Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1912-02-16
The Care Of the Orchard


rows that had the greatest amount oil
water had made the largest wood
growth Then when it came time tic
mature the fruit the immense amount
of foliage took up so much of the
water that it was impossible TO de
velop the fruit to the proper size
The happy medium, therefore, is
sufficient amount of water to develop
a normal size tree-not an excess
that develops water sprouts and sappy
wood, a rather light application OF
water in the earlier part of the season
SO as not to stimulate too much wood
growth, but an abundance at the time
when the fruit is ripening and the
fruit buds are developing.
l saw an orchard this year in which
everything that | have described to
you so far had been done and appar'
emily well done-the orchard was
bearing from nine to twelve hundred
bushels of apples per acre and y2t
the crop was practically worthless
There is, therefore, one more factoY
to be considered, and that is thAJ
ming This orchard was a Gano, Jon
atlan, Ben Davis orchard of about fif'
teen years old, and each tree had
three to five thousand little bits of
understood, shrunken apples. The
abples were of little value and the
trees were breaking down and being
ruined. If half or two-thirds OF those
apples had been thinned out in the
beginning of the season, the remain
der would have produced crop as
heavy as the trees could bear of bet.
ter developed and standard size apples.
There would have been enough vitality
in the tree to develop fruit buds for
another year and everybody would
have been happy. AS 1t is, the or
chardist got an immense crop of UNI
salable fruit and next year his or.
chard will not bear at all, since 1t is
impossible for tree to feed fruit
buds under such an excessive load.
Two or three cents expended in thin.
ming would have made 80 cents differ.
ence in the worth OF these apples in
the fall.
And, by the way, while | think OF
it, let me suggest to you that you be.
gin thinning as soon as young trees
first begin to bear The first year or so
that a young orchard begins bearing
the crop is not worth the expense OF
spraying and handling, the trees need
all Of their energy to develop frame
work for carrying the loads OF the fu.
ture years and in every way it is bet.
ter to pull off the few apples that ap-
pear here and there; and yet to the
man that is developing the young or
chard it is too much like pulling a
tooth to pull off one OF these apples.
If you begin at that time and learn
to pull apples off in order to make
greater profits in the future, it will
not be hard to keep it up and proper
ly thin your fruit when the orchard
reaches the bearing age.
And even after all this is done, the
problem of fruit growing has not yet
been solved. With a fine crop OF
standard sized, sound fruit on his
trees. the orchardist faces the prob.
lem of picking, packing and market.
ing, and right here there have been
more failures in the past than in any
other part of the work, except pos
sibly spraying. | know two neighbors
with orchards side by side where one
Of them received 2iR cents per busnel
! fnr hiC Dnplpc than
while the other man received so, and
right at this point, let me tell you,
comes the parting of the ways. 1t is
one business to handle ground, to cul
tivate, to irrigate, to prune and to
spray, and it is another business to
grade and market fruit, and in my
travels through the fruit sections OF
the western part of America | have
become more and more satisfied that
those valleys which have been most
uniformly successful in the marketing
OF their fruit are the ones that have
placed this part of the work In the
hands Of the business man, regardless
of his knowledge of orchards and soils.
One of the best fruit handlers that I
have ever come in contact with is as
helpless as baby when you get him
away from his warehouse and into
the orchard, and on the other nand,
some of the worst failures In the mar.
keting end have been made by pre.
yiously successful fruit growers.
The western orehardist has a won.
derful opportunity; the choicest soils.
the never-ending sunshine and an
abundance of irrigation water are his.
Nature has been lavish in her boup.
ties. Everything that goes to make
success is before him. What he must
furnish is intelligent supervision, en-.
ergetic prosecutions, and a love of his
calling, tempered by conservative
business sense. These are the essen.
tials of success in any line, but In no
line of human endeavor will they
give greater return in liberty, pros.
perity and security than in western
orchard management
Borrowed trouble cannot be maid
back.