A FAVORABLE WINTER FOR FRUITS.--The ground was in good condition last fall, with a reasonable amount of moisture, fruits, both trees and plants, well ripened up, and now with a fairly good blanket of snow and no long continued severe weather, we have to this point in the winter a very certain a.s.surance of a good yield of fruit the coming spring. To be sure the thermometer was down in the neighborhood of thirty degrees one night, but it was there so short a time that it scarcely seems possible that any harm could have been done by it. The horticulturist should be a natural optimist and always antic.i.p.ate something good ahead, which is one pretty sure way of getting it.

MINNESOTA NURSERYMEN GIVE MEMBERSHIPS.--A considerable number of the nurserymen of Minnesota are again giving memberships this year as premiums to purchasers of nursery stock in quant.i.ty of $20.00 or upwards. This is a commendable enterprise, not only on account of its material a.s.sistance in building up the membership roll of the society but more especially because it brings in the kind of members who have, or should have, a large practical interest in the workings of the a.s.sociation, and we believe also that it is like "casting bread upon the waters;" those receiving these memberships will have a warm feeling for the nurserymen which present them. If you who read this are Minnesota nurserymen and are not in the list of those who are doing this service for the society, don't you want to take advantage of an immediate opportunity to align yourself with those who are showing so large an interest in the welfare of the a.s.sociation?

[Ill.u.s.tration: GATHERING THE APPLE CROP IN HAROLD SIMMONS'

ORCHARD--AT HOWARD LAKE.]

While it is not the intention to publish anything in this magazine that is misleading or unreliable, yet it must be remembered that the articles published herein recite the experience and opinions of their writers, and this fact must always be noted in estimating their practical value.

THE MINNESOTA HORTICULTURIST

Vol. 44 MARCH, 1916 No. 3

My Orchard Crop of 1915 from Start to Finish.

HAROLD SIMMONS, ORCHARDIST, HOWARD LAKE.

In antic.i.p.ation of a crop of apples for 1915 we commenced the season with the regular annual pruning in March. We begin pruning as soon after the 25th day of February as the weather is mild enough for us to work comfortably, as the pruning of fifteen hundred trees requires considerable time when one is obsessed with the idea that nothing short of a first cla.s.s job will do, and that to be accomplished mainly by the efforts of one individual.

We have endeavored to grow our trees so that they should all have from three to five or six main limbs, and any tendency of a limb to a.s.sume the leadership is suppressed. A tree grown upon this principle has the faculty of growing a great many laterals, necessitating an annual pruning. As far as possible we prune to prevent laterals from becoming too numerous, from growing so as to overtop or shade lower limbs, to let in light and sunshine, so as to get the maximum amount of color on the fruit and in a measure to help in thinning the fruit. Having in view the idea of an annual crop instead of a biennial one, one essential point always in mind is that we want an open headed tree, and we also wish to insure our trees against blight, and so we eliminate all water sprouts.

Apparently, no Minnesota orchard is immune against blight.

Some objections are raised to this type of tree, one criticism being that the tree is structurally weak from the fact that if one limb breaks off at the trunk the tree is about ruined. We offset the possibility of such a break by careful training and by wiring the trees, a plan I gathered some years ago from a Mr. Mason, at that time president of the Flood River Apple Growers a.s.sociation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Young trees in full bloom in Mr. Simmons' orchard.]

We use No. 14 galvanized wire, a half inch galvanized harness ring, and screw-eyes with stout shanks and small eyes. Locating up the main limbs what might be called the center of effort, or where the main pull would be when loaded with fruit, put in a good stout screw-eye in every main limb, eyes all pointing to the center of the tree, and then wire them all to the harness ring in the middle of the tree. When finished the ring and the wires are like the hub in a wheel with the spokes all around. We tried this first on our N.W. Greening trees, and results were so satisfactory that we have applied it to a great number of other varieties with equal satisfaction. Once put in a tree, it is good for the life of the tree.

Our objection to a tree with a central leader is that it is very difficult to create an open head, and if the blight strikes the leader it generally means the loss of the tree. Low headed trees we have found by experience, are easiest cared for; they are the most economical for thinning, harvesting, spraying and pruning; they also shade the trunk and main limbs.

After pruning all brush is removed from the orchard and burned.

The next operation is spraying, and our first spraying was done when most of the petals were down, using a Cushman power sprayer, running at two hundred pounds pressure, with two leads of hose and extension rods with two nozzles on each. Spraying solution, six gallons of lime and sulphur, twelve pounds of a.r.s.enate of lead paste to each tank of water containing two hundred gallons. We aim to cover the tree thoroughly from top to bottom and spray twice each season. However, the past season half the orchard only was sprayed twice, the other half only once, the second spraying being applied about two weeks after the first, when we use lime and sulphur only, and then five gallons instead of six, in each tank of water. We use angle nozzles, the better to direct the spray into the calyxes.

The orchard was mowed twice during the summer, early in June and the middle of July. A heavy growth of clover covers most of the orchard, and none is ever removed, all is left to decay just as it is left by the mowers.

The next thing in line to take our attention is thinning the fruit. The past season we thinned the Wealthy and top-worked varieties only; another season, we expect to carry this work to every tree in the orchard. The trees were gone over twice in the season, although the bulk of the work is done at the first operation. We use thinning shears made expressly for the purpose.

