FOOTNOTES:
[19] See Lawrence Young's Experiments, in Western Horticultural Review, Vol. I. page 190, in Report of Kentucky State Fruit Committee to American Pomological Congress, for 1850.
[20] Western Horticultural Review; also, Statistics of Storm, Jan. 1, 1864.
CHAPTER VII.[ToC]
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR AN ORCHARD.
DRAINAGE—ITS ADVANTAGES—SURFACE DRAINS—MADE WITH THE PLOW—MAY BE FOLLOWED BY TILES, OR MOLE PLOW—THOROUGH PLOWING—TRENCHING—TRENCH PLOWING—SUBSOIL PLOWING—MANURING NOT OFTEN NEEDED IN A NEW COUNTRY—CHARACTER OF MANURES—LIME, ALKALIES—CLOVER—HOW CLOVER ACTS—EXHAUSTED FIELDS TO BE IMPROVED BEFORE PLANTING—DIGGING THE HOLES—DONE WITH THE PLOW—STAKES—THEIR FUNCTION AND OBJECTS—NOT TO TIE TO—HOW TO TIE A TREE WHEN NECESSARY—PLANTING—PREPARING THE TREES—TRIMMING, BRANCHES AND ROOTS—PUDDLING—SET TO THE NORTH OF THE STAKES—DEPTH TO PLANT—LEANING TREES TO THE SOUTHWEST—SEASON FOR PLANTING—FALL OR SPRING BANKING UP AFTER FALL PLANTING—MULCHING, ITS OBJECTS—MATERIAL TO BE USED—CLOVER MULCH.
The more thoroughly the preparation of the soil, the greater will be the success of the orchardist. Good results, fair crops amply remunerating all outlay, often follow the most careless or almost accidental orchard planting; but trees that are properly set, in well-prepared land, upon a judiciously selected orchard site, and for a few years subjected to proper culture, are infinitely more satisfactory in their results, and much more profitable to their owner.
The importance of drainage can not be too often reiterated, not merely for the sake of leading away the excess of water that at some seasons prevails in much of our best lands, but on account of the more thorough admission of the beneficial air to the soil and the roots; this, of course, can only be had by thorough under-draining of the land. Spouty or springy land is not to be selected for an orchard, and yet we often find spots of this character in fields that we wish to appropriate to orcharding; these should certainly be drained.
Mere surface drainage may be cheaply effected by the plow, and should always be done in level lands, especially where the subsoil is compact and tenacious. The expense of thorough drainage is so great, and the success of our orchards, as commonly planted, even on ill-prepared ground, is so generally good, that we can not expect the majority of farmers to use drain tile at present. Still, the importance of draining can not be doubted: the best results follow its use, and he who would reap the best harvests, and attain the highest success, will underdrain his land. For the most of us, surface drainage alone, is all that we can do; this should never be neglected, for no crop can be successful in land that is subject to an occasional drenching with a surplus of water that stands for days, filling it to the surface, causing the fermentation and souring of the organic matter it contains. The fruit tree, certainly, will not thrive in such a situation, and is as sure to fall into a decline, or consumption, if condemned to wet feet, as would a delicate girl under similar exposure.
The expense of under-draining is the only objection that can possibly be urged against it; even this is no real objection, for it has been repeatedly proved that the outlay, whatever it be, insures such increase of crops as to pay a good interest upon the investment, except where the natural under-drainage of the soil, by a porous stratum of rock or gravel, already provides a ready discharge of the superabundant water. It is thus only a question of the cash capital to be invested in the business, for most of our orchard sites are of such a character of soil as to be immensely benefited by the process. With many of us, in this country, the capital is not to be had, or can not be spared, to put underground; our means are limited, and we do not drain our farms, as we should.
