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

WHO ldQ LIb Cubb1uS l6NcHf hIAu you Will
notice that his Spitzenbergs cannot be
improved upon in the top pruning
The manner of pruning for one tree will
not be adaptable to another, we will
have to study the nature of your tree
and prune accordingly. Take the Law
yer, you cannot cut the LAWYER back al
all. You will make crab-tree OF it il
you do.
i Chairman--I am very much gratified
to see SO many out today. ltshows that
you are interested in high class fruit and
that you mean business. thought
when we sent up the notices that we
could get 25 or 80 out to attend the
meeting, but am delighted to see twice
that number here and to note the inter-
, est that is manifested. Thinning the
fruit has not been touched upon yet so
far. Some say you need to employ a
Chinaman or an Indian who has no
! feeling in the matter at all in order to
do your thinning properly.
Mr.. Mosier-I always thin mine when
they get ready to pick.
Mr.. Mason-I know the Spitzenbergs
must be thinned. They grow in clusters
! like cherries, one in the center and five
or six around it. II these little ones
are all allowed to remain on the tree
nine out OF ten of them will die when
they get to be abont the size Of doves
eggs. / don't know whether you people
know what the size OF doves is, as it
is a scarce article in this country. When
you thin your apples pull off these little
ones from around the center one. /
never leave more than three in cluster.
II these little apples are not pulled off
they make the best kind OF harbor for
the Goblin moth. try to thin to sim
gle Newtown in place. also pull the
leaves off that you so frequently find
around cluster Of apples. IT takes a
little extra time but your apples will
color up better.
Mr.. Root am like Mr.. Mosier, /
thin my apples when they are ready to
pick.
Mr.. Mason--Mr. Orr said, in thinning
they tried to thin to four inches. They
have no sale for anything smaller than
four-tier Newtown, and that was about
all the kind they raised. | asked him
how they did it, and he said by thinning
and summer pruning.
Chairman-Is that true of the Spitzen-
bergP
Mr.. Mason--I think it is.
Mr. Henningsen-Wh is the best
time to prune?
Mr.. CARROLL generally prune in
May or June if can get to it. If you
prune late it heals quicker and don't
water-sprout. 1t is an old saying, "If
you want wood prune early, if apples,
prune late." / generally prune in May.
| would rather wait until the leaves
come out.
Mr.. Mosier-I think June would be
still better.
Mr.. Carroll-If you prune late as Au-
gust it'has tendency to throw the sap
into the limbs you leave on and they
will grow longer than if you prune in
June. II you cultivate your ground late
they will do the same thing, your trees
will grow late and are apt to winter kill.
| seldom cultivate later than the first of
August.
Mr.. Mason-It is an important ques-
ton, this cultivating in the fall. have
one neighbor who cultivates in Novem-
ber. l think it makes but little differ
ence in the growth of the tree whether
we cultivate after August or not. II
there is to he any second growth it will
be after the rains come and | like to
keep the weeds out Of my orchard in the
fall.
Mr.. CARROLL find in September
when it rains that if there are any seeds
in the ground they will start. Then |
take I1gnJ narrow anu XIII tfese l1rtre
weeds and it will not hurt the trees.
Mr.. Mason-I would prune in the
early part of the winter. / prefer June
to the first of the year; but | would
prune the first of December. We often
have rain, snow and sleet during the
winter and if you cut out your extra
wood before that comes, you lessen the
chances for damage to your trees just
that much.
Chairman-There is one question
about heading tree would like to ask |
and that is when you can best do that?
Mr. Carroll-H you have tree two
or three years old you are not liable to
get any top; but to cut q yearling tree
you can cnt it wherever you want it. /
cut off some high two-year old trees.
Some never came out. | pulled them
up. You can do no good heading an old /
tree back.
Mr.. Carroll-When is it time to graft2
Mr.. Mosier--I have never seen top
grating on big limbs successfully done.
| have never seen bud put in a big
limb do any good. As to smaller limbs
/ don't know; but | do know that a
budded tree on yearling stock is bet.
ter than grated tree. Put bud in
about three inches from the ground
about the last of July, wrapt with any
old string and let it alone for about two
weeks, when the string may come off.
l have never had any success with
cherries, but apples, peaches, or any
thing else that way, have good success
always.
Mr.. Mason - l am changing some
trees in my orchard. l have AGO that /
did not buy, and l don't know how
many more that l bought that | am
changing by top grating. They are all
five year old trees. Mr., Kolis did my
top grating. He uses the side graft.
Take tree five years old, or any tree
from three to five years old, pick out
the limbs that will give you the best top.
In a limb the size OF your finger put two
or three scions, in a two-inch limb put
four. After the union is completed you
will cut out to the best limb, l would
not cut limb over two inches in dame
ter, but would take the limbs that are
smaller and put the gratis in these. |
was very successful in my last years
grating, which was my first experience.
| have a friend at Boise, Idaho, where
they are making his trees over into JON
athans. He cuts their trees back about
half to let them grow sprouts and the
next year buds into the sprouts. l
have some six-year-old Ben Davis trees
that l will work over in this manner.
have had good success, about 95 per cent
Df my gratis grew.
Mr.. CARROLL have put in a good
many gratis myself. Some of them grew
and some OF them did not find that
i graft freezes it is not apt to grow.
Mr.. Mason-We never do our grating
until in June, when all danger Of frost
Is past.
Mr.. Carroll-We sometimes have
irosts quite late and caught some of my
traits