66 The Principles of Fruit-growing for the forest are because the trees stand so thickly that the earth is protected from the drying effect of sun and winds, the forest cover is so extensive as to produce a climate of its own, all the product is returned to the soil, and there is no haste. In every one of these essentials the orchard is unlike the forest. Those writers who urge that the orchard be planted thick enough to imitate the forest condition should also make it clear how the insects and fungi are to be kept at bay, or how acceptable fruit can be secured on trees that are unpruned, unthinned and untamed. The objects to be attained in the forest and in the orchard are wholly unlike. In one case it is the per- petuation of the species, and there results a severe conflict for existence, in which more plants die than reach ma- turity; in the other it is the securing of an abnormal prod- uct of the plant—a product that can be held to its abnormal or artificial development only by abnormal con- ditions——and the struggle for existence is reduced to its lowest terms, for it is desired that not a single plant be lost. Because it is impossible to imitate the forest conditions, the forest methods cannot be followed in fruit-plantations. Now that we have come to understand why and how it is that the stirring of the surface earth makes plants thrive, the old-time drudgery of tillage becomes the most important, the most suggestive, and therefore the most difficult properly to understand and perform of all farming - operations. If we cannot have the protection of the forest cover and the forest mulch, we must make a mulch for the occasion; and if we wait impatiently for results, we must unlock the granaries of the soil more rapidly than Nature does. We must till for tillage’s sake, and not wait to be forced into the operation—as men have generally The Neglected Orchards 67 been foreed—by the weeds; yet, whilst we have outgrown the need of weeds, we should not despise them, but remem- ber them kindly for the good they have done the race. They have been an inexorable priesthood, holding us to duty whilst we did not know what duty was, and they stand ready still to extend their holy offices. The case of the early apple plantings. Orchard trees are capable of sending their roots‘so far and deep into the soil in search of food and moisture that they are able to live and grow under the most indifferent treatment of the surface soil. This fact has obscured the importance of tillage and fertilizing, so much so that there is a widespread opinion that orchards thrive and bear quite as well in sod as in tilled land. The greater part of the few apple and pear orchards that are kept in good tilth were put under such treatment only after the trees had attained some age and all the ill effects of early neglect had become established. Even those orchards that have been tilled from the first may have been quite as im- properly managed as those that are left to sod. There- fore, there is no undisputed body of popular experience touching the value of thorough tillage of apple orchard lands; but there are abundant experiences with the tillage of peach and plum orchards, and other fruit-plantations, which show unequivocally that such treatment is essential to the largest results. It is a significant observation that those fruits from which the farmer expects the greatest profits—as the stone-fruits—are the ones that everywhere receive the best care; whereas the apple, from which less is expected, commonly receives no attention until all other crops have been. served. The apple-grower has cheapened his efforts by conceiving of a low estimate of value. 68 The Principles of Fruit-growing Aside from these related experiences, the theoretical considerations in favor of tillage are so clear and forcible that they amount to a demonstration of the superiority of tillage over sod or grain for apple orchards. My older readers will recall that until re¢ent years the effort of farmers has been directed to the growing of hay, grain and live-stock. Previous to this generation, the grow- ing of fruit had been a matter of secondary or even inci- dental importance. A bit of rocky or waste land, or an odd corner about the buildings, was usually given over to the apple orchard, and if the trees received any attention whatever it was after all other demands of the farm had been satisfied. The apple and standard pear orchards of the country still record the old method. It has required at least a generation of men in which completely to estab- lish any new agricultural system, and the time is not yet fully arrived for the passing out of the old orchards and the coming in of the new. In other fruits than apples and standard pears, the generations of trees are comparatively short-lived, and those fruits sooner feel the effect of new agricultural teaching. Vineyards, and orchards of plums, dwarf pears, apricots, cherries, and quinces, have mostly come into existence along with the transition movement from the old to the new farming, and they have been planted seriously, with the expectation of profit, the same as have the grain crops. Peaches had passed out in most parts of the East, and they came in again with the new agriculture. At the present time, men buy farms for the sole purpose of raising fruit, a venture which would have been a novelty fifty years ago; but the habit of imi- tation is so strong that the apple-planter patterns after the old orchards that were grown under another and now a declining system of agriculture, and many of which are Sod vs. Tillage 69 still standing on the old farms. The apple orchard, there- fore, on the one hand, and the well-tilled vineyard on the other, are the object-lessons illustrating the faults of non- tillage and the gains of good tillage. The apple country is no longer coextensive with the sod country, and new methods must prevail. (Sod orchards.) It is not to be inferred from the foregoing remarks that orchards in sod are necessarily failures, or even that they must be unsatisfactory. There are notable examples to the contrary; but they are special cases, and the success is probably in spite of the sod rather than because of it. They are cases in which the land is specially good or retentive of moisture, in which the other care is painstak- ing, and mostly in which the grass is not mown for hay. In some cases, the grass is cut and spread under the trees; this is the so-called ‘“sod-mulch” method. It probably will be found that most very successful sod orchards are in regions of heavy rainfall or of light evaporation, or that there are local underground supplies of moisture. Tests on apples by the New York (Geneva) Experi- ment Station show in favor of tillage over sod in yield, larger fruit, longer-keeping fruit, better quality, uniformity of trees and crops, greater growth of trees, better foliage, less dead wood in the tree-tops, deeper rooting, a better supply in the soil of humus and nitrogen. The fruit in the sod-mulched plat was much more highly colored than in the tilled plat and matured one to three weeks earlier. At the end of a ten-year test, Hedrick concludes as follows: “Grass militates against apples growing in sod in several ways which act together, as: (1) Lowering the 70 The Principles of Fruit-growing water-supply, (2) decreasing some elements in the food- supply, (3) reducing the amount of humus, (4) lowering the temperature of the soil, (5) diminishing the supply of air, (6) affecting deleteriously the beneficial micro-flora, (7) forming a toxic compound that affects the trees. “General statements are: Sod is less harmful in deep than in shallow soils; there is nothing in this experiment to show that apples ever become adapted to grass; sod may occasionally be used in making more fruitful an orchard growing too luxuriantly; other fruits than the apple are probably harmed quite as much or more by sod; the effects of grass occur regardless of variety, age of tree, or cultural treatment, and are felt whether the trees are on dwarf or standard stocks; because of their shallow root- systems, dwarf trees are even more liable to injury from grass than standards; hogs, sheep or cattle pastured on sodded orchards do not overcome the bad effects of the grass; owners of sodded orchards often do not discover the evil effects of the grass because they have no tilled trees with which to make comparisons; it is only under highest tillage that apple trees succeed in nurseries, and all the evidence shows that they do not behave differently when transplanted; grass left as a mulch in an orchard is bad enough; grass without the mulch is all but fatal—it makes the trees sterile and paralyzes their growth, and it is the chief cause of unprofitable orchards in New York.” In New Hampshire, Gourley reports (Bull. No. 168) that “The five-year average shows all methods of treat- ment to be superior to growing trees in sod as regards yield and size of fruit, and growth of tree. Cultivation annually every two weeks until September 1 has given results on yield and growth superior to cultivation every other year, including a cover-crop the alternate years of Sod vs. Tillage 71 cultivation. A good system of culture, namely, cultiva- ting the orchard every two weeks until midsummer, then seeding down with crimson clover, has given practically as good results on yield of fruit and growth of tree as that obtained by the addition of a complete fertilizer or when either phosphoric acid, potash, or nitrogen are used in excess in the complete fertilizer.” The experiments of Picket in New Hampshire on the formation of fruit-buds by different methods of soil- treatment (Bull. No. 153) give comparable results as the consequence of three years’ test. Some of the deduc- tions are that “thorough cultivation throughout the season from May 15 to September 1, without the addition of cover-crop or fertilizer, resulted in the production of three times as many blossoms (fruit-buds) and somewhat more than three times as much fruit as no cultivation (sod). Clean cultivation throughout the season produced con- siderably fewer fruit-buds and a noticeably smaller crop of fruit than cultivation till July 10, with a cover-crop of crimson clover sown with the last cultivation and plowed under the following spring. The results indicate that clean cultivation till July 10, followed by a cover-crop of crimson clover, alternating every other year with a stand of mixed clover and grass sown early in the spring, may produce a sufficient number of fruit-buds for a satisfactory crop. This cannot be conclusively shown till the experiments have progressed at least one more season. Cultivation and cover-crop one year in three produced only two-thirds as many fruit-buds and one-half as many apples as cultiva- tion two years in three. Cultivation and cover-crop one year in three doubled the production of fruit-buds and increased the crop of apples three times compared with no cultivation at all. Cultivation and cover-crop two years 72 The Principles of Fruit-growing in three gave almost as good results as cultivation and cover-crop yearly.” These results of experiments are confirmed by the extensive apple-orchard surveys made by Warren in New York, in. which the actual experiences of growers are tabulated and compared. Allowable use of sod. Notwithstanding these authoritative findings, sod may hold a very important part in the present management of an orchard of apples or pears. In many cases, it is impos- sible to secure the time and labor to keep all the orchards in a state of good tilth, and it may be better to till one part thoroughly and then seed it down for a short time than to try to till the whole area indifferently. This is partic- ularly true in clay lands, in which the period of useful plowing in the spring is very short. In this way, one may practise a rotation of tillage in different parts of the plan- tation; but care must be taken that no part remains in sod so long that the trees become weakened or injured. In other cases, it is necessary to hold the orchard in sod to prevent serious washing on steep slopes. In hillside orchards, strips of sod may be left across the slope alter- nating with tilled areas, and the areas may rotate from year to year. Some orchard areas are so steep or so stony (Fig. 8) that tillage is impossible; in this case, the stones provide the surface mulch. The results with sod depend largely on the other treatment that the orchard receives. The trees should have at least as good care in pruning, grubbing, spraying, and otherwise as they receive in tilled lands. The grass should not be cut for hay; it may be mown and allowed to lie as a mulch; or the area may be pastured with hogs or sheep. Sod in Orchards 73 If no animals are pastured, the orchard may need liberal fertilizing. The general color, vigor and productiveness of the trees afford a good index of the effect of the sod. The sod-mulch method, or any acceptable sod treat- ment, must not be confused with weeds and neglect. If the sod is employed at all, it should be good sod, which means that it must be fertilized or top-dressed, bad weeds kept out, and bare or thin spots re-seeded. a A A Fig. 8 Where tillage Sod lands are not only drier than cultivated ground, but they are favorite breeding-places of insects. Borers are particularly bad in grass land. No stone-fruits should ever be allowed to stand in sod, and the same may be said of dwarf pears. Very thrifty young apple and pear orchards may sometimes be thrown into bearing by seed- ing them down for a time, but the sod should be broken up before the trees become checked in vigor. The whole question as to whether sod is hurtful or beneficial to an orchard is a local question. The grower must determine it for himself. If the orchard is in sod and 74 The Principles of Fruit-growing is not doing well, the best advice in general is to plow and till it. Certainly it is better to make tillage the rule and sod the exception than to start with the intention of grow- ing an orchard in grass and cultivating it only when forced to do so. It is better to pasture an orchard than to allow the grass to grow at will, but close pasturing can by no means take the place of tillage and fertilizing. If a person wants to raise hay or grain, it is cheapest to grow it where there are no trees to bother. If he wants to grow apples or grapes, he would better choose some other place than a meadow or grainfield. The use of clover and other tem- porary cover-crops as a means of fertilizing the land is quite another matter, and is discussed in the next chapter. Growers are always asking whether the apple orchard shall be plowed up. If the grower of apples is satisfied with the crops and growth of the trees, let the orchards alone; but if it is thought that better crops are desirable, The Reasons Why 75 do not hesitate to make an effort to secure them. If it is a question of varieties, it may be worth while to top-graft the trees. If the roots are too near the surface to allow of plowing, harrow the land thoroughly when the turf is soft in spring, and continue to work it in the growing season. If this is not feasible, then pasture it closely with sheep or hogs, feeding the stock at the same time. If all this cannot be done, and the orchard is unprofitable, cut it down. THE PHILOSOPHY OF TILLAGE Tillage may be defined as the stirring of the soil for the direct purpose of making plants thrive. Its immediate effect is to ameliorate and modify the soil itself, but its secondary effects are those desired and which are also intimately concerned in the welfare of the plant. For ex- ample, tillage is capable of lessening the capillarity of the surface soil, and from this there may result a saving of moisture from evaporation, and it is the moisture that is sought. For practical purposes, however, it is unnecessary Ht Fia. 10. Good tillage and good care.—Loganberries in Oregon, 76 The Principles of Frutt-growing to keep this distinction in mind, and we may classify the benefits of tillage under four general heads, arranging them approximately in their order of importance to the fruit-grower: 1. Tillage improves the physical condition or structure of the land, (a) By fining or comminuting the soil, and thereby pre- senting greater feeding-surface to the roots; (b) By increasing the depth of the soil, and thereby giving a greater foraging and root-hold area to the plant; (c) By warming and drying the soil in spring; (d) By reducing extremes of temperature and moisture; (e) By supplying air to the roots. 2. Tillage may save moisture, (f) By increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil; (g) By checking evaporation. 