Surface drainage may be more cheaply effected, and, on land at all flat and retentive of moisture, it should never be neglected. It may be done while preparing the soil for planting—done with the plow. It has already been premised that the orchard site should be elevated; such land is generally somewhat undulating; indeed, the flattest field that should ever be planted, will always present some inequalities of surface. Let these be noted before laying off the lands for the plow; calculate to have the furrows cross these inequalities of surface, and gather the furrows in narrow lands, lapping them together just where the row of trees is to be placed. This process may be repeated, and thus quite a ridge will be thrown up for the trees, and a corresponding depression will be left in the middle of the space between the rows, which will serve as a gutter to carry off an excess of surface water; thus, a cheap method of superficial drainage may be effected by the mere plowing of the land judiciously; and this will be found of great advantage in level lands with a stiff subsoil. When such fields are selected for the orchard, this plan should always be pursued; nor does it preclude the subsequent use of tile, which is the best draining material, at any period afterward. These gutters being at a distance from the tree rows, can be deepened, and the tile laid, without disturbing the roots; or the mole drain plow may be drawn through these furrows, if the subsoil be of a suitably tenacious character to admit of the use of this implement.
Very satisfactory preparation of the soil is done with the plow and a good team; indeed, except for the limited surface of a small fruit garden, no other and no better implement need be desired. With it we can produce a very thorough disintegration and perfect subversion of the soil; these are the objects we have in view. But here we have a choice of instruments, in which we must be guided by the character of the soil to be dealt with. If this be shallow, or thin, and underlaid by a sterile subsoil that would be unfit for the surface, we must plow more shallow, but there are few sites, in the Western country, where we do not find a sufficient depth of soil to satisfy the most thorough plowman, and beneath it a subsoil that will be benefited by aeration, and which will become good surface soil if subjected to the influences of the atmosphere.
We have few soils that may not be trenched with the plow or spade to any depth that is attainable. And here let me explain what is meant by trenching: it is the transposition of two layers of the soil more thoroughly, and to a greater depth, than is done by simply digging or plowing, in which a limited amount, only a thin layer of the soil, is inverted. In trenching with the spade, a narrow strip of land is excavated across one end of the piece to be trenched, eighteen or twenty inches wide, and as deep as the spade can take it out at two diggings. The earth thus removed is thrown aside, to be used at the end of the work. The trench being now open, a similar space is laid off, and the surface soil, to the depth of the spade, is dug and thrown into the bottom of the first trench, after which the subsoil is dug to the same depth, the length of the space, and thrown on top of the surface soil that was put into the bottom of the first trench. A second trench is thus opened, and a third strip being then marked off, the same processes are continued, until the whole piece is trenched, when the pile of earth first excavated is brought into requisition to complete the work, by filling up the last trench. This is common trenching, which reverses the two layers of soil, and stirs the whole to the depth of eighteen or twenty inches. It is an expensive operation, but very desirable in a small fruit-garden—not at all applicable for extensive orchard planting, though often applied to the preparation of extensive vineyards.
Trench plowing is conducted upon the same principle, and is done by using two plows in the same furrow, the first taking off the surface soil and throwing it into the deep furrow of the second plow, which is so constructed as to lift the lower soil and throw it high up over the furrow slice laid by the first, and at the same time, leaving a deep furrow open behind it to receive the next cut of surface soil. The two layers are thus inverted and reversed at the same time, and with a proper plow, the whole soil is finely comminuted and reduced to a perfect seed-bed, suitable for a garden. To perform this work, the Double Michigan plow is the favorite implement. It should be properly constructed, for much depends upon having the plow well made; the mold-boards should be formed upon the best models for their respective offices of reversing the surface soil, and of upheaving and comminuting that which lies below it; and these mold-boards should be made of steel. Such plows are manufactured at several points, but all the Double Michigan patterns are not equally good, and some are quite unsatisfactory.
The Deep Tiller plows will do very good work in certain soils, and may often be used to advantage in the preparation of the orchard grounds, either alone, or to follow another plow when trench plowing is desired, and the trench plow is not at hand. These plows, as made at Moline, Illinois, are much used, and give great satisfaction in that State.
