Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-02-16
From the Iowa State Reporter
Apple Culture-.Training, Pruning.
BY JAMES RIDPATH.

After the trees are in place in the
orchard, comes the training, which
requires the exercise Of that same
common sense, to insure success.
In every branch Of the vegetable
kingdom, from the most delicate
shrub to the giant oak, the buds
and branches are in proportion to
the amount of light with which the
plant is supplied, to prove which
we have but to examine tree at
the edge of grove, and find that
the side exposed to the sun is loaded
with numerous branches and thick
foliage, while the opposite side will
have but few branches with a deli
cate and feeble foliage and the stub
born trunk will be found leaning off
to the light side.
| Resulting from this principle in
the vegetable economy, the fruit
tree, when transplanted in open
ground, sends forth a super-abun-
dance of branches and they extend,
thicken and crowd, until the roots
are unable to supply the necessary
tree-food for healthy growth, and
a portion of the branches sicken and
die; and it is not untrequently that
the tree in its efforts to establish an
equilibrium between it's roots and
top forces, is destroyed. Hence the
necessity for pruning trees when re-
moved to the open plain.
For the benefit of those who have
been taught to let their trees alone,
I will give the history of my expert
ments onsthe Blackhawk orchard in
Spring Greek township. 1t fell in
to my hands in March. 1867. The
trees were then from to Is years
old and had been ''let alone" most
thoroughly from the time they were
transplanted.
The first work / did was to cut
out 100 loads of brush at one prun
ing, from about 1000 trees, and up
to date have taken out about the
same amount more. In 1867 l
gathered half bushel of knotty ap-
pies; in 1868 the crop was l4s
bushels; in 1869 the crop was BAL;
in 1870 it was 100, and in 1871 the
crop was 247O bushels.
i But it would be unfair to credit
pruning with all of this increase in
fruitfulness, for the "let-alone"
policy, had given the weeds and
grass possession of all the soil ex-
cept what the trees could hold by
main force, and again the cover of
the weeds and the friendly protect
ion Of rough bark and decaying
branches had induced the colonial
ton of all the insect tribes that in
habit apple orchards; so the incroas-
!. ed productiveness Of the orchard is
!. attributable to pruning the trees,
tilling the soil and cleansing the
trees.
In giving the experiment above, /
do not recommend letting trees alone
till nine years old, but commence as
soon as the tree is in the orchard,
to rub off the buds, and clip the
twigs that start where limb would
ever be in the way, for the larger
you let limb grow before cutting
, it off, the greater the wound, and
the more dead wood left in the body
of the tree, and farmers should be
careful not to buy trees from those
nurserymen who take no care Of the
training of their stock for the nur.
sery is the place to commence to
correct the habits Of a tree, and il
tree is not handle dwell in the nur.
sery it never can be made valuable
, as it would have been, had it been
started right.
In connection with the subject OF
pruning should be considered the
distance at which orchard trees
should stand from each other. We
have apple trees in the United
States which are we'll on to l5C
,, years old, and spreading over a
space Is feet wide, and with this
evidence before us how foolish it is
, to set good healthy trees Is, 20 or 25
} feet apart, for it will be but few
, years till at IS feet the branches
will intcrlock. There is now in the
Blackhawk orchard, two trees OF
II years growth, the stems being
% feet apart with the branches lap
r ped a foot.
The worst result of crowding
trees together is the mingling of the
roots with the necessary exhaustion
Of the soil, and the stunted growth
t of trees and fruit. Then why moi
in this wide country, with our cheap
lands, set our trees from 80 to 4C
feet apart, so we may die before
our trees cry for more room.
| There Is perhaps no question more
, frequently asked than, "When is the
best time to trim trees?" and the
answer is usually based on single
observation. A man has trimmed
r a tree in March and found it to
, bleed and canker, hence March is
the wrong time to trim; another has
pruncd tree in June, and found a
, bold lip formed around the wound in
, Autumn, and he gives this as the
best time to prune. But an opin'
: ion based on Que experiment is
unreliable. He who cut in March
performed his work few days toe
, late, giving no time for the rup'
, tured wood cells to close or dry up.
, before the ascending sap flowed
out, and spread around the wound
where the water escapes by cvap-
Grafton, leaving the sugar to crust
, round the edges Of the wound to
prevent the formation of new wood,
and the expansion of the new bark
with which nature designed to re.
pair the injury, when, if the cutting
had been done few days earlier,
the pores Of the wood would have
closed and the sap would have
found it's way to the buds through
other channels, where it collects the
wood material from the atmosphere,
. with which to return and heal the
wound.
Before noticing the result of June