3. Tillage may augment chemical activities, (h) By aiding in setting free plant-food; (2) By promoting nitrification; (j) By hastening the decomposition of organic matter; - (k) By extending these agencies (h, 7, 7,) to greater depths of the soil. 4, Tillage indirectly protects the fruit-plantation, (l) By destroying weeds; (m) By destroying insects and breaking up their breed- ing-places; (n) By tending to reduce plant diseases, in the removal of host-plants, burying of affected leaves and fruits, and the like; (0) By aiding in the keeping down of mice, rabbits and other pests. The simple statements of these offices of tillage is sufficient for the present occasion, except, perhaps, in respect to the improving of the structure of the soil and the conservation of the moisture, for if the cultivator is skilled - in these latter matters, all the other benefits will follow. Condition of the Soil 77 The methods of tillage are of course endlessly variable. The novice should inspect the methods of good growers. The pictures accompanying this Chapter (Figs. 9-15) show what results have been secured by successful men. The structure of the soil. The structure or physical state of the soil is com- monly more important than its mere richness in plant- Fic. 11. The tillage strip in a vineyard. food. That is, the productivity of the land is not deter- mined wholly, and perhaps not even chiefly, by the amount of fertilizing elements it contains. This is particularly true of all lands—like the clays—that tend to become and to remain hard and unpleasant if left to themselves. Plant- food is of no consequence unless the plant can use it. The hardest rocks may contain various plant-foodsin abundance, and yet plants cannot grow on them. A stick of wood con- 78 The Principles of Fruit-growing tains potassium and phosphorus and nitrogen, and yet nothing grows upon it until it begins to decay. A hundred pounds of potash in a stone-hard lump is worth less to a given plant than an ounce in a state of fine division. Soils that the chemists may pronounce rich in plant-foods may grow poor crops. In other words, a chemist cannot tell what a soil will produce; he can tell only what it contains. Fie. 12. A fruit-plantation in New Mexico, under tillage. Every good farmer knows that a hard and lumpy soil will not grow good crops, no matter how much plant-food it may contain. A clay soil that has been producing good crops for any number of years may be so seriously injured by one injudicious plowing in a wet time as to ruin it for the growing of heavy crops for two or three years. The injury lies in the modification of its physical structure, not in the lessening of its natural fertility. A sandy soil may also be seriously impaired for the growing of any crop Fertilizers on Lumpy Lands 79 if the humus, or decaying organic matter, is allowed to wear out of it. It then becomes leachy, it quickly loses its moisture, and is excessively hot in bright, sunny weather. Similar remarks may be appled to all soils, although they are not equally true of all. If these remarks are true, then it follows that it is use- less to apply commercial fertilizers to lands not in proper physicial condition for the best growth of crops. If potash, for example, were applied to hard lumps of clay, it could not be expected to aid much in the growth of plants, because plants cannot grow on such a place. If the same quantity were applied to mellow soil, however, the greater part of it would be presented to the roots of plants at once, and its effects would no doubt be apparent in the season’s crop. The improvement of the structure of the soil is not only a means of presenting the plant-foods to the roots and of uniformly distributing what fertilizer may 80 The Principles of Fruit-growing be applied, but it is also a direct means of conserving moisture and of hastening chemical activities. The soil is a vast storehouse of plant-food, and the first effort of the husbandman should be to make this store available to plants. In “An Essay for Advancement of Husbandry-Learning,”’ published in 1651 in London, Samuel Hartlib wrote: “Men take him for a foole or a mad (dl itt aM ANN IRE EUG man that, having store of wealth in his trunck, doth yet complain of want. What though the key be rusty for want of use? ‘tis easier to get that scoured, then to obtaine ‘such another treasure. And surely I may upon most sure grounds say, that our Native Countrey, hath in its bowels an (even almost) infinite, and inexhaustible treasure; much of which hath long laine hid, and is but new begun to be discovered. It may seem a large boast or meer Hyperbole to say, we enjoy not, know not, use not, the one-tenth part of that plenty or weaith & happinesse, that our The Dry Spell 81 Earth can, and (Ingenuity and Industry well encouraged) will (by Gods blessing) yield.” The moisture of the soil. Lands oftener need moisture in the growing season than they need fertilizers. They usually need both, if the largest and best crops are to be secured. Drought seems to most persons to be one of those calamities in which Be ES = Fic. 15. The use of the disc-harrow with a spike-tooth follower. there are no secondary or incidental blessings, and it must be confessed that the lesson of the recurring droughts has not yet been learned by the great body of farmers. The one remedy that occurs to most persons is irrigation, and yet there is sufficient rainfall in most parts of the older fruit-growing regions to provide all the needs of large crops. The difficulties are that this rainfall comes when it seems not to be wanted, and very much of it is allowed to escape by evaporation. The truth is, however, that the heavy rainfall usually comes ac the best season, F 82 The Principles of Fruit-growing for it is the period of inactivity, when the work of the farmer and the growth of the plants are least interfered with. If farmers in the East and South were certain that there would be no rain from June till September, they would carefully husband the rainfall of the earlier months, and would suffer little loss; but when they expect rain all summer, they neglect the saving of the early precipitation, and gamble on the chance of having a rain when they need it. It often happens that the dry countries suffer least for water. The water is to be saved by holding it in the earth. If the earth is finely divided and yet compact, the numberless pores or interstices will hold great quantities of water. If, then, the interstices next the atmosphere are broken up so that capillarity is reduced, the water is prevented from passing off by evaporation. The whole process of the saving of moisture, therefore, falls into two means: the catching and holding of it (or the making of a reservoir), and the preventing of evaporation. It is, therefore, a question of plowing and then of surface-tilling. It will thus be seen how futile it may be to try to save the water by beginning tillage late in the season, when a drought is threatened. If the land has not been well prepared, there may be no water to save by that time. It may either have run through the land into the drains, or it may have evaporated long before the farmer saw the need of saving it. The hardpan may be so near the surface that little water can get into the land; the soil is shallow, and the early rains make mud-puddles or pass off over the sur- face. In such lands deep plowing is necessary, to break up the hardpan and to increase the storage-capacity. Breaking up the hardpan by means of dynamite blasting may make a useful preparation for fruit-lands. If the The Moisture Reservoir 83 land is open and leachy, shallow plowing may be neces- sary, else the soil may be loosened too much. The water- storage capacity of most soils may be increased by put- ting vegetable matter into them. It will thus be seen that the methods of conserving or saving moisture must be worked out—or rather thought out—by each farmer for his own farm. The water of rains and snows is held on the surface for the time, and allowed to percolate into the soil, if the land is rough and open from recent plowing, if there is a cover of herbage, or if the surface is soft and mellow. Fall-plowing may be advisable to catch the water of the inactive season, and also to expose hard soils to weathering; and it may facilitate the work of spring. But clay lands with little humus may puddle or cement if fall-plowed, and particu- larly if harrowed and fitted in the fall; and in the South all rolling lands are exposed to serious gullying by fall- plowing. In general, it is not advisable to plow fruit-plan- tations in the fall, however, not only because it may too greatly expose the roots to the weather, but because it prevents the ameliorating of such lands by the use of some incidental or catch-crop sown after the summer till- ing is past. The winter covering is efficient. in holding the precipitated water, and the other advantages of it are invaluable (as explained in Chapter IV). Any body or substance interposed between the air and the moist soil will prevent the evaporation of the moisture in that soil. The ground is moist underneath a board, a layer of sawdust or ashes; and so it may be underneath a layer of 2 or 3 inches of dry earth. It is expensive and difficult to haul this dry earth to the land, and, moreover, it soon becomes hard and dense, and is no longer a mulch. It is better to make the mulch on the spot by shallow til- 84 The Principles of Fruit-growing lage, and to repair the mulch as soon as it becomes hard and crusted. The orchardist, therefore, will till as often as the land needs it, however frequent that may be; but as a general statement it may be said that fruit-lands ought to be tilled every ten days and soon after every rain. USE OF THE VARIOUS TOOLS IN RELATION TO MOISTURE- SAVING (adapted from L. A. Clinton) Many special tillage tools have been designed for fruit- grounds practice. The primary office of these tools is to provide the soil reservoir, to comminute the surface, to keep down the weeds; and all this has important relations to moisture. Figs. 16 and 17 show some useful forms of tools. Plowing to save moisture. The first step in the saving of moisture must be the preparation of the land so that the rain will sink down, and not be carried off by surface drainage. In many regions, especially in the southern states, the great handicap to agriculture is the surface-washing of the land. Owing to shallow plowing and shallow tillage, the water is unable to settle into the hard soil with sufficient rapidity, and is carried along the surface, producing the destructive gullies. The improvements in the plow have done much toward remedying these defects, but there is still much ignorance as to the proper use of this implement. As a tool to be used in the preparation of the land for the reception of moisture, it stands preéminent. Good plowing does not consist—as ordinarily supposed—in merely inverting a strip of earth, but in pulverizing and fining it and burying the sod or refuse that may be on the surface. The quantity of water The Plow and the Harrow 85 that a soil is capable of holding depends directly on the fineness of its particles. Then that plow which will break and pulverize the soil most thoroughly is the one best adapted to fit the soil for holding moisture. This point is well illustrated by King, who says: ‘Since each indepen- dent soil-grain of a moist soil is more or less completely surrounded by a film of water, it is evident that, other conditions being present, the largest aggregate surface area may retain the most water per cubic foot. Now, a cubic foot of marbles 1 inch in diameter possesses an aggregate surface of 27.7 square feet, while if the marbles were reduced in diameter to one-thousandth of an inch, then the total area per cubic foot is increased to 37,700 square feet.”” From this it is evident that the total quantity of water capable of being absorbed by a soil that is cloddy and lumpy is very slight in comparison with the quantity when the soil is in a finely divided state; and not only is its absorbing power less, but its power of holding moisture is also greatly reduced. Harrowing to save moisture. The harrow, besides pulverizing and fining the soil for the seed-bed, is most efficient in making an earth-mulch. The spring-tooth harrow is in reality a cultivator. When used as an instrument to conserve moisture, the teeth should penetrate to the depth of about 3 inches, and to produce the best effect the ridges left by it should be leveled off by a smoother, which can now be purchased as an attachment to the harrow. The tillage of orchards by the harrow is now practised extensively, and nothing short of irrigation will so nearly meet the demands of trees for moisture, particularly in the heavier soils. The Acme harrow is a most excellent implement on Fig. 16. Various tools adapted to tilling of fruit-plantations. (1) Robert’s form of an ideal plow; (2) vineyard and garden plow; (3) swivel plow; (4, 5) subsoil plows; (6, 8) spike-tooth cultivators; (7) gang-plow; (9) spring-tooth cul- tivator with side-guards; (10) an orchard gang-plow. (86) Fig. 17. Tools adapted to surface-tilling of fruit-lands. (1) disc-harrow; (2) spike-tooth harrow; (3) Acme harrow; (4) spring-tooth harrow with side frames; (5) riding cultivator; (6) spring-tooth harrow; (7, 8) grape-hoes. In 8, the handle a serves as a rudder or guide. (87) 88 The Principles of Frutt-growing lands that are comparatively free from stones and rubbish. The plow-like action of its blades serves to pulverize the soil, to spread the mulch evenly, and it leaves a most excellent seed-bed. The cutaway or disc-harrows may be either beneficial or positively injurious. If the discs are so set that they cover but a part of the surface with the mulch, they leave a ridge exposed to the action of the wind and sun, and the rate of evaporation is greatly increased. The discs should be set at such an angle that the whole surface shall be stirred or covered. Their chief value lies in the cutting and pulverizing action on clay soils, but as conservers of moisture they are inferior to the Acme or the spring- tooth. Soils that need the disc-harrow to pulverize them should usually be gone over again with some shallower tool. The mellower the soil, the lighter should be the work done by the harrow. On most heavy orchard soils, it will be found necessary to use the heavy tools, like the spring- tooth and disc-harrows, in the spring, but if the land is properly handled it should be in such condition as to allow the use of a spike-tooth or smoothing-harrow in summer. This light summer harrowing should be sufficient to keep down the weeds, and it preserves the soil-mulch in most excellent condition. With such a tool and on land in good tilth, a man can harrow 10 or more acres a day. Cultivators and moisture-saving. The action of cultivators. is not materially different from that of the spring-tooth harrow. The size of the teeth should be regulated by the work to be performed, an imple- ment with many small teeth being preferable to one with a few large teeth when the object is to conserve moisture. Cultivators and Rollers 89 It must be borne in mind that in a dry time the less surface exposed the less will be the evaporation. If a large-toothed implement is used to destroy grass and weeds, then it should be followed by a smoother to reduce the ridges and prevent loss of moisture. Ridge culture is allowable only when the object is to relieve the soil of moisture on bottom lands where the water comes very near the surface, or for some special crops with which a high degree of warmth is required early in the season; but even then the ridges should be slight. Nothing could be better calculated to dry out a potato-field or a corn-field than throwing the ground up on high ridges, leaving a large surface exposed to the action of sun and wind. In fruit-plantations in a proper state of tillage, unless very heavy clay, a small-toothed or even spike-toothed cultivator will be found sufficient to maintain the surface mulch. The roller, in its relation to soil-motsture. The roller is an implement whose value depends largely on special conditions. There is no tool that requires more judgment as to proper use. On light, loose, sandy or gravelly soils, where every effort must be made to solidify and pack the particles closely together, the roller may be used repeatedly. The difficulty with such soils is that the spaces between the grains are so large that the water is permitted to pass through freely, and is lost by percola- tion. The capillary openings are so large that there is very feeble rise of the water to take the place of that used by plants and lost by evaporation. The roller lessens the size of these pores in solidifying the soil, and the capillary force is then strong enough to draw the water to the sur- face. If, now, the soil is left in this condition, it has been 90 The Principles of Fruit-growing put in the best possible form for parting with its moist- ure into the atmosphere, unless prevented by a surface mulch. In seeding land in a dry time, the soil should be rolled in order to bring sufficient moisture to the seeds to insure germination. When circumstances will permit, the roller should be followed by a smoothing-harrow, that the surface mulch may be restored and the moisture stopped before reaching the atmosphere. On clay lands, the roller must be used with much caution. If used immediately after grain is sown and if a heavy rain follows, there is danger of the soil becoming so compact on the surface that the tender shoots are unable to get through, and the most direct connection is estab- lished between the soil-moisture and the air. A good method of treat- ment for clay is to roll before the seed is sown, then har- row and make a good seed-bed, and Fia. 18. One form of planker or float. then drill in the grain. After the plants are well up, the roller may be used again, which will bring the water to the surface, where the growing plants can make use of it before it passes off by evaporation. Various kinds of plankers or floats may be used in the place of the roller to smooth and compact recently tilled lands. A good tool of this kind is shown in Fig. 18. ‘To make this cheap and easily-made adjunct to good culti- vation, take two hardwood planks, 2x8 inches and 7 feet long, and notch them as in the cut, boring a hole at the upper end to hitch to; the notches should be 8 inches apart and 2 inches deep; now nail cross-planks on the two Soul-preparation 91 notched bed-pieces, using the same-sized pieces, 2x8 and 6 or 7 feet long; let the cross-planks project 1 foot at each end over the bed-pieces. If more weight is needed to fine the clay lumps, the driver can ride the float, or weights can be placed on it.” SUGGESTIONS FOR THE TILLING OF FRUIT-LANDS The foregoing discussions should now be put into practice. The standards of excellence should be well under- stood and be constantly in mind, even though it is not possible always to apply them as completely as one would desire. Preparation of the land. Lands that enjoy perfect natural drainage are particu- larly desirable for fruit-growing, because they are not only warm and give up their fertility easily, but because they also allow of very early tillage, which is an important requisite in the management of fruits. If this perfect natural drainage does not exist, tile-drainage should be employed until the land is brought into the best possible condition. Many hard and wet soils make excellent pear and plum lands when thoroughly tile-drained. It is a common opinion that only flat lands need draining, but there are rolling lands in which the subsoil is high and hard and holds the water like a dishpan. Hillsides are often springy and boggy, needing careful attention in under- draining. Judicious draining not only carries off the superfluous water, but it also loosens the subsoil and allows it to retain its moisture better in times of drought. An attempt should be made to bring the land in the various parts of the orchard into conditions as uniform as possible, 92 The Principles of Fruit-growing so that the same tillage and treatment may be applied to the entire area. All hard and ‘‘sour”’ spots should receive particular care in drainage and subjugation, or they should be left outside the plantation. Lands with hard and impervious subsoils should be plowed very deep before trees are put on them; and in some cases, as for dwarf pears, it may pay well to use the subsoil plow. It should be borne in mind, however, that the subsoil plow is not always a fundamental corrective of hard subsoils, for it does not remove the cause. The sub- soil may gradually settle back into its old condition, and land cannot be completely subsoiled after it is planted to trees. In the case of strawberries, raspberries, and other short-rotation fruits, the subsoil plow may be used at frequent intervals; but in lands to be planted to orchards, the tile drain is a more perfect ameliorator of the subsoil than is the subsoil plow. Yet even the one subsoiling may serve a useful purpose in sending the roots downward at the start, and this advantage will be the greater when the superfluous water removes itself rapidly from the hardpan. Good tile underdraining may modify the hard- pan. The land should always be in a thorough state of tillage at the time the trees are planted; that is, whether in sod or in hoed crops, the land should be in good “heart” and physical condition, fertile, and free from both very hard and very wet places and pernicious .