The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-02-01
LEWIS TELLS HOW
TO SAVE TREES

when trees have been severely in.
Jured by storms or other weather con-
dtions, the first impulse of the or
chardist is to rip the trees out, " SAYS
Prof. &. /. Lewis of the horticultural
division of the Oregon Agricultural
College in response to large number
of letters of inquiry regarding the
proper handling Of the trees broken by
the recent "silver thaw."
"This would probably be a mistake,
since, with all trees except one-year-
olds, there is good root system that,
If the trees are cut back properly, can
be made to force out a strong. vigorous
top, continued Prof. Lewis.
"Often trees injured by freezing in
winter or by sour sap and sun scad in
spring, or by rabbits or squirrels, may
be cut back in such way as 70 force
new top. If the snow or ice has
merely broken Oft the branches. the
broken ends should be cut smooth with
a sharp instrument, and where there
are two or three buds left on a main
branch new branches can generally be
forced out and new body be built on
the tree.
IF the branches are all stripped
from the tree, it may be simply cut off
below the badly stripped place in
some trees about IL inches above the
ground. | have found that occasionally
two or three year olds so treated
simply feather out, the buds develop
ing clusters of leaves instead of fore
ing out good leading branches. One
must expect to lose few trees in this
way. On he other hand. they some
times force out strong new laterals.
Another way is to cut back from
three to six inches from the ground
when strong laterals may often b.
! forced out which can be pruned the
next year like new trees, giving the
benefit of several things. If the tree
forces out three or four laterals of
about equal strength, these can be
headed back and the tree treated like
an open center, very low headed tree,
and, by marching and INTERVIEWING all
branches that can grow well together
such crotches can be made much
stronger than otherwise. Often il will
be found better to remove all but one
OF these new sprouts, and prune it as
If it were new tree.
Trees three years old or more
should have another treatment. If
they have fairly large bodies, if they
are rebudded or regrafted one is fairly
sure of losing few trees. | would cut
the tree back to about foot from the
ground and insert couple of scions,
either by cleft graft or bark graft.
These would force out fine growth
which will need close watching the
coming year, and should be pruned, by
June or early July, heading back the
rank terminals to force out desirable
laterals and keep the tree low headed.
In cases of sour sap. sun scald OF
injury by rabbits and squirrels where
the trees are girdled they may be cut
off below the point of injury and good
strong shoots will be sent out. The
root system of the tree is uninjured
and will furnish an enormous amout OF
sap and the buds forced out will prob.
ably be strong.
"Only in rare cases would take the
trees out roots and all. Occasionally
when the tops seem badly injured from
uncongenial weather the sprouts will
be forced out yet the top remain alive.
If it seems to be vigorous | would cut
off the sprout at the ground but il
there is question as to the vigor of the
top and none at all as to the strength
of the sprouts ! would remove the old
top and train the sprout into new
tree. If the sprout comes out above
the graft as is usual grating will be
Unnecessary. Rebud ling or regraftinp
to desired variety will be necessary
if the sprouts come out below.