San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-12-24

plulllS anu d pllSOlS, Il VI ID lSSti
grapes should be in rows 10 feet
apart; s feet in the row and trained
up to posts or trellises; these should
be 6 or feet high and well set in
the ground so as not to be blown
down by the wind.
Setting out the trees-When
your trees arrive from the nursery,
unite them i'll the shade, wet them
thoroughly and keep them covered
with wet sacks, for the roots should
not be allowed to dry. With
sharp knife cut the roots quite short
and to sound, healthy wood slope
the cuts on the under side so the
rootlets may start downward; set
the trees s to 10 inches deep, fill
the hole half tull of soil and pour i'll
a bucket of water, then fill i'll with
dry dirt. Put no manure about the
roots. Keep the tags on your trees
until they are all set out, then make
a diagram of your orchard and pre-
serve it. When the trees come in
to fruiting you will know the names
of your varieties, and whether you
have received the trees you paid for
and also be able to buy again such
trees as you like or fancy. If the
trees are small trim them to a
straight stem IS to "a inches high;
if they are large trees leave 3 or 4
branches to become permanent and
cut these back to about three buds
each.
The first two or three years your
orchard may be cultivated in almost
any crop, not coming closer to the
trees than 3 or 4 feet on either side.
Keep the tree rows clean as you
would a corn row. Allow no suck
ers TO spring up from the roots or
any buds to grow on the bodies that
you do not wish to become perma
nent limbs. Grape vines need not
be trellised the first year, only to
small stakes about like pea vines.
In the fall the vines should be cut
back to two eyes, and only two
limbs should grow the second year.
These should be allowed to grow
about ten feet long and then pinched
back. Vines should be trimmed
back every fall. Full directions
may be found in any book on grape
culture. After the third year no
crops should be grown in an or,
chard except light crops, such as
peas or shallow rooted grasses, and
these should be moved down and
allowed to rot on the land as a
mulch and for a manure. Any plow-
ing in an orchard should be as shall
low as possible, as the roots of the
trees after four years will cover the
entire ground and the feeders come
near the surface to drink i'll the
gases furnished by the atmosphere,
and absorbed by the soil; and if the
fbrous feeding roots be cut at any
season of the year By deep blowing
the trees are cut off from their food
supply, are impoverished and
starved. Hence the poor fruit and
early decay of many old orchards.
Manures-However rich your
land may be, the roots in time ex-
haust the soil within their reach
and they must be fertilized every
year. A neglect of this will sure
| ly result in the early decay of the
trees and poor, small fruit. This
may be done by broadcasting and
blowing in any manure, or growing
and moving any crop, leaving it on
the ground to decay, and by heavy
spring mulching, blowing it under
in the fall.
Pruning-The ends of any grow
ing limbs may be cut back every
year and thinned out if too thick,
for fruit needs sunlight to ripen and
color nicely. The tendency of our
rich soils, warm climate and long
seasons is to grow too much wood,
and in few years, if unpruned, the
fruit all grows upon the end of the
limbs, long way from the body of
the tree. Such trees are shy bear
ers and the fruit is small and of
poor quality, but if these limbs be
cut back every fall the trees will be
kept short limbed and the fruit will
be kept near to the roots, the trees
will be healthier, longer lived, bear
more fruit and of better quality.
Thinning fruit to improve its quail
| ity is an important item. Trees
set the buds one year that bear fruit
the next year. If a tree bears an
over crop this year the fruit will be
small, the energies of the tree will
be overtaxed to grow and mature