- weeds. There are exceptions to this in the case of certain rocky or steep lands on which it is desired to set apples; but for all orchards planted directly for commercial results, this advice has few, if any, modifications. It is usually best to put the land into tilled crops the season before the trees are set, as potatoes or corn; although sod land, if Preparation of Land 93 well fitted and naturally in good heart, often gives excellent results when turned over and set at once to orchards. Yet most soils need the previous tillage to bring them into a mellow and uniform condition. Many of the “‘bad places”’ in orchards, where trees die out the first two or three years, could have been discovered and corrected if the land had been devoted to one or several tilled crops. Lands look more uniform when in sod than when cultivated, and the farmer may be led to overestimate their value for orchard purposes. It may also be said that the familiarity with a particular piece of land, which comes of frequent tilling, enables the careful grower to judge accurately of its adaptability to particular fruits or even to particular varieties. If the land is not in good condition, it may be well to prepare it two years or so in advance by careful plowing and tilling and the turning under of clover, alfalfa, cow- pea, or other humus-maker. Speaking of new land in Colorado, to be used for the raspberry industry, Herrick and Bennett say that ‘Not infrequently fruits of various kinds are set in raw land that has never been plowed except in the rows where the plants were set. In such cases the plants often grow in a stunted way and never acquire the vigor that they should attain. One of the best crops for growing on raw land i, alfalfa. If alfalfa has made a good growth it may be plcwed under the second fall and if the soil is poor in humus it would be well to plow under the last cutting. This will do much in bettering the physical condition of raw soil. It is well to follow the alfalfa with a hoed crop of some kind, such as potatoes, corn, and so forth. This will help to do away with the weeds and leave the soil in fine condition for planting. “Another reason why land should be cropped before 94 The Principles of Fruit-growing setting out raspberries is that when raw land is first irrigated it almost always settles more or less in spots. As irrigation is necessary year after year, it is important that the land has the right slope and has a compara- tively smooth surface.” Subsequent tillage. The best tillage of planted areas is that which begins early in the season, and which keeps the surface stirred until late summer or early fall; and the best implements are those that secure this result with the least expenditure of time and labor. For the first few years, it is advisable to turn the land rather deep with a plow at the first spring working. For the subsequent tillage of the season, there are many styles of clod-crushers, spring-tooth harrows, cut- aways and smoothing-harrows, which adapt themselves readily to the particular soil area in question. There is no single style of tool best for all soils or for all years. As a general statement, it may be said that for all heavy lands the fruit-grower needs four types of har- rows,—the cutaway or spading-harrow type for hard land and the first spring work; the spring-tooth type; the Acme or clod-crusher type; and the smoothing-harrow type. The last is to be used only to make aid maintain the surface mulch after the land has been ptt in fine tilth. In all friable or loose soils, shallow tillag. is always preferable. When the land is once in good condition, little effort and time are required to run through the orchard. Crust should never be allowed to form, and weeds should be killed before they become firmly established. The entire surface of the orchard should be thoroughly stirred as often as once in ten days or two weeks while the tillage season lasts. Surface Tillage 95 In general, level culture is best. This is secured by plowing one year to the trees and the following year away from them; one year north and south, and the next year east and west. It is somewhat difficult to plow away from large trees, however, and with the cultivators or harrows now in use, it is easy to work the soil away, allowing the furrow to be thrown toward the tree each spring, particularly if the land is in good tilth; but it is always advisable, on fairly level ground, to plow the orchard in opposite directions in alternate years. Land so wet that it needs to be thrown permanently into ridges for drainage is not often adapted to fruit. The difficulty of working close to the trees has had the effect of encouraging too high pruning. There is a tendency to start tops too high rather than too low, thereby expos- ing great length of trunk to injuries of sun and wind, and elevating the top beyond the reach of pickers and of sprays. For most trees the ideal length of trunk is under 5 feet rather than above it, and tillage implements now in the market allow of this lower training. Trees with low tops, or that hang low with fruit, can be reached by sepa- rating the halves of any of the double harrows by means of a long doubletree, so that the halves, when adjusted, run 3 to 5 feet from each other. A cutaway harrow rigged in this way will work the back furrows from under the trees during the season. All cultivators or harrows with high handles, wheels or levers should be discarded if orchards are worked when the limbs bend low with fruit. An implement of the grape-hoe type may be used with advantage in some cases to loosen the earth about the trees. A single-horse plow, with a set-over beam (as in Fig. 19), is also most excellent for plowing close to trees and bushes. The objection to medium-low heads 96 The Principles of Fruit-growing arises from the use of the old-fashioned implements of tillage, and also from a misconception of what the plow- ing of an old orchard should be; for if the orchard is properly cared for in its earlier years, very heavy breaking will not be needed in its later life. This labor of working about trees is greatly facilitated by the use of harnesses which have no metal projections. There should be no hames with elevated tops, and the turrets on the back-pads should be simply leather loops. The back-pad itself should be reduced to a single wide strap devoid of wadding. Harnesses with no traces, but drawing by a single chain between the horses, have been designed for orchards, but they have not become popular with workmen. The better the plowing and other till- age of the orchard in the first few years of its life, the easier and more efficient the pote 1%, eee subsequent plowing should be. If care is * taken to keep the land friable and well- filled with humus, it may not be necessary to turn fur- rows at the spring plowing after four or five years. Persons commonly suppose that an orchard must be plowed the same as corn or potato ground, by inverting the land and running regular furrows; but inasmuch as the object is only to keep the land mellow on top, and not to get a crop into it, heavy plowing is not essential. Very often some of the heavier harrows or light gang- plows may be used to tear up the ground in spring, if the land has been put into proper condition when the Surface Tillage 97 plantation was young. This is especially true in light lands on which peaches are generally grown. If cover- crops are to be plowed under, these remarks may not apply. In the first few years, however, it is essential to plow moderately deep to break up the earth and to send the roots down. A world of trouble with the orchard will be saved if the suggestions in this paragraph are fully understood. Specific advice on tillage. 1. Begin to till when the orchard is planted, and till the entire surface. If trees are properly set, and if tillage is begun the first year, the roots will go deep enough to escape the plow. The roots of trees spread much farther than the tops. The illustrations give examples from trees of which the tops and roots have been carefully measured. Fig. 20 shows a standard Howell pear seven years after planting. It grew on a hard clay knoll, but with tillage. The full spread of the top was 7 feet. Two roots were laid bare, and they ran off in one direction to a distance of 21 feet. Assuming that they ran an equal distance in the other direction, the spread of roots was 42 feet, or six times that of the top; and yet it is commonly said that the spread of roots and tops is about equal. These roots were long and whip-like. The soil was so poor that they were obliged to run far and wide for pasture. Compare the upper tree in Fig. 21. This is a Fall Orange apple, of equal age, in rich well-tilled soil. Here the roots are in good pasture, and they remain at home; yet their spread is twice that of the top. The top of this tree had a diameter of 8 feet, and the roots were followed 8 feet on one side. These object-lessons enforce the importance of tilling all the land between trees. G 98 The Principles of Fruit-growing But these figures teach another lesson. Even at their highest point, the roots of Fig. 20 are 8 inches below the surface. They escape the plow. A like remark applies to the upper tree in Fig. 21. Compare the lower tree in Fig. 21; this tree is the same age as the others, but had always stood in sod. The roots ran 10 feet in one direction and the total spread of the top was 6 feet; but the roots lie just underneath the surface. This land could not be plowed without great injury to the tree. Let us consider \ if the relation of this tree to moisture: the a \ i roots are in the driest part of the soil; AWA YZ the grass is pumping out the water and WF : e 3 o c \\ BS; locking it up in its own tissues and > WW sending it into the atmosphere with great rapidity; the soil is baked, and pulls up the water by capillary attrac- j 1 oe eel eee me yy } _ ee - 2-6 Fie. 20. The en roots of a pear tree in very hard land, extending 21 feet band lying 2% feet below the surface at the extremity. tion and discharges it into the air; there is no tillage to stop this waste by spreading a mulch of loose and dry soil over the earth. If one were to sink a well under this tree and were to erect a windmill and pump, he could not so completely deprive the tree of moisture; and the less moisture, the less food. In comparing apple trees in sod and in tillage at the close of a five-year period, Hedrick found a similar condition: “The roots of the trees in the sod-mulch plat came to the very surface of the ground. How much these # Roots and Tillage 99 trees suffered by the destruction of roots in the heat and drought of summer or the cold of winter cannot be said. In the tilled land the roots were found in greatest abun- dance at a depth of from 3 to 10 inches. The circumfer- ence of the root-systems in the tilled trees is approxi- mately circular, but the circumference of the roots of the trees in sod is very irre- gular, indicating a reach- ing out of a part of the roots in response to a demand for more mois- ture, food, or air, or to escape some evil effect of the grass roots.” In young orchards, then, it is commonly best to plow rather deep—say 6 to 8 inches— in order to send the roots down. Of eee, course, the Fie. 21. The deep roots (above) in tilled land, and the very shallow roots in sod land. plow should not be run deep close to the trunk of the tree. The careful plowman will turn out his plow when he comes close to the tree. This deep plowing for a few years will ameliorate the land, establish the root-habit of the tree, and Obviate much of the necessity of laborious plow- ing in after years. 2. Tillage should be begun early in the season, in orchards. Trees complete most of their growth in length by the first of July. Early tillage saves the moisture which 100 The Principles of Frutt-growing has accumulated in winter and spring; it is capable of put- ting the soil in fine mechanical condition, and this condi- tion may be as important as fertility; it warms up the soil and sets the plants quickly to work; it turns under the her- bage when that herbage is soft and moist and when there is moisture in the soil, so that the herbage soon breaks down and decays. All catch-crops should be plowed under as soon as the ground is dry enough in the spring, for these crops soon take the water from the soil and cause it to bake - and cement together, and the longer they remain the more difficult it is to cause them to rot when turned under. Hard and woody herbage, plowed under late in the season, may remain as a foreign body in the soil all summer, break- ing the connection between the upper and lower soil, and thereby preventing the upward movement of the water and causing the top-soil to dry out completely. The chief value of crimson clover, rye, or other catch-crop in the orchard lies in its fall growth and its protection of the soil in winter, not in its growth in late spring. Few persons are aware that the season of growth in most woody plants in cold climates extends scarcely to midsummer. This is no doubt one reason why they are able to endure the winter. Plants that cease growing early, and mature their wood well, are often said to be determinate in their growth, while those of opposite habit are said to be indeterminate. It is, of course, apparent that plants of indeterminate growth are not hardy; as a rule most fruit trees are determinate. 3. Tillage should usually be stopped in late summer or very early autumn. The tree has completed its growth. It must now ripen and prepare for winter. It can spare some of the moisture that comes with the fall rains. We may, therefore, sow some catch- or cover-crop. How to Till 101 The above advice follows what is practically the universal experience in the North, that the late growth of trees in autumn, particularly of the tenderer fruits as peaches, is likely to produce a soft or immature condition that may render the tree liable to severe injury by winter cold. Chandler finds, however, that one of the ways in which to avoid injury to fruit-buds by the cold “spells” of late winter and early spring in the region of south Missouri and in similar climates is to prolong the rest- period of the variety so that it will not swell its buds so early. He finds that with peaches the different varieties have rather definite rest-periods, at the expiration of which the buds start very readily. Anything that tends to make a strong late growth in the autumn has the effect of postponing or delaying this rest-period. This prolonging of the growth in fall is accomplished by prun- ing the trees severely either that year or the year before, and also by the use of nitrogenous fertilizers the preceding spring. These statements have reference only to the killing of the fruit-buds when they start prematurely, and probably does not affect the usual experience in regard to the winter-hardiness of’ the wood or tree itself. Frost- injury is again considered in Chapter VIII. 4, Operate in such way that the land shall be in uni- formly fine tilth. Orchards plowed late in spring are usually in bad condition all the season, especially if the soil is clay. Fall-plowing of stiff and bare lands is likely to result in the puddling of the soil by the rain and snow, as already explained (p. 83); if there is sod on the land, this injury is less likely to follow. In general, it is best to let orchard lands pass the winter under a cover-crop. 5. Tillage may be overdone. Trees may be made to grow too much wood, and therefore too little fruit, and they 102 The Principles of Fruit-growing may be sent into the winter in soft and unripened condition. If land is in good tilth, as it is when in best condition for the growing of potatoes or melons, tillage beyond that needed to conserve the moisture is useless. It is a common practice to head-in trees that are making too vigorous growth, but this practice usually aggravates the difficulty rather than corrects it. The rational treatment for such trees is to check the growth by some means, as by lessen- ing the tillage or by withholding stimulating fertilizers. CROPPING THE PLANTATION It will now be asked what crops may be grown in the fruit-plantation: fruit-crops always, grain and hay never! Any hoed or tilled crop may be used for the first few years; but it must be remembered that every crop com- petes with the trees for food and moisture, and whatever may befall the crop, the trees should not be allowed to suffer. As a general statement, it may be said that a space 3 or 4 feet wide should be left on all sides of the tree the first year, and this area should be enlarged a foot or two each year; and the space should continue to enlarge until the trees occupy the entire surface. Corn and some other luxuriant plants appropriate moisture more quickly than can the tree. In general, some low-growing crop that demands good tillage and comes off the land early is best. The notion that young trees should be shaded by a crop is probably erroneous for most regions. In orchards set less than 20 feet apart, the land should rarely be cropped after the third year; but apple orchards, if well cared for, may be cropped lightly for seven or eight years. In no case should the grower expect to secure as much crop on orchard land Cropping 103 as on other areas; and the drier the land, the less it should be cropped. When the orchard comes to bearing age, it should have the entire land. Thereafter, the most profit- able secondary crop to raise is cultivators. In general, only those crops are allowable in a fruit- plantation that demand such treatment as to improve the land for the fruit-plants. The growing of light crops is a means of keeping the land stirred when it might other- wise be neglected; and if the grower is careful to see that the physical condition of the land is improved, and adds enough plant-food to supply the loss, the light cropping of orchards for the first few years may be a decided benefit. At all events, tilled crops are better than sod. The danger is that the fruit-grower will continue the cropping too long, and expect too much from it. Strawberries and the bush- fruits may be advantageously set in alternate rows with beans or potatoes, and the same tillage is required for each crop. It is well to fertilize the tilled crop liberally, for the trees will receive some of the benefit. When orchards begin to bear well, the crops should be discontinued. The growing of nursery stock in orchards—a frequent practice in parts of the North—should be discouraged. This crop makes essentially the same demands on the land as the orchard itself, and it does not allow of those varia- tions in cultivation and management that may be essential to the varying seasons. It may be true that enough fertil- izer can be used to replace the loss of plant-food, but it is rarely added; and, more than this, the