The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-02-08
INDIANA ORCHARDS
NEED RECLA|M|NG
Farmers Advised to Prune,
Spray and Plow for
Best Results.

The lecture on the care and atten-
ton which should be given the or
chard was one Of the most interesting
lectures given at the Tuesday session
of the Farmers short course. On the
average, the Indiana orchard needs to
be reclaimed and more attention Civ
en- to the production. Prof. Richards
advocated pruning and spraying and
blowing as being beneficial to the
fruit trees.
Prof Richards stated that there
was no doubt in the minds of the ma
jority of farmers that the average
home orchard needs retaining and
management. The old orchard was
planted in many cases by the grand
father of the present owner and has
never received any care other than a
few srasmotic prunings from that
time to the present day. Such or
chards, he said. are being operated at
loss rather than at profit to their
owners. With little intelligent care
these orchards can be made TO yield
crops that will not only furnish the
home supply but some for market as
we'll
There are four main factors which
are instrumental in causing this lack
of production. The orchard needs TO
be cultivated; the soil should be fer
tilted; the pruning should be
done Systematically and spraying
should be done thoroughly every seas
on. 1t is hard to convince the general
farmer that the orchard crop should
be cultivated. He would never think
of trying to grow corn or potatoes in
sod yet he expects to get the best re-
suits from his orchard crop when it is
left in that condition.
The orchard should be plowed in
the spring. kept cultivated until the
middle of June by means of a spring
tooth harrow and then have a cover
crop of soy beans or some other legu-
minous crops. This is plowed under
the following spring and the operation
repeated. Old orchard soils are al
ways depleted and need heavy ferti.
lization. The best fertilizer for or.
chards is barnyard manure. 1t should
be applied at the rate of two to five
tons per acre every year. Where this
| is not obtainable, commercial fertili.
ger should be resorted to.
Pruning and spraying are the most
abused and misunderstood of orchard
operations. The main object of prun
ing is to keep the head of the tree
low and to open it up so that sun
light and air can get into the fruit
Prune in the spring just before the
sap starts to flow so that the wound
will heal better.
| Spraying is dSne to control the var
ious orchard pests such as the. Sar
Jose scale, Coddling moth and bitter
rot. The standard remedy for fungus
ed of four pounds blue stone pounds
lime and fifty gallons of water. TIC
control biting insects 2 pounds arsen
ate of lead is added to each so gallon:
of Bordeaux mixture.
To control scale insects blue sui
phur spray is used This is bought
as commercial mixture and is dilut
ed at the rate of one gallon of mixture
to ten gallons of water In conclusion
Prof. Richards said if the average
farm orchard is cared for as it should
be. Indiana will again join the rank.
of the fruit producing states and in
stead of having a decrease in produc
ton the yield will gradually come
back to what it was 25 or 80 year!
ago.