The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1907-12-01
Edited by r. Walden

this ought to have been done las
spring when the young trees were
set out. | would head these peal
trees not more than three feet from
the ground and two feet is better
height.
Mr.. A. C. Tedford, Wenatchee
Wash, writes under date of October
80 as follows: I'VE have row o
Baldwins in our orchard that has thu
speck badly and it is spreading tt
other varieties close by. Would yol
advise grating or digging up? The
trees are six years old"
would advise grating by al
means If this is a case of the rea
Baldwin speck, the trees are not at
fected, for the malady attacks onl!
the fruit. With a new top of Wine
sap, Jonathan or any other variet!
not subject to this disease there will
be no speckSd apples. One statemen
in this letter, however, leads me t.
fear that the malady is not the Bald
win speck but it may be the bittel
rot. | do not think that the Baldwin
speck will ordinarily spread to othel
varieties. But the bitter rot will
spread. AS seen in my answer tt
Mr.. Leedy, of Wenatchee, the bitte1
rot is in that valley. To an mex
perienced person the two maladies
look somewhat alike. Be sure thai
you have the real Baldwin speck. Il
it is the bitter rot you can contro
that. See answer to Mr.. Leedy.
II
Mr.. C. A. Leedy, of Wenatchee
writes October 80: 81 read your ar
ticles in The Ranch with great in
terest l would like to have your
opinion in regard to blowing an or
chard. Our orchard will have beer
set four years in the spring. We
have plowed it every season so far
Do you think it advisable to keep or
blowing it as long as we can gel
among the trees or is there danger
of harming the trees by destroying
the feeding roots? l am also sending
under a seperate cover an apple af
fected with some kind of specks
Will you tell me what the disease is?'
If | cultivated that orchard at al
I would use a disk harrow and follow
that with the spring tooth or Acme
harrow. Only in some rare cases
would | use two-horse stirring pillow
If the ground should seem to be
packed tight and did not readily ad
nit the water to penetrate it, l would
tear it all to pieces and as deep as
possible regardless of any damage tC
the roots. If the fine hair-like roots
called the feeding roots are torn uI
they will Immediately replace them
selves and be more numerous and in
better shape than they were before
the blowing.
But it is a serious question whether
you want clean culture in an orchard
after the trees are we'll started. I am
satisfied that many of our orchards
are being damaged by keeping the sur
face perfectly clean and allowing il
to bake in the hot sun. This is a
large question and good men differ
on the matter but l am decidedly iu
favor of having weeds in my orchard
rather than allow this baking to &C
on from year to year. | will take
this matter up again when I am not
so crowded with queries.
The apple sent by friend Leedy Is
undoubtedly affected with bitter rot
This disease is a fungous growth and
can be controlled by the use of the
Bardeaux mixture. Spray with this
mixture in the early summer. My
opinion is that if we mix the Bar
deaux mixture with our spray for the
coddling moth we can keep the bitter
rot under control. If any mummified
apples are to be found hanging or
the trees in the winter, pick them and
burn them. I expect to have more to
cau on, thic nnaStinn of controlling the