By the end of July the trees in many instances were carrying maximum loads, and unless rendered a.s.sistance by propping in some way, the limbs, great numbers of them, must soon break. To get props to prop hundreds of trees, needing from five to six up to a dozen per tree, and apply them, looked like a big job. To purchase lumber for props the price was prohibitive; to get them from the woods was impossible. We finally solved the problem by purchasing bamboo fish poles, sixteen and twenty feet long, and by using No. 12 wire, making one turn around the pole at the required height, turning up the end of the wire to hold it and making a hook out of the other end of the wire, using about seven or eight inches of wire for each. These made excellent props at small expense, the ringlike excresences on the pole preventing the wire from slipping. We propped as many as four and five limbs at different heights on one pole. This method carried the heavily loaded trees through the season in good shape. Anyone afflicted with too many apples on their trees should try it.

Next in line came the harvesting of the crop. We use the "Ideal Bottomless Bag" for a picking utensil, and almost all the fruit is picked from six foot step-ladders. We pack the apples in the orchard.

Fortunately we have had the same people pick our apples year after year, from the first crop until the last one of the past season.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Apples by the carload at Howard Lake.]

In packing we aim to use the kind of package the market demands. The crop this season was all barreled. The pickers have been on the job long enough so that they are as able to discriminate as to what should go into a barrel and what should not as I am myself. However, our system is to always have about twice as many barrels open ready for the apples as there are pickers. The barrels are all faced one layer at least, and two layers if we have the time, and as the pickers come in with approximately half a bushel of apples in the picking sack, they swing the sack over the barrel, lower it, release the catch and the apples are deposited without bruising in any way.

The next picker puts his in the next barrel, and so on, so that each succeeding picker deposits his apples in the next succeeding barrel. In that way I personally have the opportunity to inspect every half bushel of apples, or, I might say, every apple, as a half bushel of apples in a barrel is shallow, making inspection a very simple matter. When the barrels are filled they are headed up, put in the packing shed until sufficient have acc.u.mulated, and when that point is reached they are loaded out, billed to Minneapolis, where practically all our apples have been sold for years. All fruit up to date has been sold on a commission basis, the crop for the past season aggregating five carloads, or approximately 800 barrels.

We feel that we have worked out a fairly good method to handle both our trees and our apples, but we have not reached the conclusion that our methods in any way guarantee us a crop of apples, although in ten years, or since the orchard came into bearing, we have never had a season that we did not have a fair crop of apples. In 1913 we sold seven carloads, in 1914 four carloads, in 1915 five carloads, and the trees as far as they are concerned promise us a fair crop for 1916. We are working as though this is a.s.sured, but in the final a.n.a.lysis it is up to the weather man.

A Member: I would like to ask Mr. Simmons in regard to his wiring. We are raising our trees in the same manner, the open-headed trees, and I wanted to ask him where the central ring is placed, in the crotch of the tree or where?

Mr. Simmons: The ring is suspended by the wires in the center of the tree. It makes an excellent arrangement. You can stand on that wire and gather the apples from the topmost limbs of the trees. The screw-eyes should be put in at what might be termed the center of effort or pull, when the limb is heavily loaded. If not put in high enough, it causes a rather too acute angle where the screw-eye is inserted and the limb is likely to break.

A Member: We had considerable difficulty with broken branches.

Mr. Ludlow: Are the rings put on the outside or the inside of the trees?

Mr. Simmons: On the inside, so that the screw eyes all point towards the center of the tree. After three or four years you can't see the screw eye, it grows right into the tree.

Mr. Ludlow: I want to ask if you recommend the bamboo poles for general propping of trees?

Mr. Simmons: Yes, sir; most emphatically I would. It is the best and most economical prop you can use. Of course, it is the general opinion among expert fruit growers that the crop should never be too heavy for the tree. The bamboo prop is the best we found. With reasonable care, bamboo poles will outlast common lumber.

It is the general opinion among expert fruit growers that the tree should carry all fruit possible, but should not be permitted to be loaded so heavy as to need propping.

Mr. Dyer: I have an orchard of 70 acres and it would take a great many bamboo poles to prop that orchard. I use pieces of board, various lengths, 4 inches wide and 1 inch thick, of various lengths. I get them 14 to 16 feet long and sometimes I cut them in two. My trees are large, twenty-five and thirty and thirty-five years old, and that has been my most successful material to prop with.

Mr. Simmons: What is the cost?

Mr. Dyer: Well, you know what the lumber is, I paid about $24.00 a thousand.

Mr. Simmons: When I tried to buy the props from the lumber yard they would have cost me twenty cents each. I bought the twenty foot bamboo poles for $7.00 a hundred and the sixteen foot poles for $4.50 a hundred.

A Member: I didn't get where his orchard is located, and I would like to ask about the variety of apples he had the best success with.

Mr. Simmons: The orchard is located at Howard Lake, forty-three miles west of Minneapolis. We grow d.u.c.h.ess, Patten's Greenings, Hibernals and Wealthys.

Mr. Ludlow: What is your average cost per tree for thinning?

Mr. Simmons: We have for years thinned the Wealthy trees and our top-worked varieties, but I never kept any accurate account of the cost of thinning.

Mr. Ludlow: How old are your Wealthys?

Mr. Simmons: Fourteen years old.

Mr. Huestis: Mr. Simmons stated that he used the wire and the ring and the screw-eyes. If he used that, why does he need props? I used the same thing this summer on some Wealthys and thinned them besides, and I didn't need any props because I used the wire from the center ring to the branches.

Mr. Simmons: Well, the wire supports support the main limbs but there are a great many laterals. For instance, you have the main limb going up here at an angle of 90 degrees and the limbs that come out of that are not supported. The props I use are supporting the laterals.

Mr. Anderson: Are your returns satisfactory shipping to the Minneapolis market?