The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-08-06

along the edge of the plateau running
north from Vancouver. Another type is
represented by thin, light, gravelly soil,
usually underlaid with coarse, open
gravel subsol. This is found in the cen
tral part of the county. All slopes and
exposures of soil have been planted and
la remarkable number of the paintings
have been profitable. The heavy and
medium deep soils have a good water
holding capacity and are generally well
adapted to orchard production. The
llightest soils are not capable of carry
ing heavy stand of fruiting trees
throughout the summer, and could prob
ably be made more profitable if devoted
to other crops.
Planting.
The trees are usually set about IS to
% feet apart each way and grown to
the largest size possible while young.
In many orchards the trees are too close
and the tops are crowded and the roots
cannot obtain sufficient plant food to
keep the trees in full vigor. Overerowd-
ing lowers the productive capacity and
shortens the life of the tree. Cutting
Iout some Of the trees in some of the
orchards would be beneficial, but in
very few cases are the planting plans
satisfactory for such work.
Pruning.
The pruning systems adopted by the
different growers vary from that of
careful, systematic shaping of the tree
top, to the other extreme of entire neg
lect. The frame work of the tree should
consist of three to five large branches
$50 distributed as to make well bal
anced tree top. These large branches
should send out smaller ones near the
base, and higher up should gradually
divide into large number of limbs.
The fruiting wood should be well dis
trbuted from center to circumference
of the top. AS the trees advance in age
the fruiting wood will be farther from
the trunk. The normal tendency is to
form dense canopy of twigs and
foliage around the outside of the top
and shade to death all twigs inside.
This has not been appreciated by many
growers, and they bave attempted to
do all necessary pruning by cutting out
few large limbs. The small branches
become very thick and the foliage so
dense that direct sunlight can not reach
the inner part of the tree. The twigs
become weak, slender and pendant in
form and large number of them die
each year.
An Annual Operation.
Pruning should be an annual opera
ton and should be considered as one
of the cultural lines of work to be con-
tinued throughout the life of the orch
ard The height of the trunk is large
ly matter of personal preference, but
there seems to be strong tendency to
90 to the extreme and have the trunks
five feet or moro in height. A trunk
three feet tall will ordinarily be salts
factory for the development of good
trees. The young trees should be cut
back each year until they have reached
bearing age. This will develop large,
stocky trunks and branches and with
the new growth properly thinned the
best formed trees can be developed. |
The frame work of the tree must be
so arranged that the fruiting wood of
the bearing tree will be evenly dis
tributed throughout the entire space
that the top of the tree occupies. The
top should be so thinned that some of
the direct rays Of the sun will reach
the center of the tree or even the
ground beneath.
Heavy and light pruning are relative
terms and are used arbitrarily. Pruning
may be said to be heavy when it causes
the trees to send up large number of
water sprouts and is too severe for
vigorous trees that are fruiting regu-
larly, but it is often the best that can
ha 0iven old mr. weak tYees that arc nro