nursery stock con- sumes the moisture that should be used by the orchard. Nursery stock is known to be particularly hard on land, so much so that nurserymen seldom grow two crops of fruit-tree stocks in succession on the same area; but this injury to the land is an impairment of physical or other 104 The Principles of Fruit-growing condition rather than mere exhaustion of plant-food. (See Chapter IV.) Young orchards may sometimes be summer-fallowed with the very best results if the land is hard and intrac- table. This fallowing is clean cultivation. This is often the quickest and cheapest way of bringing such lands into fit condition for the growing of the fruit, and the longer the process is ‘delayed after the plants are set, the more difficult and the less efficient the labor will be. This sum- mer-fallow should be begun very early in the season and continued until midsummer, at which time some cover- crop may be sown. It is a way of correcting or overcoming the lack of good preparation of the land in the beginning, or the results of subsequent neglect. Orchard crops. It is best to grow only annual crops in the orchard. Garden-truck is usually good, because it receives good tillage and fertilizing, and usually does not shade the fruit plants. If the farm carries live-stock, which of course must be fed, the range of crops that can be grown with profit is extended. Rowed and tilled peas, beans, roots, cabbage, tomatoes, and the like (Fig. 22), may be useful. Potatoes are good as a crop, but the digging may come at a time when it will interfere with cover-cropping or when it may constitute a too late tillage. In all corn-growing regions, Indian corn is probably the most frequent crop in the young orchards, and it appears to give good results if sufficient space is left about the trees. Thornber makes the following sum- mary on the use of corn in irrigated orchard lands (Lewis- ton Orchards Life, June, 1914): “The high price of choice fruit-land under irrigation in the Pacific North- Corn in Orchards 105 west, and the cost of bringing an orchard to bearing, have compelled the fruit-growers to make a careful study of the best methods for reducing the cost of producing an orchard. Every opportunity of resource applicable to young orchards has been thoroughly tested and the effects of the crops noted upon the soil, as well as upon the young trees; and while crops have been found that. will 2 aia cy Fia. 22. Cropping a young orchard. produce more money value per acre, none with an equal amount of labor will give a more uniform tree-growth and cause an orchard to come into bearing more satisfactorily than corn. Garden and small-fruit crops easily give greater financial returns, but require more time and labor to pro- duce them. Alfalfa has the advantage of being a more sure crop, and one that will give larger returns per acre, but is not adapted to very young trees; however, it is more satisfactory among older trees.’ Care must be taken not to plant corn too close to the trees or bushes, so that they 106 The Principles of Fruit-growing will be shaded; and it is well not to plant the most robust varieties. The growing of clover, buckwheat, rye and other crops for the purpose of plowing under belongs to another line of practice. It is discussed in the succeeding chapter. IRRIGATION OF FRUIT-LANDS The irrigation of fruit-plantations is of two kinds,— that which is necessary to the growing of the plants (as in arid and semi-arid regions), and that which is employed secondarily in a humid region to hélp make a particular crop. The former kind is, in essentials, the same as general irrigation, in the countries and regions in which irrigation is essential to farming; only the special applications of the water may be peculiar. The reader who intends to raise fruit in an arid or semi-arid region will perfect him- self on this subject before he undertakes the enterprise.* Supplemental irrigation for humid regions is often feasible and profitable for special crops, mostly for those that represent a high investment in capital, equipment and labor. Irrigation in the East (C. 8. Wilson). The systems of irrigation used in humid regions may be divided into two classes: (1) surface irrigation; (2) overhead sprays. The surface system, which is the more widely used, distributes the water by means of ditches and furrows. A ditch, which is the main, carries the water along the side or through the orchard and empties it into the furrows, by which it is distributed over the entire area. For such *Consult, for example, Paddock & Whipple, ‘‘Fruit-Growing in Arid Regions.” Irrigation in Humid Regions 107 crops as fruit, grain, alfalfa, clover, and the like, the sur- face system is employed, and furnishes the best practi- cable method of applying the water. The overhead system is employed in the humid as well as the arid sections of the country, particularly in the case of those areas intensively cultivated. It has been used mostly on such crops as cucumber, strawberry, lettuce, tomato, bean, eggplant, potato, squash, and the like—in fact all garden crops. The plan is to lay stationary pipes over the whole field, or to provide movable sections of pipes mounted on wheels. The advantages of this system are: (1) The crops are sprayed naturally when- ever desired; (2) there is no waste land; (3) water is applied uniformly over the entire surface; (4) it is especially adapted to the shallow-rooted crops. The disadvantages, on the other hand, are: (1) It necessitates an expensive system of piping; (2) it requires a powerful pumping plant which gives a pressure of twenty to fifty pounds to the square inch; (3) the quantity of water wasted by evaporation is excessive; (4) the pipes interfere with tillage operations. The so-called Skinner system of irrigation. may be cited as an example of the overhead method. It consists essentially of pipes supported above the ground 40 to 60 feet apart, in which are set small nozzles at intervals of 3 or 4 feet. The pipe is turned by means of a union and handle to cover ground very near or more distant from the line. The best water-pressure is thirty to forty pounds, and a single line throws its rain-like spray about 25 feet. In addition to the advantages mentioned above, advocates of this system assert that it is a protection against frost, and an excellent means of distributing insecticides, fungi- cides and commercial fertilizers. To what extent irrigation will increase in the East 108 The Principles of Fruit-growing remains to be seen. Thus far, insufficient experimental evidence has been collected as to its real value. Probably it will never be used commercially to any extent for the. tree-fruits, because the annual rainfall in most of the fruit-growing districts east of the Mississippi is sufficient for the plants, if the farmer practises thorough tillage. It is possible that irrigation may be beneficial in the case of the small-fruits or in certain localities where the rain- fall is insufficient, and it has been so employed in a few places in eastern plantations. An abundance of water is of particular value to small-fruits at the time of ripening and it is often at this time that the dry spells come. The grower should remember that irrigation cannot take the place of tillage; the two go together. When the soil is well tilled, the water of irrigation distributes itself better than when tillage is neglected. Moreover, when water is applied to lands not tilled, puddling is liable to result. Another difficulty connected with the applica- tion of water is the collection of alkali at the surface. This is a well-known trouble in the arid regions. The alkali of the soil, which dissolves in the water, is brought up by the moisture, and as the moisture evaporates, it is deposited at the surface. Where irrigation is continued year after year, the amount of this alkali may increase to considerable amounts. The value of irrigation to the eastern grower should be determined by the experiment stations, and these stations are now working on the question. Until more definite results are secured, the grower should look to thorough tillage as the most economical means of supplying moisture. It seems reasonable to predict that the fruit-grower will not find it profitable to practise irrigation to any con- siderable extent in the East, CHAPTER IV THE ENRICHING OF FRUIT-LANDS Any land that is fit for the growing of crops will main- tain a fruit-plantation throughout its existence without the addition of plant-food, and enable the trees to produce at the same time a normal quantity and quality of fruit. But the profit in fruit-growing lies in securing the extra- normal or superior quantity and quality, and this result demands every good care and often the addition of fertilizer. How much plant-food the farmer shall add to his land, if any, depends on the amount of increase or profit that can be secured. If the fruit-grower applies two tons of fertilizer to the acre and secures a profit on the investment, the quantity may be none too large; but in some cases it is a loss of the material to add anything. The successful merchant is the one who is dissatisfied with a normal and common trade, and he stimulates the demand by attracting and interesting the market beyond the point of its usual needs. The land is to be kept at work. Many causes contribute to the occasional unsatis- , factory results of applying fertilizers to orchards, small-: fruit plantations, and similar areas, but the commonest. one is lack of proper tillage and preparation of the land. Poorly tilled land, not only refuses, as we have seen, to give up its own stores of wealth, but it will delay and even preclude the good results from the plant-foods that (109) 110 The Principles of Fruit-growing may be added to it. The first thing to do, then, is to make it possible for the plant to grow. If the physical and environmental conditions are right, the addition of plant- food is capable of being felt. The plant must be made comfortable before it will thrive. A cow will not relish even the fanciest ration if she is uncomfortable. The grower must set himself in line with natural methods. He must see that the soil has a good supply of humus or organic matter (from crops turned under, dressings of stable-manure, muck, and the like), and that it usually has some cover. Early in the season, this cover is the surface mulch of tilled soil, and later it is the cover- crop of rye or crimson clover or something of the kind. Bare land becomes unproductive land. Its elements must be unlocked and worked over and digested by roots. The surface must be covered to catch the rains and to hold the snows, to retain moisture, and to prevent the baking and cementing of the soil. The plant tissues add fiber and richness, and make the land amenable to all the revivifying influences of sun and rain and air and warmth. The plant is co-partner with the weather in the building of the primal soils. The lichen spreads its thin substance over the rocks, sending its fibers into the crevices and filling the chinks, as they enlarge, with the decay of its own structure; and finally the rock is fit for the moss or fern or creeping vine, each newcomer leaving its impress by which some later newcomer may profit. Finally the rock is disintegrated and comminuted, and is ready to be still further elaborated by corn and ragweed. Nature intends to leave no vacant or bare soils. She providently covers the railway embankment with quack-grass or willows, and she scatters daisies in the old meadows where the land has grown sick and tired of grass. If one pulls up The Weeds 111 a weed, he must quickly fill the hole with some other plant, or Nature will tuck another weed into it. Man is yet too ignorant or too negligent to care for the land, and Nature must still stand at his back and supplement the work which he so shabbily performs. She knows no plants as weeds. They are all equally useful to her. It is only when we come to covet some plant that all those which interfere with it become weeds to us. If, therefore, we are compe- tent to make a choice of plants in the first place, we should also be able to maintain the choice against in- truders. It is only a question of which plants we desire to grow. We must keep the land at work, for it grows richer and better for the exercise. A good crop on the land, aided by good tillage, will keep down the weeds. The weeds do not “run out” the sod, but the sod has grown weak through some fault of our own, and thus the dandelions and plan- tains find a chance to live. So the best treatment for a weedy lawn is more grass. If the farmer occupies only half the surface of his field with oats, the other half is bound to be occupied with mustard or wild carrot or pigweed; but if his land is all taken with oats, few other plants can thrive. So, a weedy farm is a poorly farmed farm. But if it does get foul and weedy, then use a short quick, sharp rotation. Keep the ground moving or keep it covered. No Russian thistle or live-forever or jimson- weed can ever keep pace with a lively and resourceful farmer. This attitude is as important in fruit-growing as in general farming. The land must be kept active and at work, which means that the fruit-grower must be active and at work. When this is accomplished and the fruit- plantation is still unproductive, other means must be 112 The Principles of Fruit-growing considered; and one of these means is to apply plant-food materials. The lesson of nursery lands. The injurious effects of leaving soils bare, and of tilling at untimely seasons, are well illustrated in most nursery plantations. The best nursery lands are the “strong” lands, or those containing a basis of clay, and these are the ones that soonest suffer under unwise treat- ment. The nursery land is kept under clean culture, and it is, therefore, deeply pulverized. There is practically no herbage on the land to protect it in the winter. When the crop is removed, even the roots are taken out of the earth. For four or five years, the land receives practically no vegetation that can rot and pass into humus; and more- over, the trees are dug in the fall, often when the soil is in unfit condition, and this fall digging amounts to a fall plowing. The soil, deeply broken and robbed of its humus, runs together and cements before the following summer; and it then requires three or four years of ‘‘rest’’ in clover or other herbage to bring it back into its rightful condition. This resting-period allows Nature—if man grants her the privilege—to replace the fiber in the soil, and to make it once more so open and warm and kindly that plants may find a congenial root-hold in it. Chemical analyses of nursery stock show that the amounts of potash, phosphoric acid and nitrogen that such stock removes are really very small, and less than those removed by a similar bulk or weight of corn or wheat. Experiments with the addition of concentrated or chemical manures to heavy nursery lands seem. not to have shown very important results; but there are greater hopes from the sowing of crimson clover and other cover-crops in the The Cover on the Land 113 nursery rows, and in the use of stable manures. There are examples of excellent results following the addition: of stable manure to nursery lands between the trees in autumn. One piece of land so treated has grown excellent plum trees for twenty consecutive years. COVER-CROPS The vegetable matter or fiber may be supplied by herbage plowed under and by the addition of stable manures or similar amendments. We may first consider the growing of herbage for the amending of the land. A cover-crop is used for the particular purpose of securing its mulching and physical effect on the land in the intervals between the regular fruit crops or the normal sea- sons of tillage. A sowed crop in the orchard may be valua- ble in two ways: by affording a cover to the land, and by improving the soil when it is plowed in. As a cover, it may keep down weeds and protect the land from injurious effects of frost. As a green manure, it may add fiber to the soil, and thus augment its power of holding fertility and moisture, and it may add directly to the plant-food. This late crop catches and holds the nitrates which the tree-roots utilize earlier in the season. Taken as a whole, the cover-crop may be said to improve the soil as follows: 1. It protects the land and directly improves its physical condition: Prevents hard soils from cementing or puddling; Holds the rains and snows until they have time to soak away into the land; Holds the leaves from blowing away; Dries out the soil in spring, making early tillage possible; Sometimes serves as a protection from frost; Prevents washing in winter. 114 The Principles of Fruit-growing 2. It improves the chemical condition of the soil: Catches and holds some of the leaching nitrates; Adds humus; Renders plant-foods available; Appropriates nitrogen, if it is leguminous. As a rule, crops grown for cover alone should be sown not earlier than midsummer. The most thorough tillage can then be given early in the season, and the benefits of the cover may be secured for early autumn, winter and spring. It is usually advisable to grow a crop that answers for both cover and green manure, although it is possible to make the soil too nitrogenous for some fruits by the extravagant use of the legumes. It will also be observed, from the above enumeration of the benefits arising from cover-crops, that crops killed by the winter may still be Accumulation of Nitrogen 115 very useful. The reader must also be reminded that much of the value of the cover-crop depends on its being plowed under very early in spring (Fig. 23). It is probably not often that one secures too rapid growth of his fruit-plants by the use of leguminous cover- crops, and yet it seems to be a common opinion among growers that this may occur. The experience of George T. Powell, in eastern New York, has been much quoted. In a pear orchard he grew three very heavy successive crops of crimson clover and plowed them under, with the result that the trees grew too heavily and bore too little. An analysis of the soil was made by Cava- naugh and also of the same character of soil from a neighbor’s field just across the fence, with the following results: Three crops No clover crimson clover Per cent Per cent Water ei: iacess eisiee's aieiwre' se eo ceceece 15.00 8.75 Nitrogen........eeceee 21 12 Humus........ecceeeeee 2.94 1.91 Phosphoric acid (available). 015 -008 These percentages are calculated to the acre, estimating 1,500,000 pounds of fine soil to the acre-foot (3,000,000 pounds is the average weight of an acre-foot, but in this case about 50 per cent of the soil was sufficiently fine to be included in the analysis); the increase in per- centages, as computed to pounds or tons to the acre, is as follows: Water........0.. 6.25 per cent=46.875 tons to the acre. Nitrogen ........ .09 per cent=1,350 pounds to the acre. Phosphoric acid.. .007 per cent= 105 pounds to the acre. 116 The Principles of Frutt-growing There is much confusion in the popular mind as to the relation of cover-crops to moisture. Some contend that any crop which shades the ground will keep the surface moist and conserve moisture, whereas others, knowing that all plants exhale water, consider that any crop tends to make the land dry. Both these opinions are in part correct. A crop that occupies the land the entire season, and that does not allow of tillage, will make the land dry, whereas one sown late in the season on land that has been thoroughly tilled durmg May, June and July, does not seriously rob the soil of moisture. At all events, there need be little fear of drying out the soil by sowing a late crop, for the serious injury by drought is usually effected before such crops are established, and rainfall is then becoming abundant; and the trees may need to be checked rather than stimulated, at this season, by the transfer of the nitrates and moisture to other plants. The most marked way in which such crops conserve moisture is by means of the fiber and humus that they add to the land when plowed under; but even this humus cannot compete with cultivation as a retainer of moisture. Both humus and tillage are essential for best results. The kinds of cover-crops. It should be said at the outset that the choice of the proper crop for the covering of an orchard is a local matter, the same as is the method of tillage or the kind of fertilizer. There is also no one best cover-crop for all purposes and all circumstances. The grower must study the condition of his trees and his land, and then judge as best he may what course he shall pursue. Nature’s cover- crops, at least on farms, are weeds, and these may be use- Clover and Others 117 ful if allowed to grow in autumn after the tillage is com- pleted. The difficulty is that they cannot always be relied upon to cover the land at the time when they are wanted, most of them do not live through the winter, and they are very likely to become a serious nuisance. It is best, there- fore, to substitute some other plant for the weeds. Red clover is a stand-by, but it often fails to “catch” if sown late in the season, and it should stand on the land an entire season in order to contribute its full value. On good and well-tilled lands and in favorable seasons, con- siderable herbage can be secured for turning under in the spring if clover is sown the preceding August or September; but in general it is unreliable as an annual crop, and is not adapted to fruit-lands. Mammoth clover is considered to be better than the common red. In approaching the question of the choice of cover- crops, the grower must understand that there are two great classes in respect to their supposed power to gather nitrogen. The one class is non-leguminous, comprising those plants that take only such nitrogen as has already been worked over into available form by plants or animals; the other class is the leguminous, comprising those plants that have the power of appropriating and utilizing free nitrogen through the action of root-nodules. For purposes of cover and protection, the non-leguminous crops may be just as good as the nitrogen-gatherers, and when the fruit- plants are growing very vigorously they may be decidedly better than the others because, by not adding nitrogen, they do not over-stimulate the growth. A rotation of cover-crops will nearly always be found to be important. Some of the most useful cover-crops will not thrive on hard and intractable land, and in such cases a rougher and coarser crop must be used. 118 The Principles of Fruit-growing The golden scale of cover-crops for orchards begins with rye and ends with crimson clover. Lands that are very sandy and leachy, as well as those that are hard and lumpy, are usually not adapted to the growth of crimson clover, especially in the North. Such lands must be grad- ually ameliorated by the use of other plants, and, as a rule, the best plant to begin with is rye. Rye thrives’ on a great variety of soils, it demands little preparation of the land, the seeds are large and germinate at a low temperature, it grows early and strongly in spring, it may be sown late in the season after tilled crops are removed, and it is exceedingly hardy. Rye may be sown at the very moment of the freezing of the land, and it will sometimes germinate the following spring. It is ordinarily best, however, to sow it about a month or six weeks (or even two months) before the land is expected to freeze; and for the purpose of securing cover, not less than one and one-half busliels should be sown to the acre when orchards are young. When the trees have begun to shade the ground, a less quantity may suffice. - Indian corn, is sometimes used to begin the amelio- ration of intractable lands, sown broadcast very thickly, six weeks or two months before killing frost. Although it does not withstand the winter, it nevertheless affords an excellent cover and supplies a large quantity of herbage. Buckwheat may be used for the same purpose, sown so late in the season that it will reach its full height but will not go to seed. There is danger, however, of using buckwheat too much; only an occasional crop of it should be sown and on orchards growing on the hard types of land. Turnips and rape are also to be recommended in certain Kinds of Cover-Crops 119 cases. Turnips sown late in July in the North make a complete cover of the land, and furnish so much bulk and moisture as greatly to improve the character of the land when they are plowed under the following spring. Turnips are especially good to begin the process of improvement in certain hard lands that are much inclined to be dry. They contain much potash. The large cowhorn turnips are usually preferred for cover-crop work, although the smaller turnips may be sown with them. Dwarf Essex rape furnishes much herbage at little cost. Oats, wheat, barley, millet, and various other quick- growing crops may be utilized as covers, but they are less adapted to the purpose than those that have been men- tioned. In order to impress the different qualities on the mind, it may be well to say that rye and corn, and the like, are to cover-crops what pigs and mules are to domestic animals. Leguminous crops comprise the various kinds of peas, beans, vetches, and the clovers and their kin. If it is desired to grow a leguminous crop on hard and dry land, it will be necessary to choose those with large and quick- germinating seeds, as the beans and the field peas. Com- mon field beans may be sown broadcast late in the season, and if they can have six weeks of uninterrupted growth, will make a good cover before killed by frost. Canada peas are not injured by the early frosts of fall, and therefore may be sown later. In New York, peas sown as late as the 20th of September reached a height of about 6 inches, and were large enough to afford a fairly good cover, if they were sown very thick. But, in general, in the northern states, it is advisable to sow not later than the last of August or the first of September. The cowpea (Vigna sinensis) may often be used to 120 The Principles of Fruit-growing the greatest advantage, especially in the middle and south- ern states where the long seasons allow it to make a most luxuriant and satisfactory growth. It is probably destined to fill the office in the southern states that red clover fills in the North, and, if properly used, can no doubt be made the means of filling the burned-out soils of the South with fresh life and vigor. It is killed by the earliest frost, and is, therefore, not advisable at the North, unless sown early or on land that is “quick.” Vetch or tare (Vicia sativa) as a cover was brought forward by the Cornell Station, in 1892. It is a legumi- nous plant of strong growth. If sown in the northern states in late July, it makes a dense cover that is killed by hard frosts and mats down like a carpet before spring. The seeds are large and start readily. Its great drawback is the cost of the seed, and about thirty to fifty pounds should be sown to the acre on open lands. Winter or hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) withstands the winter and grows in spring. The seed is likely to be expen- sive; thirty to fifty pounds are required to the acre. It thrives on rather poor as well as on rich soils. Sweet clover or melilotus (Bokhara clover) is sometimes mentioned as a cover-crop, particularly for hard and dry lands and those on which it is difficult to secure a catch of clover; but further experience is needed with this plant. Crimson or scarlet clover was brought prominently to the fore as a’cover-plant for orchards by the Delaware Experiment Station in 1892. It is an excellent cover-crop in the northern states, and in Nova Scotia (Sears, Rept. N.S. Agric. 1904). It will not thrive on hard or poorly tilled land. It must be sown in midsummer or a trifle after, when the ground is likely to be dry. The seeds are small and oily, and the grower is likely to fail in secur- Crimson Clover 121 ing a “catch.”’ On the better tilled lands, however, crimson clover may be expected to succeed as often as any other plant of its class. Growers have made a mistake in expect- ing too heavy growth of herbage in the crimson clover. It is an annual plant, normally completing its entire growth in a single season. When sown at midseason, therefore, it should not be expected to yield a very heavy crop. If it should arrive at that stage when it nearly or wholly covers the ground with a thin close mat, it will have reached its most profitable condition. If the crimson clover passes the winter and grows in the spring, much will be gained; but if it should not pass the winter, nothing will be lost. If it is sown very early (that is, before the first of July in New York), it is likely to become too large and ripe, and be killed by the winter; if it is sown too late (after the middle of August), it will ordinarily not attain sufficient foothold to be able to withstand the heav- ing by frost. Crimson clover may be sown among Indian ) NS OOF 7 MiG EEN 3" of Sa Fi Fia. 24. Cover-crop of alfalfa in a western orchard, 122 The Principles of Fruit-growing corn at the last cultivation, but in orchards it is ordinarily sown from the middle of July to the middle of August in the North, on a well-prepared seed-bed, and is then lightly dragged in. In old orchards, six quarts to the acre is sufficient seed; in the open lands, about eight quarts is the quantity required. Other plants are used as cover now and then or in - particular regions, as alfalfa, velvet bean and beggarweed in the South, soybean, oats (mostly in mixture), cabbage. In the North, the soybean should be sown early and tilled for atime. Alfalfa is sometimes used as a cover in orchards (as in Fig. 24, from the Lewiston-Clarkson region). If irrigation is available, it may be an acceptable crop for providing abundant herbage to plow under. Under usual conditions, it is likely to be kept too long on the land. Paddock gives chemical analyses of cover-crop plants, showing also date of seeding and taking samples, yields of green crops and air-dry roots to the acre: Cowhorn Crimson Red turnips Rape clover clover Seed BOWE cccaeu cy cvaewes July 22 July 22 July 22 July 22 Sample taken............. Nov. 15 | Nov. 16 | Nov. 22 | Nov. 22 Pounds green tops........ 11297 26620 18800 6909 Pounds air-dry roots...... *20522 864 413 1212 Total yield............. 31819 27484 19213 8121 Pounds nitrogen— DY COPS ev .sisa seule wenn 64.4 116.2 128.2 69.8 an WO ides cise aeke owe 45.1 13 6.2 33.2 Gall osstisne rahi atane deb w aeana's 109.5 129.4 134.4 103.0 Poids potash— Q W MTS vevewe xcxauan 80.3 148.2 84.0). 46.5 Unt TOS ssioseseev's so eles 62.3 13.1 4.2 9.9 NOGA wsaninsssisg wvarounrens ca choaibcar’ 142.6 161.3 88.2 56.4 Pounds phosphoric acid— WD MPS. rccan ce xongey in 14.3 41.8 59.2 18.9 In roots............. 11.7 5.1 2,0 10.1 Potalsaieceeeewsanseee 26.0 46.9 61.2 29.0 “The turnip roots were weighed in their natural state just after -being dug; thio is therefore, not air-dry weight, Cover-crop Plants 123 Alfalfa Peed Cowpeas | Soy-beans Seed sown............04. July 22 July 22 July 22 July 22 Sample taken............. Nov. 20 | Nov. 19 | Nov. 7 | Nov. 11 Pounds green tops........ 5430 13150 5933 10952 Pounds air-dry roots....... 1980 600 394 756 Total yield............. 7410 13750 6327 11708 Pounds nitrogen— DitODS 2s isisiiis ad ordaraivese 54.8 108.0 65.2 130.9 AME TOUS gsnie- 5s ccsobvecstee 40.4 13.2 4.3 9. LOtalissace aden adelante 95.2 121.2 69.5 140.2 Pounds potash— 2 TOPS... ead cakes 32.2 78.4 47.4 46.2 EM TOGtS e254) :aiagsciaieeaens 9.5 7.1 2.4 1.8 TG tall vsgais ccs dicen s atanaes 41.7 85.5 49.8 48.0 Pounds phosphoric acid— W. COPS e.s.0-sidije esntsvane: 5) 13.1 22.5 16.6 37.8 In roots...........4. 8.5 4.7 2.3 2.4 Total siicivss4 kacnoner es 21.6 27.2 18.9 40.2 In considering this table, the reader will observe that rape contains the most nitrogen of any of the plants and that turnips are richer in this element than is red clover. This excess is due to the greater tonnage, and it is all taken from the land. In the case of clover and similar plants, some of the nitrogen-content is usually new, since a part may be taken from the air. Lists, anD Rates or SEEDING, OF CovER-cRoP PLANTS. Leguminous— Alfalfa. Beans of all kinds. Beggarweed. Clovers of all kinds. Cowpea. Peas of all kinds. Soybean. Sweet clover. Vetches of all kinds. Non-leguminous— Barley. Buckwheat. Cabbage. Corn. Millet. Oats. Rape. Rye. Turnip. Weeds of most kinds. Wheat. 124 The Principles of Fruit-growing Withstanding the winter (in the North) and growing in spring. Alfalfa. Sweet clover. Clovers Turnip (more or less). Rape. Vetch, winter or hairy. Rye. Wheat. Average quantity of seed to the open acre (modified from C. S. Wilson). Barley: 2.ccilin2-0 Mei'e.2 a iiwcacnua em ale kaos 2 to 244 bushels. Buckwheat) 2.2. cas ccasascssnaiasnoee ins 1 bushel. Glover, red) s.5:.cie se cike s eee eae 10 to15 pounds. Clover, mammoth .............-0+000- 10 to15 pounds. Clover, crimson ............00 eee ee eee 15 to20 pounds. COWDEDY saa dicicrsisd vce tueth ot aiegn Ha he hice 14% to 2 bushels. IMAG Gi bch eva. d oealsloce cwaltet: 2a uslog 5 Aad 2 aid 1% bushels. Oats: carom ching ee aad Se hae ates 2 to 3 bushels. east iccccumaliau'kieis eating aclen oe dGaree a es 2 to 3 _ bushels. Rapeacacak ya4quie ba eee Ya BE oe ele ox BS 1144 to 3 pounds. RVC ise hip Peace Sa haa CA Dk MO ORR BA BREE 1%to 2 bushels. Soybean, broadcast...........0.2000005 1 to 1% bushels. Sweet clover........ 2... cscs eee cece eee 10 pounds. DUEDIP: 3G heer es bees tee dia 14% to 3 pounds. Weta a dd yen uw die eeiiew tog eae Gans 30 to 50 pounds. Wheat cceiceswe ned qasicas eaes ye beues 2 to 2% bushels. As all the desired features are seldom found in a single crop, com- binations are desirable. Thus buckwheat, which makes a quick growth, does not live through the winter as does the slower-growing rye, so the two combine well. Following are suggestions: Clover, red or mammoth,.................. 10 pounds. 1 Winter Vetch 5. «sis cv cays anh ad-y aw dead aeons 15 pounds. 7 N OA LS cadet rensatiacs ora anid clint oder kaarecie ic a satpro Y bushel. Cowhorn turnips.............000e cece eeeee ¥% pound. BIRO see ced lat coors tec fea sera Maos aoa ui ae eR 1 bushel. 2 Cowhorn turnips...........0cceeeeeeeeeeees 2 pounds. “)Crimson clover...........cc cece cece eee e eee 15 pounds. Vetchs sassceavasunre ne de eneewe ta detex een wirds 15 pounds May be sown in August, in the North. Quantity of Seed 125 Buckwheat: icvicnceseiesewaiee dae vewdeeeeet Y bushel. Oe OBS ietniaiuys «coum gue Mata Hare eta aml a aero 1 bushel. Riy@recmieedinasrine sacs coda aawnnan eae ued ae 1. bushel. 4 OBES xs dsp tis net antaecea alates Mumeardlatta 1% bushels. } CHOW OR ss isce dice Saves BN Pase agate a ball anna 15 pounds 5 on ee ee ee ea ree 34 bushel. "OBIS: sid hee ee geek lence eich ahem 1 bushel 6. ae ieee epeeteteeaee Lives peste nk COMME Ne hal ar Asn IO tee 14 bushels. RYO ich ark chet a Sime tthe Malet os shee eI beo ea Sondtl 1 bushel. Many combinations may be made of the plants listed above, to meet special conditions; for rather hard lands that need both humus and nitrogen, a suggested combination is buckwheat or cowhorn turnip, rye, Canada peas or vetch; or a leguminous crop may be added to 3, 5 or 6 above. Other successful mixtures are reported in Delaware by Close (Bull. No. 60), as follows: 1 Gaes VEU: cawenaiwiien aa sadtadenelaeasdal 40 pounds. ® NGI Occ sree eae. Gata: ae aes a aS Gar ea Bereta 30 pounds. Hairy. yetehieice xe saeeee xe ee eee ye edalns Ree Yee 20 pounds. 2. eo or soOybeans............00. cece eee ee 45 pounds. Vary? Vet Cinch sans eaten 8 obrd se dokad arse cee 20 pounds 3. i eat RUG sss A eaPaud Solas Huan NNe eGR Hilads Oo 12 ounces. 4 airy: Vebe hi andthe deta ee ume caes mowers marae wae 20 pounds. : ieee Clover: ens sya caida deed eeaancns 8 pounds. OR UEDUPS 844: 5.8 eve, ieee nedheosldcae Susen ayeiaverd aude ahaa 8 ounces. Bs SURV Cea aie wea cease Slooed anette ad, aan aan mae 20 pounds Mammoth clover.............0c eee eeeeeeaes 4 pounds Trnipess:s424e2s hee sx eee ned eae eee cae 12 pounds. ; ace OF COWPEAS..... 0. cece ee ee eee 40 pounds. 7. eas SaaNad sOnieeamenheninnor okieaun one neee eas 4 pounds. RY Credeaw sodas eras duiaiteaghts sy Gganuun.ea sue 1 bushel. Rapesasee execs ta seas thee oa aks 4 pounds. 8. «Soybeans or cowpeas................ cece eee 40 pounds. RY Ckaciwae Rat. co euweae oa Se Ga ae dace cea 20 pounds. Weights of the seeds of cover-plants. Following are the customary seedsmen’s weights to the bushel some of the seeds contained in the above lists (Edgar Brown): 126 The Principles of Fruit-growing Clover, alsike, crimson, mammoth red..... ee 60 pounds. COW DCB ai 5 Sesenceca teed Saran gress qa qaheaie eed 56 to 60 pounds. Millet, barnyard.................0 00. - eee 30 to 60 pounds. Millet, common, German, Hungarian......... 48 to 50 pounds. Millet, Pearl. .s-9.0300.8) er.deees adver esse ds 48 to 56 pounds. Peas fel diss vices Sod) tion ies ais tad say eee ced ee 60 pounds. R&pP@sssascnac rer st anand edinealy mame pnans 50 to 60 pounds. Soybeans s.au cress tasduee hae eeset dewbaad 58 to 60 pounds. Sweet clover, hulled.......... 0.0.0.0... eee 60 pounds. Velvet beans sscecyes cs 26 des came ecu aac ee He 60 pounds. Vetch, hairy or winter...................00- 50 to 60 pounds. Vetch, spring........ 