Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1916-07-19

Two or three thorough sprayings
will keep the curculio from singing
the plums and sweet cherries, and win
protect the foliage of the trees from
fungous pests.
Intelligent and timely pruning will
save many of the pear trees from
blight, and the fruit grown will pay
over and over for the time and trou-
BILE spent in the work.
AS practically everyone knows, the
remedy for San Jose scale is lime-sul-
phur applied at winter strength,
which is one gallon to eight of water.
ing the month of March, and need not
consume much time. If the work is
thoroughly done, results are sure to
follow.
Five sprayings when scale are pres
ent, and four when there are no scale,
are the price of maintaining the or
chard in health and vigor. 1t will
take some time, to be sure. You are
very busy, my farmer friend, without
doubt, but can you give up your or
chard to get out of making these five
sprayings? Personally, can not,
and do not think anyone can, who
| is making a home in the country.
i am willing to admit that many
farmer should not try to go into fruit
growing commercially, even though
he is in "The Fruit Belt" but this
is not saying that he can afford to do
without plenty of fresh fruit, grown
right on the farm where the family
can have access to it at all times
when it is wanted.
While in a commercial orchard it is
always to ones advantage to have
large number of trees of each variety,
| the orchard which best serves the
needs of the home, should contain
sorts that will yield the best fruit
throughout the entire season of ripen-
| ing.
Thus, peaches may be had fresh
from the middle of July to the fore
part of October, pears from the mid
die of August to the first part of
March, if winter sorts are planted,
plums from the tenth of August until
quite late in the fall, and apples the
year around.
True, all of this suggests labor, and
we often think that we are overwork-
ed now, but as matter of fact, to
care for a sufficient number of trees
to keep of fruit of all kinds that can
be grown the home well supplied with
VIC DtSI III Jul lOIdlityy VIII COlloutiC
but little more time than some men
spend fishing and they manage to live
quite comfortably, too though they
do not often eat fish.
That man whose boyhood was spent
on the farm, has never forgotten the
"The Old Apple Orchard" When
memory brings to me fondest visions
Of childhood, the orchard is always
in the picture. Even while / write Il
can see it, though it is not likely that
many of those trees are alive today.
How the memory of them fingers. /
can recall the varieties just as they
used to stand in the rows. Early
Harvest, Sweet Bough, Golden Sweet,
baldwin, King, Greening, and then, up
on the hill, where the sun shone warm
and bright, the Autumn, and the
Summer Strawberry, plenty of Ram
hos, too, with a number of sweet WIN
ter sort whose names | never knew.
Why, | can almost taste the pies
that mother used to make from the
fruit of those Early Harvest. / can
see father as he gathered those Gold
en- Sweets, taking to town the few
bushels that remained after the fam
| lily were served. But to see that or
chard in May, when the trees were
covered with blossoms, and their per-
fume was everywhere, to rest under
those trees and listen to the gentle
hum of the bees, was good for any
normal boy and the memory of it
would be sure to go with him far on
into the years.
No, my friends, we can not think
of giving up the farm orchard. Let
us plant in it, just as many kinds
varieties of fruit as are needed to
make the home more complete in its
power to hold the hearts, and mould
the lives of our boys and girls.
For them let us care for the orchard
in the very best manner possible.
Thus shall we add to the attractive
ness of the home, and increase its
holding power in the lives of our chill
dren. When the years shall have car
ried them far out into a busy, hustling
world, now and then they will turn
back in fancy to those Sunny days of
childhood" and then, be sure that
the orchard will be in every picture.
What people don't know about re-
ligion causes the fool arguments.