The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1907-02-27


not known. 1t is mentioned in the Bible
and is therefore supposed to be a native
of Palestine. Today in Canaan, and all
the surrounding country, it is almost un.
known and is worthless fruit, the eli.
mate and soil not being adapted to its
cultivation, although they are found in
Persia. Thousands of acres of our hilly
lands might be profitably planted with
apple trees where other crops are grown
with difficulty, but where the land slopes,
1t ought TO be terraced where the apple is
planted. Prof. Emmens says the best
fertilizers for apples are lime, compost,
and potash, hence the necessity for furn-
ishing supply of these useful articles.
The Japanese methods with trees are
good. Instead of so much cutting and
saving, dwarf the size of your tree by
simply nipping off budds when the tree
is small, for these buds become shoots
and the shoots become limbs. This does
well for gardens. But if the tree becomes
large the method is to cut out the top
limbs with a pruner about l6 feet long;
this will cause the tree to be lower and
the limbs to thicken. OF course, cut out
shoots, il you do not wish them TO be-
come limbs and the tree run 10 wood.
Cherry trees should be prevented from
growing tall by pinching of the top buds
when they are small. They are not like
ly to run wild like the trees of the rose
variety, the apple, pear and ounce.
Pears are more similar to apples than
any other fruit. They differ. first in
shape; second, that their seed lies in
wet bed, while apple seed lies in a dry
bed. Christopher Cropp,s few years ago,
grated for me wild mountain ash tree,
that got up at Salmon creek, with Bart
lett pears. The result was the gratis
tiourished, and one year raised peck
of pears, aud another about bushel, but
the vice of it was that the pear gratis
grew faster by far than the ash, sc that de-
strayed the stock of the ash. 1t was
curious sight TO see the two kinds of
leaves on the same tree and the two kinds
of fruit, pears and red mountain ash ber-
ries. AS to plums they are not success
in this section. The curculio and other
insect pests have made such rayages that
people have about quit raising them.
Peach trees can be treated in much the
same way as the apple, but generally in
stead of trimming out limbs, trim in.
Keep your peach trees low. This can be
done by nipping off the top buds when
the tree is small, remem bering that buds
make limbs. Start the buds for the low
er limbs low, not more than two feet
from the ground; this is the way to form
your trees. The old practice was to plant
the tree, and let it grow its own way.
This is exceedingly injudicious, for the
natural consequence is that it throws up
two or three long dangling naked limbs
having few puny weak boughs and a
lot of dead limbs at the top and is a pic
ture OF distress, and appearing as if it had
been struck by hurricane at some time;
while the tree that bad been properly
managed was budding near the ground.
The lower buds on opposite sides of the
tree makes two main limbs. These be-
Ing started rub off the top buds. Then
you have other horizontal limbs, and
thus the tree gets spread. Each winter
alter the second year cut out the weak
wood and some of the limbs back, which
will cause the naked places to send out
shoots to fill them. By this method the
tree Is always in shape for full bearing
and always young. Even the tree de-
scribed that has run up and got away
from you in the air can be improved by
cutting of the small buds of the last
years shoots with long tree clippers, or
otherwise, and its yield doubled or treb-
led. New peach trees should be planted
every or 8 years. They grow marvel.
ously fast. A tree is just what you make
it; you can have wood or fruit.