0.0.0 c cece eee eee eee 60 pounds. ROTATION OF PLANTATIONS It is accepted that the rotation or at least the diver- sification of crops in orchards and other fruit-plantations is a desirable practice as a means of conserving produc- tivity of the land. It is also accepted that strawberries would better not follow strawberries or cane-fruits follow cane-fruits; but there is little real planning for the rotation of plantations of the longer-lived fruits, and yet such rotation must be very important. The following discus- sion may be suggestive (Bailey, Cyclo. Amer. Agric. II). The grower usually does not not lay out a plan of land management, one item in which is the growing of orchards. In the case of apples, the life of the orchard is so great, that the grower feels that he is planting for a lifetime, and he leaves succeeding questions to those who may come after him. Even apple orchards may be retained too long for profit, however; and peaches, plums and some other fruits are not too long-lived to form part of a rotation plan. The rotation farmer may lay out a course that is not expected to mature within twenty years. Small-fruits are well adapted to rotationing. In fact, careful rotation is the very best means of keeping in check certain difficult dis- A Rotation Suggestion 127 eases and pests of strawberries, raspberries and blackber- ries. The rotation may be between different kinds of fruits themselves, or between fruits and field-crop courses. The point is that fruit-growing practice ought not to be com- pletely isolated from general farm-management plans. Rotation between the fruit-plantations themselves, may be very desirable in some cases. If one has a 100-acre farm on which he wishes to make a specialty of peaches, he might set aside six fields of 10 acres each, and set them in twelve-year rotations or blocks, planting a new orchard every three years. In this way there would always be a new orchard coming into bearing, the grower could apply the experience of one orchard to the succeeding one, and he could prepare the land thoroughly in advance of each setting, and he would have some land left for other crops. On small farms, such a plan could not be applied, except for small-fruits. Neither would it be adaptable to farms presenting very different or various conditions; for many properties are broken into irregular fields by creeks, gulches, slopes, forests or hills, and only a part of such natural subdivisions might be adapted to fruit. The following display shows how this plan would work out. The heavy figures show orchards in bearing; it will be seen that there are always three orchards in bearing after the plan is in full working maturity. It is assumed that six years intervene between the plantings on the same ground. The letters a, b, c show how the elements in a three-course crop-rotation would combine with the orchards, if it is assumed that it would be safe or desirable to crop the orchard lightly for the first three years. The blank or treeless years would be used in gen- eral field-crop practice. This plan is not recommended, but is given to suggest a line of study: 128 The Principles of Fruit-growing Rotation ScHEME oF PracH ORCHARDS Heavy figures represent bearing years First Second Third Fourth Fifth Sixth orchard orchard orchard orchard. orchard orchard 1900a 19016 1902c 1903 1903a 1904 19046 1905 1905¢ 1906 1906 1906a 1907 1907 19076 1908 1908 1908¢ 1909 1909 1909 1909a 1910 1910 1910 1910b 1911 1911 1911 1911¢ 1912 1912 1912 1912a 1913 1913 1913 19136 1914 1914 1914 1914¢ 1915 1915 1915 1915a 1916 1916 1916 19165 1917 1917 1917 1917¢ 19184 1918 1918 1918 1919b 1919 1919 1919 1920¢ 1920 1920 1920 1921 1921a 1921 1921 1922 1922b 1922 1922 1923 1923¢ 1923 1923 1924 1924 1924a 1924 1925 1925 19255 1925 1926 1926 1926c 1926 etc. ete. etc Aside from a rotation of fields, it is often advisable to lay out a rotation of crops in the orchards themselves when the trees are young. Such rotation practice would reduce the great amount of tillage labor by keeping part of the area always in clover or other sod, would correct the faults of a continuously recurring treatment, would guard against neglect, and would allow of a somewhat definite plan of work for some years ahead. The rotation should be short and should contain the maximum of tilled crops. A three-year course might fit the conditions well, for it Rotation Suggestions 129 would be adapted to the varying early stages of orchards, and would correspond with normal strawberry rotations and even with the best practice in raspberry-culture. One to four three-year courses could be run in orchards before the trees are large enough to interfere, depending on the land, the kind of fruit and the distance apart. A three- year course for young orchards should preferably have two tilled crops and one legume or sod crop: as (1) potatoes, roots or truck-crops, (2) corn, (3) crimson clover or vetch in fall or spring; or, again, as (1) corn, (2) cotton, (3) cow- pea or velvet bean. Sometimes it may be allowable to run only one tilled crop, in which case the potatoes-wheat-red clover may be useful. Care must be taken to see that first attention is given the trees, and this should call for manure or fertilizers with one or more of the courses. STABLE MANURES The kinds of fertilizing applications are of two types, —stable manures and concentrated or commercial plant- foods. The stable manures exercise a most important effect on the physical character of the land, and, in fact, this is often their greatest value. In this respect, stable manures may answer much the same purpose as green- or cover-crops, particularly if they are applied in fall or early winter. When manure is not sufficient to cover the entire plantation, it should be applied to the hardest and driest spots only, these spots being observed and noted the previous season. Lands so hard or dry that even rye will not catch may be got under way for the cover-crops by liberal applications of barn manures. Rota- tion in the use of fertilizers may be found to be as useful as in the case of cover-crops. A soil that has had a liberal I 130 The Principles of Frutt-growing application of stable manure one year, may profit more by some chemical fertilizer the next year. In thoroughly tilled orchards the use of barn manures should sometimes be discouraged, for the chief element of fertility in them—if they are not leached—is usually nitrogen. This advice is particularly applicable to vine- yards, and all other fruits that run very strongly to wood. In such cases, it is better economy to apply the manures to the annual crops of the farm. The old, neglected apple orchards of the country, however, may receive barn manures with safety; yet, even here it is a question whether economy would not dictate tillage and late green manures to supply the nitrogen, except, perhaps, for a season or two when an attempt is making to rejuvenate. a plantation. Mulching a sod orchard with manure, or with hay cut on it, often gives fairly good results in cases in which the land cannot be tilled; but better results in the way of fer- tilizing and in freedom from weeds and insects may be secured by pasturing closely with sheep or swine and adding chemical manures. , All stable and barn manures should be carefully protected, saved and utilized: where they should be applied —whether on annual crops or on fruit-plantations—only the grower himself can determine; it is certain that the fruits will profit by them. In blackberry, raspberry and strawberry plantations, stable manures may be used moderately as a mulch, and the leachings will be of service; and if the material finally is plowed under, double results will be secured. In general, the same principles cover the application of manures—as to when and how—to fruit-lands as to general farm lands, and this subject may not be discussed here at any length. The applications are usually made in Feeding the Plantation 131 the dormant season,—from autumn till early spring. In mature plantations, it is best to apply manure to the entire area rather than to pile it close to the trees or vines. Plowed under in early spring, the barn manures should have a marked effect in ameliorating the land and improv- ing the thrift and stamina of the plantation. CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS Presumably, fruits profit by the application of ferti- lizer to the land because they use the kinds of materials that fertilizers contain. The standard computations of Roberts, from analyses, show the following values of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash taken from an acre by apple trees (the trees 35 feet apart) in twenty years, counting in ten crops of fruit: Value Total in fruit for twenty years.............0000eeeee $147 00 Total in leaves for twenty years........... 0.0 c ee eee 160 51 Total in wood for life of tree......... 0... eee eee eee 70 00 Grand total ........ iusdate otauis Make Eee Toe $377 51 “The value of nitrogen, etc., in any given case is so indefinite and variable that stress should not be laid on values as given, but on the total amounts of plant-food used by the orchard, as follows: “The total amount of nitrogen, exclusive of that used in the growth of the trees, is 1,336.8 pounds, of phosphoric acid 310 pounds, and of potash 1,895.4 pounds. To restore the potash alone, as above and that used by the growth of the tree, it would require 21.69 tons of high-grade ashes containing 5 per cent of potash. To restore the nitrogen as above would require 16.19 tons per acre of a commercial fertilizer containing 5 per cent of nitrogen. 132 The Principles of Fruit-growing “How much of this plant-food is usually furnished to the orchard by leguminous plants and by feeding sup- plementary foods to animals which graze upon it, and how much by the fallen leaves and apples which are not blown or carried off, cannot be told.” Another calculation by Roberts shows the amount of plant-food that may be expected to be carried away from an acre in the fruit, and blown off in the leaves (not com- puting the amount in the wood), for the period between the ages of thirteen and thirty-three years of apple trees: Apples Leaves tbs. Lbs. Value WGP O os tegen cee B41 GR eee eRe 498 .60 456.75 $143 .30 Phosphorio #eid...066 05a 4.scee0 c¥een 38.25 126 .00 11.50 Potash view sisneetirn oon a staan vie ed 728.55 441.00 52.63 Total value....... ce cae c eee eee $207 .43 “While the above results are reached. by assuming a given amount of apples and leaves a year in a bearing orchard, and while the facts in any given case at any given time may vary widely, yet it is believed that they are valuable as they furnish a means of measuring in any given case, with a great degree of accuracy, the amount of soil-exhaustion.” He also “shows that five bushels of apples remove in round numbers eleven pounds of nitrogen, nearly one pound of phosphoric acid and sixteen pounds of potash, and that the leaves of a tree large enough to produce the apples would contain ten pounds of nitrogen, nearly three pounds of phosphoric acid and ten pounds of potash, or a total of twenty-one pounds nitrogen, three pounds phos- phoric acid, twenty-six pounds potash.” The Calculations of Roberts 133 “As a clearer comprehension is had by comparing unfamiliar things with familiar things, a table follows which gives in brief the soil-exhaustion which is likely to occur from a continuous twenty-year wheat-production. Here, again, an average yield has been assumed which, while approximately correct for New York, may be wide of the mark in some states where the average yield of wheat falls to eight or ten bushels an acre. “The following tables show the amounts and values cf the fertilizing ingredients removed by wheat (grain and straw) in twenty years’ continuous cropping, assuming an average yield of fifteen bushels an acre and seven pounds of straw to three pounds of grain: “COMPOSITION OF WHEAT AND STRAW Water Nitrogen | Phos. acid Potash Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent Gr AID 6 esis ss ois Severs. 14.75 2.36 .89 61 Sra Wiss age dois neesaseed 12.56 -559 -12 61 “AMOUNTS AND VALUE oF PLANT-FOOD REMOVED IN ONE YEAR AND IN TWENTY YEARS Nitrogen | Phos. acid Potash Total Pounds Pounds Pounds value Grain, one year........... 21.24 8.01 5.49 $3 .99 Grain, twenty years....... 424 .80 160.20 109 .80 79 .86 Straw, one year........... 11.74 2.52 10.71 2.42 Straw, twenty years....... 234.78 50.40 214.20 48 .37 Total value in wheat, grain and straw for 20 years... . $128 .23 Total value in apple, fruit and leaves for 20 years..... 207 .45 “The above table shows that the orchard requires, if fruitful, plant-food equal in value to about $80 more 134 The Principles of Fruit-growing than the wheat. No one would think for a moment of trying to raise wheat, even on our best New York land, for twenty consecutive years, even though the soil was fitted in the best possible manner yearly.” Apple-orchard experiments. Yet, as explicit and striking as are these calculations, the results of experiments in the fertilizing of apple orch- ards are very contradictory. This is perhaps to be expected. It probably represents undetermined differences in the lands under experiment. Inasmuch as we do not possess sufficient knowledge to enable us to harmonize the results, some of the most prominent findings are given here for such guidance and information as the reader may be able to secure from them. Hedrick reports the conclusions of a fifteen-year experiment on the fertilizing of apples by the New York (Geneva) Experiment Station in part as follows (Bull. No. 381): “Current recommendations for fertilizers in orchards are unreliable because there have been few investigations of the subject which have furnished trustworthy information. Present practices are largely based on the fertilization of field and garden crops, but the needs of apples cannot be compared, in the least, with the needs of herba- ceous crops because of the great difference in the habits of growth of the two kinds of plants. Fertilizing apples is a difficult problem, too, for, beside variability of plant and environment. to contend with, as with all plants, it is necessary to take thought of the tree and of the crop of the future. “This experiment has to do with apples—not apples and grass. Attention is called to this fact because most of the investigations of fertilizers for apples have been carried on with trees in sod. In all such experiments the interactions of soil, apples, grass and fertilizers are so complicated that a crucial test is impossible. “The experiment under discussion was carried on in a station Fertilizers on Apples 135 orchard, the soil of which is a clay loam too heavy for a good orchard soil and not better than the average clay soil in the farm lands of western New York. The orchard has been given the care it would have received in a commercial plantation. “There are twelve plats in the experiment. The fertilizers applied each year are as follows: AVERAGE TO THE TREE Pounds Plats 1 and 9.—Stable manure...................000% 415.15 Plats 2 and 8.—Acid phosphate...................... 12.66 Plats 6 and 10.—Muriate of potash................... 7.26 Acid phosphate........... 0.0 cece eee eee n canes 12.60 Plats 4 and 12.—Muriate of potash................... 7.26 Acid phosphates s aac:gecs alo neres deat esd dak ae 12.60 Nitrate of 80da...55cc0ccccceeacaaecesaeveswiwes 3.67 Dried DOO i cigs 2353 Renee Sosa brsoneaned tau Rew 12.84 “An important consideration is that the fertilizers were put on only underneath the branches of the trees so that a tremendous excess of each has been used and the experiment, therefore, throws light on the question as to whether excessive fertilization is delete- rious to trees. “The apple in the experiment is the Rome top-worked on Ben Davis, the Rome buds all having come from one tree and the stocks having been selected carefully. These precautions were taken to exclude individual variations. Cross-pollination is provided for, there being over a hundred other varieties separating and bounding the plats. “From the data at hand there seems to be but one interpretation of the results of this experiment. An analysis of the soil before the experiment was begun shows that at that time there was, in the upper foot of soil, enough nitrogen per acre to last mature apples trees 183 years; of phosphoric acid, 295 years; of potash, 713 years. From this well-nigh inexhaustible storehouse, tillage, cover-crops and good care have made available all the plant-food these trees needed. It may be necessary to fertilize some apple orchards in New York. Such cases will be found on sandy and gravelly soils, on lands very subject’ to drought, on very shallow soils and on soils quite devoid of humus. Some soils may require one of the chief elements of fertility; some, though few, indeed, need the three which usually constitute a complete fertilizer. 136 ‘The Principles of Frutt-growing “A fruit-grower may assume that his trees do not need fertilizers if they are vigorous and making a fair amount of new wood. If the trees are not vigorous the drainage, tillage and sanitary condition. of the orchard should be looked to first and the fertilization after- ward if then found necessary. Lastly, before using fertilizers the fruit-grower should obtain positive evidence by experimentation as to whether an orchard needs fertilizers, and what ones.” Similar results had been previously reported by the New York Station in a test to determine the effect of wood- ashes and acid phosphate on the yield and color of apples (Bull. No. 289). The trees were forty-three years old when the experiment was begun. ‘“The results as to color of fruit lack uniformity and were not decided enough in a sufficient number of the twelve seasons to enable us to state that the fertilizers applied improved the color of the apples. The influence on color was most marked in the seasons when the climatic conditions were unfavorable to the development of the fruit. “This experiment shows that fifty-seven years of orchard cropping has not reduced the soil of the station orchard to the condition where it needs a ‘‘complete”’ fertilizer. The fact that plowing under leguminous crops gives beneficial effects in the orchard shows that the soil is having a one-sided wear. It needs nitrogen and humus rather than potash and phosphoric acid.” These results are practically confirmed in a five-year experiment by the New Hampshire Station. Gourley reports that ‘“‘Up to the present time (1913) we have not received any cash return for the fertilizer that has been used in this orchard. The size of fruit has been increased by the use of fertilizers, especially by the use of excess nitrogen and potash, as shown by the percentage of No. 1 apples. Both the area and weight of the leaves were increased by the use of fertilizers in the year 1913, no Fertilizers for Apples 137 records being taken of these factors previously. Lime had no appreciable effect on any of the factors considered. Color of fruit has not been increased by any combination of fertilizers employed.” On the other hand, opposite results have been secured by the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Stations. The Massachusetts test had been continued for twenty years or more, when it was reported that “The experiment shows most decisively that apple trees must be fed to grow well and bear well.” “No one selection of materials,” the report declares, “can always be best. The manure in this experiment is apparently furnishing too large a proportion of nitrogen. The combination of bone-meal with low-grade sulfate of potash has produced good results. It seems probable that, especially in soils poor in lime, basic slag-meal might wisely be used in place of the whole or a part of the bone; but should this change be made, a legume should be grown as a cover-crop to furnish nitrogen. Experiments upon a larger scale to test some of the questions raised by the results of this are now in progress. “The orchard is divided into five plots, equal in area (about 14 acre). Each plot contains twelve trees,—three each of Gravenstein, Baldwin, Roxbury Russet and Rhode Island Greening. After one year’s preparatory cultivation, two-year-old nursery trees were set ih 1890. This orchard produced but little fruit previous to 1900. The location is a hillside with moderate slope. The soil is a strong gravelly loam which naturally produces mostly chestnut and hem- lock. “Each plot has been continuously fertilized in the same way since 1889. The actual rates per acre are as follows: Plot 1.