Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1912-04-26

heavy damage last year. And yet.
last year there were dozens Of or
chards in the State Of Utah that
went through the season with a
l'single spraying and one would have
10 search sometimes for a wOrmv
apple in the orchards I think.
! however, that this lesson Will have
a good effect in the end. better
put on an extra spray and work on
the bands when they do not appear
to be doing much good than to re-
peat the experience of the past
season. There is no profit in
wOrmy apples and there is no sat-
isfactIon in them either.
Pruning is Just as essential as
spraying and another two or three
cents a bushel spent on the care
of the tree will yield big RETURNS.
One of the chief reasons why we
are able to raise high priced apples
is because of our long days of
summer sunshine, and yet if We
allow the wood growth of our trees
to become so thick as TO shade
crop of apples, we might as we'll
plant our trees in Ohio and be done
with it. The open headed tree
with plenty of sunlight. plenty Of
air circulation carrying small e
nough crop of apples so that the
tree can produce them to the
standard size. is the efficient tree.
There are almost as many methods
Of pruning as there are men who
prune, and yet they all practi-
cally agree in regard to the object
sought. The major portion of the
experienced western Orchardists
however. agree that after the tree
has been grown and the head nrOp-
erly formed and spread out, as has
been described to you by Secre-
tary Mcpherson, one should be care
iul with the pruning knife in the
winter time until the tree is in
full bearing. And. above all |
other things, after the 4th or 5th |
year, the tops of the branches
should not be cut back unless
there Is to be a neayy crop OF ap- !
pies the next season, and even IN
that case, it is far better to leave
them on until the crop Of apples
is set and assured and then re-
duce their length by summer |
pruning work. There are thous-
ands of orchards in this inter-
mountain region where an original |
branch has been headed back only /
to start three more long water /
growths which have again been
headed back. each one starting two
OF three more, and so on, until the
top of the tree is minIture
broom. and a witch's broom at that
FREQ in that shape can only be
cured by long and tedious effort
One third of this energy, however,
expended in starting the tree
right will prevent all this. The
rule then, on the young develop
ing tree is never to cut off a
branch towards the top unless you
cut off the entire branch, until the
tree is fruiting heavily. then the
excessive wood growth may be re-
duced a small amount at a time
nv summer pruning without dis
turbing the balance between the
roots and the top. In all pruning
CT course it must be remembered I
that the fruit is borne on the
short spurs next to the branches
and that the lower down the fruit
Is borne on the tree the cheaper
ond easier it can be handled at
picking time. It costs five times as
much to pick a bushel OF apples ]
ten feet from the ground as 1t does
10 pick a bushel within reach, and
when you get much above ten feet,
there is little profit in raising ap-
pies.
Irrigation is another of the west
arn problems. In this day we hear
a good deal about raising Orcharus
without irrigation or with a very
small number of irrigations. II IS
,hably true that many orchards
lave been over-irrigated in the
past. but there will be still great
.r disappointment in the future If
we go to the extreme and think we ;
are going to raise fruit without lr- ,
.lgation water. 1t is easy enough /,
o raise trees and many orchards
nave been raised up to the bearing
ime with very small use of water, /.
,ut when a crop of fruit has to
,e rlpeued right at the very dry
st time Of the year when wood
,rowth has practically ceased and