The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1912-03-15
The Care of the Orchard
0'sIs~ SAsrr Line Ds~enss-ssfon Tr.s. L.es.,.


} water had made the largest wood
growth. Then when it came time to
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 a
sufficient amount OF water to devotion
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 we'll done-the orchard was
bearing from nine to twelve hundred
bushels OF apples per acre and yet
the crop was practically worthless
There is, therefore, one more factor
to be considered, and that is thin.
ming. This orchard was Cano. Jon
athan, Ben Davis orchard OF about ff
teen years old, and each tree had
three to five thousand little bits of
understood, shrunken apples. The
apples were OF little value and the
trees were breaking down and being
ruined. II half or two-thirds of those
apples had been thinned out in the
beginning of the season, the remain
der would have produced a 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 it is, the or
chardist got an immense crop of I'M
salable fruit and next year his or.
chard will not bear at all, since it is
impossible for tree to feed fruit
buds under such an excessive load
Two or three cents expended in thin
ming would have made so cents differ.
ence in the worth OF these apples in
the fall
And, by the way, while | think of
1t, 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 a frame
work for carrying the loads of the flu
ture years and in every way ii is bet
ter to pull off the few apples that APP
pear here and there; and yet to the
man that is developing the young or
chard it is too much like pulling
tooth to pull off one of these apples.
For this reason it is good discipline
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 21a cents per bushel |
for his apples more than they cost. |
while the other man received 60, and |
right at this point, let me tell you,
fhr ti,,, ,f . = te,
one business to handle ground, to cul- |
tivate, to irrigate, to prune and to |
spray and 1t 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 |
have ever come in contact with is as
helpless as baby when you get him
away from his warehouse and into
he orchard, and on the other nand,
some of the worst failures in the mar
xeting end have been made by pre-
viously successful fruit growers
The western orchardist has a won
ierful opportunity; the choicest soils,
he never-ending sunshine and an
abundance of irrigation water are his.
Nature has been lavish in her boun-
les. Everything that goes to make
success is before him. What he must
urnish is intelligent supervision, en-
srgetic prosecutions, and a love of his
,alling, tempered by conservative
business sense. These are the essen.
ials OF success in any line, but in no
inc OF human endeavor will they
i've greater return in liberty pros