—Barnyard manure (about 31% cords)........... 20,000 Plot 2.—Wood-ashes............-0--0005 Puente Reoamls, Syeie 2,000 Plot 3.—Nothing. Plot 4.—Bone-meal......... 000 eee eee cece ee ences 600 Muriaterof potash ices scien casas s ees cies 200 Plot 5.—Bone-meal......... 0... cece cece nee eee e eee 600 Low-grade sulfate of potash (sulfate of potash magnesia).....-0-.- 00s 4s SWRA See's GR 400 138 The Principles of Fruit-growing “The orchard was cultivated for the first five years. Since then it has been continously kept in grass. The crops were made into hay and carried off until the trees began to bear freely in 1903. Since then the grass has been cut, usually twice each season, and left on the ground. The hay crops each year paid for the manures used from 1894 to 1902. “The fruit was usually ranked in color and general attractiveness in the following order: Plots 5, 4, 1, 2 and 3. In size, plots 5, 4, 1, 2 and 3. “One of the most significant results of the experiments is the great superiority of plot 5 as compared with plot 4. The trees are much larger and they have produced a much greater amount of fruit. Both plots have annually received equal amounts of bone-meal and equal amounts of actual potash, 100 pounds per year. The plot receiving potash in the form of low-grade sulfate has produced much better results. This may be due in part to the magnesia which the low-grade sulfate supplies, although it is possible that there was a natural difference in the soil of the two plots, or that the sulphuric acid combination with potash is better suited to the trees than the hydrochloric acid of the muriate.” Extensive apple-orchard tests have been made by the Pennsylvania Station, involving ten soil types, twelve locations, upward of 2,600 trees and 34,000 bushels of fruit in a period of five years. Some of the conclusions to 1913 as given by Stewart (Bulli. No. 121) are: “The experiments of this station have shown that the fertility needs of an orchard may be the most important check on its produc- tion. Variations in fertilization alone have resulted in average differences ranging from 50 to 460 bushels an acre annually for the past four or five years, depending on the experiment. These results were accompanied by similar differences in the growth and general vigor of the trees. “The time required for results to appear has been surprisingly short in all cases where fertilization has proved to be really needed. In such cases, both the value of fertilization and the kinds needed were clearly evident by the middle of the second season, and no material changes have occurred since. “Lime also has failed in most cases, although it may have some Fertilizers for Apples 139 value in aiding growth. In addition, it may have some indirect value in facilitating the growth of leguminous intercrops, and also in correcting a possible toxic action possessed by the basic radicals of a number of salts, some of which are present in commercial nutrients. “At present, the high-grade sulphate in our experiments is show- ing no superiority over the muriate as a carrier of potash, but the reverse is usually true. The lower cost and easier handling of the latter therefore give it the preference. It is possible that the low- grade sulphate, or the 24 per cent ‘double-manure salt,’ as it is often called commercially, may be superior on account of its magnesia- content, but this has not yet been fully demonstrated. “The influence of proper fertilization is not transient. The gains from it have been greater in the sixth and the last year of some of our experiments than at any time before. In one case, these gains have exceeded 1,100 bushels an acre. Where the crops of the full years are not too high, the yields usually have been greatly steadied by proper fertilization. “In all our experiments, the action of manure has proved to be practically identical with that of a commercial fertilizer rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. Their successes and failures have coincided with but two exceptions, and in those cases moisture rather than plant-food was apparently the controlling factor. The commercial nitrates and blood have acted more quickly than the manure, and the potash in the latter has apparently been less effective than that in the commercial forms. i “In general, the influences that have materially increased the yields have also increased the growth. This is true generally, unless either occurs to an abnormal extent. The phosphates seem to be a partial exception to this rule, and mild injuries also may stimulate yield at the expense of growth. “Manure and potash are the only fertilizing materials that have shown a consistent benefit on the average size of the fruit. This is’ doubtless associated with their favorable relations toward available moisture, which is the chief determiner of fruit-size. Above a rather indefinite point, however, the size of the crop on the tree becomes the dominant influence on fruit-size. Proper’ thinning and moisture conservation, therefore, are the most important means of improving the average size of fruit. “The red colors in apples can not be increased materially by any 140 The Principles of Fruit-growing kind of fertilizer applications, though potash and possibly phos- phates may be of some slight assistance. These colors are directly dependent upon sunlight and maturity, with the latter occurring preferably on the tree. Late picking, open pruning, light soils, sod culture and mildly injurious sprays, therefore, tend to increase the reds in fruits, while opposite conditions decrease them. “The retarding influence of nitrogenous fertilizers or manure on color makes it advisable to use them less freely on some of the red varieties, especially those in which the color comes on rather tardily, such as the York Imperial. On the lighter soils, or in localities with the longer growing seasons, this precaution is less important. “It has been noted that the fertilizing elements found effective in certain experiments were not so in others. In one of our experi- ments, no form of fertilization has yet shown a profitable response, and in two others such responses have come only from manure and mulches. It is evident therefore that the actual fertilization of a given orchard is still largely a local problem. “Tt is possible, however, to indicate the more prominent char- acteristics of orchards that are in need of fertilization, and to form- ulate a general fertilizer, based on present experimental results, that may be used in such orchards until more definite local data can be secured. (See page 143.) “Present evidence indicates that the nitrates, or other specially soluble plant-foods, are best applied somewhat after the fruit has set. In addition to greater effectiveness, this delay enables the rate of application to be varied somewhat in accord with the amount of fruit set, making the applications heavier when the crop is heavy and vice versa. In the long run, this plan should steady the yields and get maximum benefits from the fertilization applied.” What to do. There is every reason to expect, from the nature of the case, that orchards profit by liberal fertilizing. Whether added plant-food is needed under every set of conditions is quite another matter, and it is a problem that must be answered by tests made on the place. Whether special treatments are needed in fruit-plantations to correct toxicity of the soil, or to accomplish other results, is also The Practical Problem 141 as yet undetermined. It should not be difficult to make fertilizer tests, for the results on a few trees should soon be apparent. In the case of peaches and berries, there is evidence enough of the value of fertilizing, and the same principles should apply to apples and pears, particularly on the less responsive or less retentive lands. If the trees are doing well and if the annual crops are also thrifty and satisfactory, the plantation may need nothing more than good care; but if the results are not satisfactory or if there is indication of a let-down, the grower should be alert for a remedy. Having studied the matter carefully in reliable writ- ings, and having observed his plantation from day to day and year to year, the grower should be able to discover about the treatment needed. An orchard in sod and not doing well should be plowed and tilled. One that is tilled and is not doing well may be benefited by seeding down, or it may not. If the growth is strong and rapid, and the trees or vines seem to be going to wood at the expense of fruit, then some check may be necessary. This check may be given by seeding down for a time, by giving somewhat less thorough or prolonged tillage, or by the use of rather more mineral fertilizers and less nitrogenous materials. In all cases in which the growth is not sufficient and the leaves are yellow and drop early, it is probable that either more nitrogen or more moisture is needed, or both. As a general principle, it may be said that nitrogen is to be had in sufficient quantity by thor- ough and judicious tillage, by the use of leguminous cover- crops, and by stable manures. In some cases, however, quicker and cheaper results may be had by the direct addition of nitrogenous materials, as nitrate of soda, sulfate of ammonia, or some of the animal compounds. 142 The Principles of Frutt-growing The grower should also remember that the plants need all the elements of plant-growth, and not one of them alone. For example, a heavy application of nitrogen to soil deficient in potash and phosphorus cannot be expected to give useful results. Similarly, the application of potash to soil that is very poor in nitrogen or phosphoric acid would be comparatively unavailing. The heavy loamy or clay lands usually contain abundance of potash and phosphoric acid in a more or less unavailable condition, and much of these materials may be liberated to the plant by careful tillage and the incorporation of humus. How- ever, it is nearly always advisable, in bearing orchards, to add these materials in manures or concentrated ferti- lizers. The quickest results following the use of fertilizers will be seen in the sandier lands. Two or three years often elapse after the application of chemical fertilizers to heavy lands before any decided results are observed. In other words, clay lands ordinarily show quicker results from tillage than from fertilizers. While all this may seem to be wholly unsatisfactory to the man who wants recipes and rule-of-thumb direct- tions, nevertheless it is impossible to do more than to suggest and to give advice. The uncertainty will seem less to the actual practical grower, however, than to one who reads about the situation and is not yet hard against the problem. The actual grower, if he is acute, arrives at a judgment from experience and observation that is not far wrong. He talks with his neighbors, visits other planta- tions, attends the meetings, hears lectures, reads, and asks questions. All good farm practice is guided by such means. Individual plants—It may not be necessary to treat the plantation as a whole. The soils and other conditions may differ widely in different parts. If single trees or Formula for Apples 143 plants are unthrifty, they should be given separate treat- ment. The experienced orchardist picks out these trees at a distance by the lighter shade of green, the sparser leafage, and the lesser growth. The first inquiry should be for borers, collar-rot, canker, sun-scald, mice injury, or other special attacks or difficulties. If the trouble does not lie here, or in the union at the graft or bud, or in over-bearing, he may assume that soil conditions are at fault. Digging up the soil about the tree or bush, or apply- ing a good top-dressing of manure or a liberal supply of nitrate of soda, is likely to give positive results. Sometimes the difficulty is unusual dryness, on a hard or leachy spot, and the application of water may help immediately, and the incorporation of vegetable matter and the reshap- ing of the surface to catch the rains may help permanently. Recommendation for apples—Stewart gives “a general fertilizer recommendation for apples” as follows, for preliminary use in orchards that are apparently in need of fertilization: Nitrogen (N) 30 pounds, carried in 100 pounds nitrate and 150 pounds dried blood, or in 150 pounds ammonium sulphate. Phosphoric acid (P:0s) 50 pounds, carried in 350 pounds acid phosphate, or in 200 pounds bone-meal, or in 300 pounds basic slag. Potash (K20) 25 to 50 pounds, carried in 50 to 100 pounds muriate, or in 100 to 200 pounds of low-grade sulphate. ! The amounts are for an acre of bearing trees; for young orchards, reduce these amounts in proportion to the area covered. “This formula means that a fertilizer carrying about thirty pounds of actual nitrogen, fifty pounds of actual phosphoric acid (P205), and twenty-five to fifty pounds of actual potash (K,0) should be applied on an acre of 144 The Principles of Fruit-growing bearing trees. Where potash is not known to be lacking, the smaller amount may be used, or after a little testing it may even be omitted entirely. With the smaller amount of potash, the essentials of the present combination are carried in 500 pounds of a 6-10-5 fertilizer or its equivalent. In the usual ready-mixed fertilizers, the nitrogen is likely to be carried in ammonium sulphate, with which some lim- ing may be necessary if many applications are made, and especially if leguminous cover-crops or permanent covers are desired. In special or in home-made mixtures, the various elements may be carried in any of the materials indicated.” Other suggestions for apples and pears—‘‘When the stage is passed in which extended cropping between the trees is possible, and the burden of fruit becomes great,’ Wheeler advises, “‘special care should be taken to apply an abundance of potash and phosphoric acid annually, and only enough nitrogen from legumes or fertilizers to insure adequate foliage, satisfactory wood-growth, and abundant fruit-spurs. For this purpose a suitably compounded complete fertilizer may be employed. If legumes are found to supply enough nitrogen one may employ annually from 200 to 600 pounds an acre of acid phosphate or basic slag meal, and from 50 to 400 pounds an acre of the muri- ate or high-grade sulfate of potash. If the double manure salt is used as the source of potash instead of the muriate or the high-grade sulfate of potash, the total application should amount to approximately twice as much an acre, because of the lower potash-content of the latter. “The nitrogen for the orchard may be supplied in one, or on light, open soils, in two applications of nitrate of soda at such a rate that the total application for a season will not exceed from 100 to 300 pounds an acre, dependent Test Plat for Apples 145 upon the slowness of the growth of the trees. It is usually much simpler to make a single application of a complete fertilizer in which the nitrogen is present in nitrates, ammo- nium salts, soluble organic compounds and in less quickly available organic forms than to apply nitrates at two or more different times. When such complete combinations are used the danger of loss by leaching is greatly lessened and a satisfactorily continuous but properly decreasing supply of nitrogen for the trees is assured. The fertilizer application should not be made later than just after the time the fruit has set. Many good authorities even advise waiting until this time in order to gage the application according to the probable yield and requirement of the trees.” As to lime, Wheeler states that ‘‘apple trees, as a rule, respond to liming rather better than pear trees; neverthe- less, on very acid soils there are several good reasons for liming even pear trees. An occasional application of mag- nesian lime may be desirable, but if used it should be alternated with applications of purer lime.” A test plat for apples—Stewart also gives advice for “determining the actual needs of an orchard,” or for making a test: “The general fertilizer formula just indicated (page 143) is for use only until the exact needs of the particular orchard can be determined. In other words, it is intended only to meet the immediate demands. If in the meantime one wishes really to answer the question of how to fertilize his own orchard, he can do so by following the plan out- lined in the following table. This plan is especially adapted to the needs of commercial orchardists and to ‘com- munity’ tests on the part of the smaller growers.” This may require some work, but the results should be worth it. J 146 The Principles of Fruit-growing Plat 1.—Check ceenattiese Pounds Plat 2: Nitrate ices oh 24 EAGER ONES PKS Be De 2% Dred: BlOO dhe wre. cisi a'r decried py we poe Sy eons Bde 34 Acid phosphate..............0-0-. Senay ae 10 Plat 3:==Nitrate.. ccccga sctts es inser es eeea scenes yes 2% Eiried BWIGE vcain ve vonage aon ee Aue RUE Re o-8 3% PUG R sos oa eee 48 HE LRA ERROR LES TRA AAREE DEER 2 Plat 4.—Acid phosphate............0. 00 0c eee eee eee 10 Potash... cvscbignre.aqawng geese hen ee eae MIA Ee « 2 Plat 5.—Check. Plat GHSNitrates ccciccee-osoee oe wkade dS Eee ees Tee ey eS 24% Diva Weeds 6 sso08 dees 62420 n are eese oe 38% Avid phosphate... c.cssciacaeceiovscivecaneevs 10 POE. cos 35a oon Seer PRA eM EES 2 Plat 7.—Same as Plat 6, plus lime................ 12 to 25 Plat: 8 Mianures< £ I 2 3 4 5 6 Zz 8 9 mG 0 il 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 is 0 zi z: @3 e4 25 6 t F 8 8 0 ai o 2 3 n 5 3 3? 