The Southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1895-1909, 1902-07-01
My APPLE TREES FE|L.

Station by Ernest Walker, Hortl-
cultnrist. Arkansas is a great
apple growing State yet a large
proportion Of the trees die before
reaching their best Development.
Drought, to which the death is
generally attributed, is not usual
" the cause, but in m ost cases
only the finishing chapter of in
iuries from neglect or insect enc
mics.
The author insists upon the
choices of suitable soil of sutfi-
cient depth andproperly drained
When the soil is even slightly
acid, lime at the rate of twenty
five bushels per acre should be
used. The effect of this is to
produce fir mer growth of wood
and earlier ripening of fruit.
The cowpea is regarded as the
best source OF heterogeneous fertil-
izer for the apple orchard. Where
it is necessary to use commercial
tilizers, he suggeats 200 lbs.
of ground bone, 100 lbs of acid
phosphate and 100 to 200 lbs of
muriate OF potash.
The author does not approve
of close planting nor of putting
in peach trees or carly bearing
varieties OF apples with the ex-
pectatiou of removing them whe n
they intefere with the growth
of the permanent trees. He
thinks few orchardist have the
nerve to remove the filters in
time.
A low head not more than three
feet from the grounds desirable,
and in pruning it is best to dis
tribute the branches or skeleton
of the tree over about three feet
or more. Professor Walker re-
commends the use of strips of
wood veneer, costing, $3.50 to So
per thousand. as means of pro-
tecting two year old apple trees
from sun scald during their first
serson in the orchard. He de-
precates the digging of large
holes filled with loose earth in
planting lest these become re-
ceptacles of of seep water.
The injuries due to the woody
aphis, crown gall ,cornscald. and
improper pruning are we'll de-
scribed IN text and illustration.
The woody aphis is very general
ly present but is injurious. &C
cording this author, chiefly on
young trees. However, we would
add that in at least one Alabama
orchard coming under our OBJ
servation the principal cause OF
the death of old trees seems to
be the woody aphis. TO avoid
this trouble nursery stock should
be fumigated by the sellers.
However, in case this has not
been done, Professor Walker
considers it safe and effective
treatment to dip the roots of the
young apple trees just before
planting in kerosine emulsion
containing 10 per cent kerosine
az Tor few seconds in water
maintained at temperature of
l35 to $50 degr ees f. AS an adj
dltlonal means of protecting the
cree the first year he recon-
mcnds the digging of trench
around the tree five or six lnches
deep and foot or two from the
trunk. In this trench from one
to four pounds of powdered to-
bacco is strewn and the soil re-
placed. The soil water diffuses
the tobacco extract. Instead of
the tocacco dust. rose leaf ex-
tract of tobacco has beensuccess-
fully used in the same way, three
tablespoonsful to a half teacun-
full being dissolved in one to two
gallons If water and poured in
the trench "a five gallon can
costing $3.50 will treat 80 to 100
three and four year old trees.
Sometimes it may be worth while
to grow some strong tobacco for