Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1924-03-27

cOuI1 vi OcbA e~OOO1 ~ IN S~NAO - 49,
Warner Memorial road. Mr.. Baldwin
writes:
The orchard is situated a little less
than a. mile from Devils Lake, on the
Warner Memorial road. l eyed it
with much misgiving last spring.
knew less of orchards than of any
thing else. Neighbors said the orch
ard was quite famous. "Soon" thought
|, g twill be Infamous"
However, 1 got all the books on
fruit culture and pomology that I
could bring home without hiring a
truck; and studied. | discovered that
there are more varieties of apples
in Wisconsin = almost = than GER
tain celebrated pickles. The trees
bearing these apples had distinct in
dividualities and each tree was adj
dicted to several thousand insect,
fungus diseases, and rodent pests.
Fe contro, these pests one had to
poison some Of EN-. To keep q stale
mate as it were, for the books stated
only control was possible. found
that my trees were by no means tenn
perate in their parasitical dissipa-
lions.
| learned that apple trees must he
pruned. / read that pruning was
rarely done properly l studied the
illustrations of the way the cuts
should be made, and decided there
was nothing much to pruning, except
that only an expert should be trust
ed with trees.
In my extremity I turned to man
who knew something about this par
ticular orchard, and prayed him to
come and prune. He was modest about
his capabilities, which made me trust
him. Under his tutelage | amputated
hopefully, but doubtfully. The book
said not to overprune. To my dis
torted imagination my tutors brush
pile would have shamed fresh cut
over timber claim. My conservative
pruning was only one of hundred
things my mentor and l disagreed on.
In fact, must be candid and say the
charm of his company almost COM
pensated me for my anticipated ruin
of the orchard
He departed one day, leaving me
with five rack loads of suckers, dead
wood and eliminated boughs to clear
up The orchard looked wonderfully
neat, ANYHOW, when the debris was
removed. But would it bear fruit?
consulted the top volume Of my theo
retical fruit books. A real orchard
must be ultivated-plowed, in fact.
/ looked at my semi jungle and de-
cided enough clearing had been done.
Flowing was out of the question. |
saw that a disk might reach almost
to the butts of the trees. | disked it
repeatedly, until l had quite nice
mulch I narrowed this mulch thing,
and behold the orchard looked quite
cultivated. With the splashes OF
yellow had used some old yellow
paint l found-on the wounds CT more
thar two inrhes diameter the orch
ard looked It least warlike,
At last came the inevitable time for
spraying. The very word poison
causes my scalp to sunfish. The third
book down gravely stated care must
be taken with sprays because of the
presence OF poison. Arsenate Of lead!
/ froze
In desperation l implored my
primer to finish the killing Of the
orchard by Undertaking the spraying.
I read that one must study ones in
sects and fungicides, and obtain the
right antidote for their undue livli-
ness.
A study of my trees, and l empha-
tically swore / would not spray. For
the teeming populations SUPPORTED by
the unfortunate apple trees there was
not enough poison in the world, and
L COulu uOC d1lQIu " Uuy up Oil Inv
available supply in Baraboo.
My friend came to my rescue with
his usual merry grin at my fears. He
showed me what he thought I need
ed. / told him to go ahead. as when
the orchard was destroyed at least
one source of worry would be gone.
His way of handling the odious mess
won my admiration for his skill and
temerity / drove the team and he
handled the gun. Horrors! | was
showered with spray / am deficient
in the matter of stature, and the dose
of poison needed for a husky insect
might easily control" me- But my
coldblooded adviser. simply laughed
at me. 1 was treasured, and the day
being hot almost relished the mists
that gathered on me every now and
then Subsequently the feeling was