The Ordway new era., 1906-04-06
Top eRAf1lHs APPLE TREEs
Nv w. 8. Coburn. President sesss
Board Of Horticulture. Hotch'
kian Colorado.

.rd the near tree. You will see its ad-
yantages over the old way OF planting
the original tree OF the variety desired.
We Ali know that all apple trees are
not of the same hardness. thrifty
growers and long lived. We VIII take
for instance. three OF the kinds most IN
demand for commercial purpose ana
largely grown, especially on the west
ern slope OF this state. the Jonathah'
Wiuesap and Rome Beauty. The iona
than In only considered half hardy, nut
one of the best early winter varieties
grown. and In great demand for Christ
mas and New Years. The tree whiie
Young seems to be fair grower ana
Yields large crops OF good-sized ap'
ples. but at the age OF ntteen 10
twenty years we find many falling. Ihe
tree stops growing. the foliage be'
comes small and often light colored.
the fruit while the tree Is nun also
stops growing and very little OF II VIII
got 10 n marketable size. Close exam
ination fails TO reveal any disease, ana
the conclusion arrived at Is. that II,
like some of the human family, Is short
lived. For that reason would not
plant the Jonathan three.
The Rome Beauty tree is the next one
we will take under consideration, the
fruit of which Is OF large size. line APP
pearance, good quality. and It's season
Is the last OF February and March un'
der tne ordinary way of keeping ap'
pies. but when put into cold storage
comes out In April and May In iine
shane. The tree when first set is an
upright. rank grower. in fact. II grows
so thrifty that unless precautionary
measures are taken to stop its growth
and rIpen up the wood. the trunk VIII Of
ten crack open from the limbs TO the
ground. killing the tree. We have Of
ten seen as many as ten acres oil this
variety dying of every winter until at
the end OF five years there were none
left. For this reason we would not
plant a Rome Beauty tree.
The next under consideration is the
winesap, an apple OF rather medium
size, best quality. long keeper and
greatly in demand. II is generally un.
derstood by all fruit growers that TO
grow the Winesap successfully II must
be planted ON very rich deep soil for
best results, as the apple is naturally
rather undersized. We will ask the
average planter II he has ever noticed
the Winesap trees as they came from
the nursery ready TO plant in the or
chard. II Is one of the poorest grow
ing trees In the nursery. sprawlinE
limbs. one sided and the poorest
rooted: three or four main roots often
growing all on one side, with few
fibrous or lateral roots. For this rea.
son its capacity for gathering the fer
tilizing qualities of the surrounding
soil is limited and when the tree gets
TO be fifteen or twenty years old unless
severely pruned and thinned out. the
fruit will be too small for market. For
this reason II behooves us to seek n
and the only remedy that we
have been able to prescribe is to top
graft on the thriftiest growing tree.
Top grating has been practiced for
hundreds of years and very little Inn
proyement has been made on the old
style Of splitting the stock. which is n
very bungling and unsatisfactory way.
and unreliable. Having planted a
large variety in n new country where
fruit growing was an experiment and
all kinds grew and maturcd to perfec-
ton, we naturally wanted TO grow a
few OF the best commercial varieties.
hence the necessity for either digging
objectional ones. The planting of
young trees among those from ten to
twelve years old makes the orchard
present a ragged. uneven appearance.
hence my decision to top graft. We
have grated summer, fall and winter
varieties, red and yellow. sweet and
sour. TO the Jonathan. Winesap and
Rome Beauty with the same success.
hnnra for tho piynn In hn
going l would advocate planting the
hardest, rankest growing, best.rooted
trees that could be had and letting
them grow three years in the orchard
when the root system will become well
established and then top graft to such
varieties as the market in your local
ity demand.
Fol- the benefit of those who are not IA
miliar with the hardest and thriftiest
growing trees 1t might be advisable
to mention some of them: The Scotts
Winter, Northern Spy. LAWYER, Red
Astrachan. Baldwin and Ben Davis,
also some of the crabs make fine stock
for the purpose, like Quaker Beauty,
Hyslop and General Grant. Should
you have some of the shy-bearing va
rieties like Arkansas Black, Northern
Spy, or others, we would advise graft
ing them on the prolific stocks of
the crab family. or the Russian varie-
ties, which are usually great bearers.
/ have made study and thorough
test of this branch of horticulture for
years and find 1t very satisfactory. In
conclusion, would say that 1t is my
candid opinion that he who plants and
grows an orchard under the above di.
rections will have the thriftiest, long.
est lived and best bearing orchard that
it is possible to grow.
Directions for Top Grating.
The method of grating is: Saw in
three-eighths of an inch on top and
two and one-half to three inches down
the side of limb. Take one of these
half-moon shaped harness or saddlers
knives and dress the curf smoothly or
each side. Whittle the scion to fit and
drive IL in firmly and way over