Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1911 — Teaching the Young Tree How to Grow [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Teaching the Young Tree How to Grow

By Prof . C. G. Woodbury

Horticultural Department, Purdue University

Prof. C. G. Woodbury, Horticultural Department Purdue University. It is apparent to everyone that there is a state-wide movement for more and better fruit for home use. If proof were needed to show that the horticultural revival is here, it could be found

Fig. I.A fin«t>ro-r*wr-oW Akin apple Just set and ont yet pruned. Note the Humber of Hmbs and height.

la the number of people of every class -who are putting out fruit trees this spring. Thousands of these trees will prove a disappointment. Thousands wlfl die within the next three months. They will die because they are not properly pruned. Young apple trees need to be almost remade if they are to grow satisfactorily. Young peaches receive a still more radical treatment before they learn how to grow into the right kind of trees. The educatloik of the tree and tree owner progress together. each continually benefiting the other. The first thing to do after receiving the trees Is to unpack and heel them tn. It is Important that nursery stock remain tn the box or bundle as short a time as possible. Before setting day comes the orchard should be laid, bff and if It is a small one, it IS well to set a stake to Indicate the position of each tree, taking care to get them properly lined up. A planting board may be used to get the tree in exactly the pis or occupied by the stake. The planting board la usually about

six feet long with a notch or hole at each end and a notch on the edge half way between the ends. Before setting the young tree all diseased or broken roots should be cut off. The balance of the roots are usually cut back about a third. Don’t leave an air space under the crown of the tree. Put the top soil about the roots and pack.it firmly and carefully. Leave a little loose earth on top to prevent baking of the -oil- After the tree Is set it should be pruned as promptly as possible. Peach trees are pruned to a whip. Likewise one-year-old apples. Twoyear apples are pruned as shown in the cut. The limbs are thinned out to not more than five; three will do If well distributed. These are headed back to three or four buds, leaving the last bud on the outside, the leader Is also headed In, hut may be left somewhat longer than the side branches. This seems like a pretty hard lesson for the young tree. It profits, however, by the treatment. If the pruning is neglected under the mistaken impression that it checks the growth of the tree, death is likely to result. The moisture gathering ability of the root system is greatly reduced when the tree Is dug from the nursery row. The leaf bearing growth has been developed to correspond to the moisture supply furnished by-the entire root system. Hence It is necessary to reduce the leaf bearing wood to the point Where the temporarily crippled root system can supply its demands. If we do not the leaves come out from the plant food already stored up in the tissues and transpire moisture from their surfaces faster

Fig. 2. Same tree shown In Wg« J, after pruning. Five scaffold limbs have been left to form tbs top. The wood taken off is leaning against the man’s arm. A radical treatment, but none too severs.

than it can be supplied; result—the tree dries up and dies. It Is this series of facts that makes ft necessary to teach the tree by pruning how to grow evenly, top and branch. Alfalfa meal has not proved suecessful as a chicken feed because ofl the large percentage of crude fibssj which it contains. Sheep that foe worth *—"ig m always grind their own food. 7