Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1910-07-08

crop by causing the fruit buds tc
cease to grow before they are
thoroughly matured. True 1t is that
they will develop to the stage of
blossoming next spring, but they
will be so weak and short of plant
food that it will be impossible for
them to remain upon the tree. AS
concrete example of this we have
many times seen cherries, apples, and
pears blossom very well, but fall
soon after the petals have dropped.
In conjunction with the SUNNI er
| tillage the growers must not lose
sight of the use of the cover crop
! in order to maintain the fertility,
especially nitrogen, and to add hui
| mus to the soil. In order to make
| the conservation of moisture a more
| simple problem the cover crop
should be sown at the close of the
period of cultivation which is usual
ly about the middle of August and
permitted to grow at will until the
latter part of April or the first of
May
The problem of pruning seems to
be coming better understood in the
west. However, we yet find many
orchards which are yet pruned con-
trary to the best known methods.
Shortage of help during the spring
months has caused many orchards
to be passed unpruned. In such or
chards as this we may prune at the
present crop. This pruning will take
on the nature of regular winter
pruning, but should in no instances
be as severe as the average winter
pruning. The leaves are very useful
to the trees just now in the manufac-
turc of plant food for growth, and
in the storing up of the same for
future use. But light pruning now
and the cutting of winter sprouts
will be especially useful to trees
heavily loaded with fruits. If the
trees should be bearing trees need
ing severe pruning this should be
given to them during the month of
August, and the removal of the large
limbs may be brought about at this
time without injuring the tree in
the least. Young trees will require
limited pruning at this season of the
year. However, the removal of suck
ers from near the ground and a
wholly misplaced limb will be of
advantage.
In the pruning of bearing trees
one should keep in mind constantly
the amount of fruit that is upon
the tree and in this way combine
pruning and thinning. While hand
thinning is very beneficial to most
varieties, thinning with the prun-
ing shears is beneficial where hand
thinning is impossible. Many fruit
growers believe that on account of
the shortage of fruit in the middle
west this year than they will receive
a good price for almost anything
that they can put into the boxes.
However, the buyers will be just as
careful this year as ever, and the
small, wormy, or imperfect speci-
mems will be Disseminated against
very severely Under no considera-
ton should the grower permit his
trees to produce fruit that will not
be first class, or at least of a com
mercial grade. Almost one-half of
the fruit upon many trees at the
present time is imperfect through
some cause of other, and could be
removed with advantage.
There is no definite rule for thin
ming. One must judge from the size
of the tree, and the amount of fruit
it can bear successfully. 1t is better
to count on two or three boxes of
first-cltss fruit from first-class
tree than to expect each tree to bear
seven or eight boxes and run the
risk of the fruit being imperfect or
unmarketable. The rule of thinning
is good where one does not know
his trees, but I would not recon-
m end thinning to three or six inches
if | knew that my tree could not
stand fruit under eight inches. One
apple per spur is plenty under most
circumstances, and in many places,
one apple for every other spur
| should be formed.