38 39 40 G2 ® a G 46 G 48 49 1) 60 l ae 3 g ‘ 3 66 G7 59 $9 60 6l 3 6 BD 6 G t 7 Le, ae ea ea TLE x ae ea 527 Fia. 53. Hexagonal or triangular system. One acre of land with the trees 25 feet apart. of two stakes in two directions at right angles, precisely where a tree is to be planted. Thus, a person standing at either X is at a point where a tree must stand, and at either of those points will see two stakes in a line with him in two directions at right angles; and so of every point where a tree is to be planted. If men are to be employed to dig the holes, who are not capable of setting a stake in line with two other stakes already standing (there are such men), let some one who can do so go through the field, and with point of stake or other thing, mark where the holes are to be dug. “With this arrangement no stakes are placed where the trees are to be planted. Any number of men can go on with the work of dig- 206 The Principles of Fruit-growing ging the holes and planting in any part of the orchard without reference to any other trees in any other part. The,writer has planted about 150 acres of apple and 100 acres of peach orchard on this plan, and has furnished many persons brief descriptions of same for plant- ing; has planted rows 30 to 40 rods long of nice trees, so straight in dD) 43———60) o Fia. 54. Quincunx system. One acre of land with the trees 25 feet apart in the rs but only about 141% feet diagonally across, or from any tree to its nearest neighbor. 5 Bo eee Stee Se aie ik OBNG NG os 5 og ho Aas ea line that a stake 2 inches in diameter set up in the row would hide every tree from view, looking from the end thereof.” Details of orchard lay-outs. A further exact discussion of the systems of orchard-planting, with diagrams (Figs. 52-58), will aid the intending planter. Booth Planting in Squares 207 writes as follows on the subject (Okla. Exp. Sta. Cire. No. 20): “From the standpoint of the number of trees contained on an acre we find: That planted by the square system, with trees 25 feet apart, an acre will contain sixty-four trees. This leaves, however, about 1634 feet around the sides between the last row of trees and the out- side line, instead of 1214, as would be intended. When the acre is planted by the triangular or hexagonal system it will be found to iG) © bowen 4 ® i) © © penn a mde eee ed ee ee eee ee ®: @ pw eS i ee eer ® ee eee St ® Seeds tata ted ' ’ 1 f) 1 1 fe rcccns 2 N25 St. oe em ene enon Fia. 55. Twenty-five trees planted according to square system. Dotted e lines indicate feeding-area assigned to each tree. contain sixty-seven trees. Here again, however, in planting the single acre, the trees do not fit the plat, and there is a margin left over on two of the sides of 16% feet, instead of 1214. It is difficult to say how many trees may be planted on an acre by the quincunx system on account of the difference of meaning as to what is intended. Usually in comparing this system with others they are compared with the trees the same distance apart in the rows. This is not a fair comparison, however, for when trees are planted by this system the nearest tree to any given tree is not the next tree down the row, but the next tree diagonally across. Taking it in the sense in which it is generally used, an acre of land planted according to 208 The Principles of Fruit-growing the quihcunx system contains 113 trees. Here, as in the square system, a 1634 foot margin is left instead of the intended 12)4 feet. “NuMBER oF TREES TO THE ACRE PuanTep 25 Freer APART Baiinre Syste sind ceca sis eka aa hee RL Ao oN FOS a eee Rada we ED 64 Hexagonal or triangular system........... cece eee eee e eee enee 67 Quincunx system (trees 25 feet apart in the row, but only about 144% feet from any tree to its nearest neighbor)............. 113 A é ‘ . ¢ “ft ‘ . 4 . , + © — @ 4 1 we ~~ . . x a ’ é % é ’ . . N LY / / ‘ LY / ‘ \ AN . GO x, y x ‘ ‘ a s + Py Ls AY “oy “yece ~¥ ’ ay ’ . s ¢ » v ® % a rr cy @ }--- ‘yoann’ tJ a ' ® \ . ; pm, 4 / ® aed S > of \ Ne laa 4 > a oe y ® 2) "a Oo aoe ee a om ao ’ ¢ ‘ AY e v ay e LY bY a ’ LY f Pa Fia. 56. Twenty-five trees planted according to hexagonal system. otted lines indicate feeding-area of each tree. “Approaching the subject from another standpoint, we find that if we desire to plant twenty-five trees 25 feet apart, we have the fol- lowing space required for the different methods of arranging: By the square system it will require a plat of land 125 feet square, with an area of 15,625 square feet. By the triangular system it will require a plat of land 13714 feet one way, by 111.62 the other, with an area of 15,345 square feet. By the quincunx system, as the meaning is usually accepted, that is with the trees 25 feet apart in the rows, the twenty-five trees occupy a tract of land 100 feet square, with an area of 10,000 square feet. By the quincunx system in the more correct sense of having the trees with 25 feet from any tree to its nearest neighbor, twenty-five trees require a tract 131 feet each way with a total area of 17,161 square feet. Planting in Quincunz 209 “Lencta BREADTH AND ToraL AREA REQUIRED To PLANT Twenty-Five Trees 25 Feet Apart, By Dirrerent Systems Length Breadth | Total area (feet) (feet) (sq. ft.) Square system. ......... 0... cee eee ee 125.0 125.0 15,625.0 Hexagonal or triangular system....... 137.5 111.6 15,247.7 Quincunx system (trees 25 feet apart in TOW) seas dverze sc, to efit tenia oA tase aeboene 100.0 100.0 10,000.0 Quincunx system (trees 25 feet apart in diagonal. TOW) ses cceu cas eee nersies ss 131.0 131.0 17,161.0 “Tt will thus be seen that there is a certain gain in the amount of land required to plant twenty-five trees, by using the triangular rather than the square system of planting. This gain is evident for Ci Sees une wh — ee ee ee ee ee e-] ie a. « ra 2 ie aa { . ™ * O° <> MO) Bs © 4 7 t “ ‘ ya t ie 7 Me a oe Ne 7 q « Ne Nv x ¢ “x a a Q 7 seN 3 x N $ [7 ‘ rs v neta Ny Kk @ XO“ ©“ O> Ky > s A ®; i oa bene rs, ‘ 7 ¥ Sy = 7 N27 rel x xg l) ~ &) x ! e N 4 - ™ a , ‘“ x ° MS. S XN 7 N+ ~ & ‘ @'x t o™ oS os ws , \ , a 3 t 2 % 4 wo? N ca Si <@ XOX @Y UK @ oN Pan are (6) ’ t < s ‘N , . ¢ c 1 x7 \ ~ 7 w SZ wee SY hw Fie. 57. Twenty-five trees planted according to quincunx system. even so small a tract of land as that required for twenty-five trees; and since it is evident that there is a slight loss by the triangular system on the outside rows, the gain would be greater, proportion- - ately, with a larger area. N 210 The Principles of Fruit-growing “It appears to be doubtful if there is any gain in using the quincunx system rather than the square system. In the small plat of twenty- five trees there is no gain, but a decided loss, when the trees are planted the same distance apart. There is, however, an evident and great gain when an extra tree is added to the center of each square. To any person with the most rudimentary notion of geometry it is evident, that there is no essential difference between the quincunx Pewee eee et eel SSS cheesy Fic. 58. Twenty-iive trees planted according to quincunx system.— Trees are 25 feet from nearest neighbor. system and the square system. In the first case, the rows run diago- nally with the outside boundary, while in the second, they run at right angles, or parallel with the outside boundary. In both cases the trees are arranged in squares. Any one with an orchard planted on the square system can change it to the quincunx system by cut- ting off the corners until the outside boundary again becomes a rec- tangle with lines diagonal with the original boundary lines. It is thus evident that any gain in the number of trees put on a given area, by the quincunx rather than the square system, must be made either by closer fitting in the margin of the field, or else by putting the trees closer together. An examination of Fig, 57, where an equal feed- ing-area is assigned to each tree, shows that there is an absolute loss on the margin. In other words, the whole space is not so equally divided among the different trees by the quin- cunx system as by the square system. An examination of Fig. 56 shows that the same thing is true of the hexagonal or triangular sys- tem.” Diagrammatic representations of the three leading sys- tems are given in Fig. 59, redrawn from Moore, Bull. 201, Wis. Exp. Sta.; and the alternate plan is also shown. The alternate sys- tem, according to Moore, is designed to correct the diffi- culties arising in the quincunx plan, these difficulties being, “that unless the rows are more than 30 feet apart, setting a tree in the center of the rectangle would so reduce the Four Orchard Systems 211 oe) ,e) i?) 8 S| 0 0 oOo hy ° 5 g o oOo °o 3 Elo o o oS) ° 8. { g x i ¢1|o oO os a : 2,0 p Oe is 0 —e—to So go * Fi ° ° ac ae 3¢ i= 5 oe) o 6 Oi |. »} O 0 0 oO 0 ° B fo) o 0 oO 0 =>] 0 0 O 0 oO ° $ | oi. , #]/ 0 O oO 6b Say is a oY ¢ QE a ° Oo 6-33 & 16.55 = 5 pg, o0 © 9 © 0 r E fo) fo) fe) re) ° eg 5 ’ {0 oO 90 eb -»-s3 E aS 4 . ip B o oO oOo a ae s 16.55 ima 1/0 0 0 oOo oO & N ic} 5 3 9 & o Oo °o ot esa 212 The Principles of Fruit-growing distance between the rows that difficulty would be encountered in orchard operations.” The alternate plan differs from the quincunx “essentially in widening the distance between the rows, maintaining the same distances between the trees in the row, and is therefore better adapted to planting under 40 feet. The first tree of each of the even rows is midway between the first and second trees of the odd rows. The rows are placed far enough apart so that the diagonal distance between trees of adjoin- ing rows is greater than the distance between trees in the row, and the perpendicular distance between rows is more than one-half the distance between trees in the row. In the alternate plan, with trees 30 feet apart in the row, the rows can be placed much closer together without reducing the space between the trees in adjoining rows so much as to interfere with orchard operations. By this method, the number of trees to the acre may be increased, the land better distributed among them, and inconvenience in orchard operations avoided. “The alternate system is frequently used in close plantings. In an orchard with rows 20 feet apart, set by the alternate system, it will be found much easier to get between the trees than if the rec- tangular system is employed, for the distance between the nearest trees of the adjoining row will be approximately 22 feet 4 inches, or over 2 feet more than when set by the rectangular. Set at this dis- tance the space between 7 ee ee the trees of adjoining rows would be approximately the same as when planted 32 feet apart by the quin- cunx.” . Moore also describes e 4 two good additional ".* * * © © ©] methods for placing the trees, as follows: “Lining-in method (Fig. 60).—A method very com- monly used in setting an : ] orchard by the rectangular p Roeeicics Ciena Sachse eiaiptatatatetteted 4 system is the ‘lining-in’ Fic. 60. Staking the orchard, by not placing method. Stakes are set on the stakes where the trees are to stand. both sides and ends of the | ee Methods of Staking the Systems 213 area to be planted. Laths serve the purpose very well. The first stake should be the proper distance from the fence, and the others at intervals equal to the distance between the rows. Two rows of stakes are run through the center of the area at right angle to each other, care being taken not to have them come on the ' line of the row, which “/ is easily done by Sg cA _ starting between two 7 Be Sd \ of the stakes on the Ree own end. These stakes eS should be in line “we # \ a with the stakes run- 2 8 ning parallel to them. : A < ' oN The man setting trees SN OOUAN now has two stakes in ag each direction by eet ee ‘ which to line-in his ae ‘ SS trees. By this method Ny, eS all intermediate as ae : stakes and the plant- ‘S % ing-board may be dis- Big 5 4 pensed with. : “Wire-compass ; : method (Fig. 61).— Fia. 61. bag ae reese staking out a Another method is frequently used in staking out the hexagonal orchard. The first row is located with reference to the fence and becomes the base-line. Beginning at the desired position of the first tree, stakes are set at the desired distance between trees, a wire the length of the distance between trees is then used for the location of the remaining trees. It is convenient to have a ring at each end of the wire as this facilitates handling. If the rings are used, the length of the wire should be con- sidered as extending from center to center of the rings. One ring should be fitted with a marking pin, this end to be used by the man locating the position of the trees. “Tn locating the trees, A holds the center of his ring over the first stake of row 1, while B takes the marking end and strikes an arc at what he thinks is the location of the first tree of the next row. A 214 The Principles of Frutt-growing walks to the second stake of the first row, and B again strikes an arc. At the intersection of these arcs he sets a stake, locating the position of the tree. B then strikes an arc where he thinks the location of the second tree will be. When all the trees of row 2 are located, it becomes the base-line from which to locate trees of row 3. If the ground be uneven, a plumb-bob should be used so that the wire may be kept { 4 | j | ™ i I ! ! ! ! H : ar i ; { —! ’ 14 1 ' ea ae a oa a Ajor sea poche t 4 : . i i . t 4 4 siecle as ees aca jw wile Se acne tS Sdosl nae awe ‘ 1 ' * +* 1 1 ; ‘ ar sie ee a ae baeinm be a ba taaarancate 1 4 i i i ; 1 } 9 Soeteatan petted tooled pikeeliy wilcatar bedi tadimeetiy vied + ee oe { ; ‘ e t y i ‘ t ry I t : i j Hy + ‘ i -t- mfp bey moje ——\~ - ta: ' ‘| a rT $ ! ) Ao ' i t t & wien ten = wo Le pete} Gh oh Lo ea oD a Cat ajne! ] 1 ! ! 1 ' ot Side cas clear cecal te bt. Fie. 62, A method of ane an irregular field. horizontal. In locating the end tree there is frequently but one stake from which to strike an arc. The location is easily determined, however, by locating the second tree first, and then using it as the point from which the arc is struck. After four rows have been located by the arcs, others may be lined-in.” The method of squaring a field for orchard-planting is described again by Jarvis (Conn. Bull. No. 62): ‘Before attempting to lay out a field that is irregular in outline, it must first be squared off in To Square a Field 215 such a way that the rows running across the field will be at right- angles to the rows running the other direction. A base-line running along a straight side of a field is first chosen. If there is not a straight side, a straight line running along the longer side of the field may be established. At right angles to this straight line and near each end, may be projected two other lines. On small areas this may be done with two.straight-edges and a carpenter’s square, but on large tracts this method is not sufficiently accurate. The best and most reliable method is that described in Fig. 62. At the desired point (A) on the base-line a stake is set, and exactly 60 feet from this on the same line another stake (B) is set. By stretching a string 80 feet long from the first stake (A) and another string 100 feet long from the second stake (B) and by bringing the two ends to- gether at (C) the position of the third stake may be determined. Then the desired line is drawn from A through C to the other side of the field. The same operation is repeated near the other end of the field. The distance between the rows, one way, may be marked off on the projected lines and the distance between the rows the other way, may be indicated on the base-line and also on the line parallel to it on the opposite side of the field. The rows in both directions can be extended to the margin of the field. “On hilly lands it is often very difficult to get the trees lined up properly. In such cases, telephone wire is sometimes employed to stretch across the field. To indicate the position of the trees a smaller wire may be wound around and soldered to the larger one at the required distances. The telephone wire is stretched tightly, and a stake set at every point indicated by the soldered wire. In the hollow places, where the wire is far above the ground, a plumb- bob may be necessary to find the exact position where the stake should be set. Twine, on account of its stretching character, is unsuited to this purpose.” Another variation for the laying out of a hexagonal tract is given by Fisher (Mont. Bull. No. 77): “A base-line is established along a fence or permanent road, running east and west and marked off at intervals at which the trees are to be planted. From the stakes thus established, lines can be run across the field at an angle of 60° with a surveyor’s transit or other instrument that will measure angles. These lines are then marked off at intervals at which the trees are to be planted. If an instrument for measuring angles is not avail- able, a steel tape or wire about 360 feet long should be provided. 216 The Principles of Fruit-growing This tape should be marked off at intervals at which the trees. are to be planted. If the trees are to be set 30 feet apart in the rows, the tape should be about 370 feet long, with marks at every 30 feet. This will leave 5 feet at either end for pulling while stretching the tape. “A line parallel to the base-line is then established 311.76 feet distance either north or south and marked off at intervals of 30 feet, the same as the base-line. One end of the tape-line is then held in 7/2. 345 6 7 8 9 10 WIE (3 1AIS I6'7 Cc 3/1. 76 Feet A 8B fegeg@@atQ oteTé om BPieewGilmit Fig. 63. The layout of a hexagonal tract. peg No. 1 (see Fig. 63), in line AB, and the other end of the tape is held at stake No. 7 in line CD. The tape-line or wire should be pulled taut. Stakes are then placed at every 30 feet along the tape-line. When this is done the tape-line is stretched between peg No. 2 in line AB and peg No. 8 in line CD, and pegs placed at each 30-foot mark. This process is repeated until the length of the field has been gone over, when there will be a triangular space at each end that is not marked off, but which can be easily marked off by sighting the stakes in. Two men and a boy can mark off 10 or more acres a day by this method.” Hutt describes the following method of planting small-fruits in an orchard: “‘The bushes were arranged so A Mizxed-Orchard Plan 217 that cultivation may be given both ways with a minimum amount of hand hoeing. The accompanying plan (Fig. 64) shows the arrangement of the trees and bushes. The trees are planted on the hexagonal plan, the rows being 30 feet apart and the trees 35 feet apart in the rows, the trees in one row alterna- . S A APPLE TREE ting with those in ] BERRY BUSHES ment, 15 per cent more trees can be nary method, and yet not be any : = 11 Ft. 8 In. the next. By this planted to the acre APPLE method of arrange- . 7 Pe than by the ordi- : ea TREE ae 5 Ft, ‘10 In. 5 Ft. OI ‘10 In. more crowded. The 4 \ 2] bushes are 6 feet ¢ 3 apart one way by 4 \ ba leace : 5 feet 10 inches the “tree other. At present } a no trees are nearer 3], than 9 feet to the 1 pee ia apple trees. As the [ trees increase in xpate size, those bushes OF 6F. 6Ft. oF says : . 64. Setti -fruits i : within the cirel es, Fia. 64. Setting small-fruits in an orchard, as shown on the plan, will be the first to be removed.” THE FAMILY FRUIT-PLANTATION It is impossible to give much specific advice for the plan of a family fruit-garden, because tastes are so per- sonal, and the amount and character of land at disposal 218 The Principles of Fruit-growing are so various. 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