The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-02-27

: or 1all TO spray the blossom ends well,
] you will have the Goblin moth the whole
: year.
RI Mr.. Mason--I think these meetings
! will do us as much good as the expert
T nent stations work. / like to hear the
] results of such experiments as Mr.. Car
! roll made.
Mr.. Middleswart- When | came up
here found my orchard SO close that /
could not get through with plow.
They told me to cut my young trees back
to Is inches from the ground and have
been trying ever since to get my trees
high enough to get under them. | am
| finding my neighbors cutting their un-
der limbs off their trees so that they
can get to them to cultivate. | trim the
limbs off so | can get under them.
Mr.. Kennedy-Did you lose any ap-
pies next year?
Mr.. Middleswart-No sir.
Mr.. Kennedy - Did you cut off the
lower limbs?
i Mr.. .Middleswart-Y Yes, sir.
i Mr.. Kennedy-The reason | ask is
that everybody asks me what in the
world have been cutting the lower
limbs off for, and I think / am doing
| right yet.
Mr.. Mosier-I have patch of plum
and prune trees. was told to allow
the limbs to come out as low down as
| possible so as to shade the body OF the
! tree and protect it, and did SO and |
had to take hoe and hoe the weeds out
from under the trees. cut out every
thing ont of every tree all oyer the or
| chard so that II could drive team up
to the trees and cultivate them, and |
did not damage my trees whatever.
Mr.. Kennedy-One great reason why
| cut the limbs off underneath was that
was using that ideal orchard cultiva-
tor, the California right lap, which /
think is first class, practical machine.
| had young horse and an old horse and
| that little side draft Mr.. Mason is scared
at, was little too hard for the young
horse, but there is way to adjust the
machine to overcome it and reduce the
side draft to practically nothsng. My
neighbor came over and said "My, that
does fine work, but the more you cut
| them ferns the thicker they come up"
but you all know that is just the way to
kill them. The more you cut them and
make them bleed, the easier they can
be cleaned out.
| Mr.. Middleswart--I am one of those
who believes in low topped trees. l
| topped my trees to the height OF my
knees, or about 20 inches. There are
some advantages in the matter of culti-
yation in high topped trees, but there
are so many other advantages in favor
of low top tree after they get to be 10
or l2y years old, especially in spraying
and picking Can you get horse, say
ten or twelve hands high under your
high topped trees without skinning the
trees or knocking off lots Of the apples,
when you cultivate? Besides the low
limbs will be protection from the sun
and prevent sun spot.
Mr.. Kennedy--I have had experience
in handling low topped trees--cut to 20
inches. / don't want any more of it in
mine. | believe in clearing out from
under the tree so the sun and air can
get at it.
Mr.. Mosier-I do not believe good
thrifty tree will sun spot Borers will
get in low top tree as well as a high
topped tree, and do not see that the
limbs would be any protection from the
cold.
MIR. Carroll--You take tree and cut
it off up here four feet high. What
kind of shape will that tree be in in a
few years in this valley? What kind
Of a body will it have in three years? No
sthiaker than a manis--thninh-- -haua
cut my trees all off low down. / am
going to show you that can get up as
close to low top tree as you can to a
tree cut off four feet up. II you cut a
tree back to twenty inches the limbs
will come out and turn up while if you
cut them off up four feet high the limbs
will come out and turn down in the way
Of your pillow, so that you can't get your
horse under them. Now this is fact |
Did you ever see heavy trunk ON one
of these tall trees? The thicker and |
heavier the trunk the straighter your
tree stands Then again there is a great |
saving OF labor in favor of the low topped |
tree, My men picked 100 boxes Of ap-
pies day off of my low topped trees
this year, while they could not have
picked more than 20 off Of your high |
trees. You very seldom see sun spot
on low tree, while | think you will see
three out Of five SO affected where the
trees are trimmed high. | think this
is done in the winter, and not, as
many suppose in the heat OF the sum-
mer. think the sun shines on them
during the warm days drawing up the
sap and the cold nights freeze them,
bursting the sap cells, causing the de-
cay. Warm days and cold nights az
count for most OF the loss from sun
scald. | think if the limbs are low
down they break the wind from the
trees while If the trees are high it is
colder, the bare trunk being the most
exposed part of the tree. There is an
other idea that | differ with most men
on, and that is in thinning out the top
Some men will leave only three or four
limbs where | will leave dozen. |
think there is such thing as thinning
out so thin that you can't raise good APP
Piles, You can put few fine apples ON lots
of limbs, but not lots of fine apples on a
few limbs. Ii you have lots OF limbs
you can leave few apples on each one,
making a good heavy crop in the aggre-
gate, and Of good marketable size; while
il you have but few limbs you will be
sure to leaveltoo many on the limb crowd
ing them so that they will be small and
an over-burden to the limb, or if properly
will have too few on the tree to
make fair crop. That is my exper-
ience.
Mr., Mosier-I have tree about three
years old. The first spring it was
about eight feet high and | cut it back
to four feet, when the limbs, instead of
coming out and going to the ground,
they came out and went straight up. 1t
does not follow that because you cut your
tree at four feet the limbs should go
down and go up when cut at 20 inches,
except in the Swaar, and perhaps the
Ben Davis, which might go down. l
think either way has some good features,
but IL yon cat low down you will have
to cut off some of your side limbs. II
you don't, 1 don't know how you will get
up to your trees.
Mr.. Mason-I want to give a practical
OF protection of the tree by
low pruning Mr. Winehell complains
that large number Of his Ben Davis,
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