The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-07-01

beneficial to slit the bark on growing
trees. That is very doubtful. The
idea seems to prevail in certain quar-
tiers that tree becomes bark-bound.
But nature provides for that. If the
bark was some dead thing then it
would become too tight. Put band
of burlaps around a tree early in the
spring and it will become very tight
by the middle of summer. This we
experience in using bands under which
to catch the larvae of the codling
moth If they are put on early in
the spring they become very tight by
the middle of June for they do not
need removing till then or later. We
pin our bands on with single nail
as explained in these notes not long
since By the time of their first taking
off they become so tight that our
hands have to carry pinchers with
which to. remove the nails. But the
bark of tree is not dead like the.
hanSs referred to. AS the tree grows
the bark expands in natural way and
does not become too tight. There is
no good reason for this Sitting of the
bark and we must class it with many
other fads like treating COWS for the
hollow horn and carrying buckeyes in
the pockets to cure the hemorrhoids.
What my friend Cass says about
raising. English walnuts west of the
Cascade range is no doubt strictly cor
rect and is just what l said in The
Ranch about a year ago. But my re-
cent structures were based on the
recommendation that they could be
grown successfully in eastern Wash
ington. 1t cannot be done | have yet
to learn of single case of success
in this section of the country and |
know of number of failures. This
illustrates the oft-repeated saying that
we must learn what fruits are adapted
to a particular section before we plant
to any considerable extent. | notice
friend Cass thinks that water colors
fruit Perhaps it may be thought l
am radical. but | still state my con-
viction that water does not directly
have any effect whatever on the growth
of a tree or in the coloring of its
fruit The function of water in vege-
table growth is to make the fertility
in the soil available for plant food.
1t is we'll known that the growing
plant cannot use the fertility of the
soil except when it is in liquid form.
WnaC makes Cne Tree SIOW dHu IlC
fruit as we'll is the presence of GER
tain elements in the soil. Of course
some of these elements may be lacking
and will have to be given to the soil.
But it has been abundantly shown by
the government experts who have been
studying the worn out farms in GER
tain sections of the country that in
many cases it is not the lack of fer
tility but the lack of available fertil-
ity Now water is one of the things
NEEDED in this process of liberation,
but it is by no means the only one.
Lime, strictly speaking, has but lit
tie fertility in it but it is a very i'm
portant factor in rendering available
the fertility in the SOIL Sometimes
humus is needed for this purpose.
We have some points on our fruit
ranch where the more we irrigate the
worse it is for the trees and the fruit.
The fruit will not color on these
points even if we keep the water
standing on them. But by blowing
under barn yard manure all this is
changed. The soil seems to cement
and run together till the humus Is
added, then the fertility is released
and trees do we'll and the fruit colors