Subsoiling is a very useful addendum to deep plowing; its object is to stir the deep layers of the soil without bringing the earth to the surface. This aerates and loosens the subsoil, and thus effects the combined objects of increasing the fertility of the land, of retaining moisture for the crops, and, to a certain extent, of allowing any excess of moisture to percolate away. Subsoiling is most efficacious when combined with draining, but it is of great use without, unless where permanent water is found near the surface. There is a great improvement in the subsoil plows. Those first made were provided with a share on one side, and this wing, as it was called, was tilted up several inches, thus increasing the draft unnecessarily. We now use a sharp steel share, of diamond shape, cutting on both edges, right and left, and very slightly elevated in the centre, only two inches, or two and a half at the most. If the soil is stirred with this implement, the hard earth at the bottom of the furrow, made by the turning plow, is thoroughly broken up, and it does not fall directly back into its place, but the crumbled portions support one another, and the furrow appears to be filled with loose earth. The result is astonishing, when we consider the flat, diamond-shaped plow sole that has done the work.
The depth to which this implement may be made to disintegrate the soil, depends upon its strength, the power of the team, and the character of the subsoil. I have seen it tear up several inches of the shales and other rocks, and aid in making a good soil of them. I have seen it sink to the beam in the alluvium of our river bottoms, and I have seen it almost refuse to do its office in some of the hard white clay subsoils, when drawn by a heavy team, while in more yielding but tenacious clays I have seen it trembling under the strain of three yoke of good cattle, that were scarcely able to pull it through the adhesive soil.
Manuring.—The importance of the application of manures to the orchard, as a part of the preparation of the soil, will depend entirely upon its strength and condition. Trees are great feeders; they need a reasonably fertile soil, for though their roots run wide and deep, in search of nourishment, if the necessary food be not in the soil, they will certainly fail to thrive as they should. The analysis of the ashes of our fruit trees, which contain the elements they have derived from the soils on which they grew, enables us to ascertain what kinds of plant-food should be present in the soil we are about to use, or what materials we may safely and judiciously add to it as manures. Lime, and the alkalies, are generally safe and useful additions, in connection with clover as a green manure; these may be applied to almost any worn soils with great advantage. Clover is an invaluable assistant. Its long roots pierce deeply into the soil, bringing up from below hidden treasures, which are left in the upper layers, modified by the digestion of the plant, and by new chemical changes and combinations, rendered fit food for succeeding crops. The mere disintegration of the soil produced by the roots of clover, is, in itself, a valuable mechanical preparation, quietly performed, without plow or team. The clover lea may be limed with great advantage; an application of twenty-five to fifty bushels of slacked lime to the acre will improve the growth of clover, and will exert its appropriate influence upon the soil, with very happy results for the succeeding crop of orchard trees. Alkalies may be applied, in the form of wood ashes, either at the preparation of the soil, or at any subsequent period, as may be found most convenient. Stable manure, and composts, will seldom be required in lands that have not been nearly exhausted, and therefore unfit for an orchard. In case it becomes necessary to use such a field, the manuring should be done all over the surface, and a crop of clover should be grown and plowed in before planting the trees; upon no account should fresh stable manure be brought into immediate contact or close proximity with the roots of the young tree. If the necessity for planting on such a piece of land impel immediate action, very thoroughly decomposed composts may be applied, mixed with the soil about the tree, but successive applications of manures will be needed over the entire surface, for the roots are destined to occupy the whole extent of soil between the trees.
The next step in the preparation is the digging of the holes for planting the trees. Some persons lay great stress upon the importance of having these made large and deep, which may be very well in a grass lawn with a few trees, but it is a very expensive matter for the orchard of thousands or even of hundreds. The holes should be prepared as wide as the field, and as deep as the plow can stir it, as already directed; that is the kind of holes that should be dug; if the land have been prepared in this manner, the opening of the holes and planting the orchard, either deep or shallow, becomes a very simple matter.
Having determined the distance at which the trees shall stand from one another, and the order or plan of planting, flag poles are to be set in the line to be occupied by the first row of trees, and a deep furrow is then opened with a large plow, drawn by a pair of steady horses. The poles are moved and set for the next row of trees, and so on, until the whole is laid off, making the furrows as straight as possible. This done, a single horse with a lighter plow is driven across these deep furrows at the proper distance, so that the intersections shall indicate the stations for the trees. Strong stakes, about four or five feet long, are then driven firmly at these intersections, and if the marking-out has been well done, they will range in six directions—N. and S.—E. and W.—N.-E. and S.-W.—N.-W. and S.-E., or to corresponding points of the compass; for it is not a matter of much consequence in what direction the rows of trees stand. The holes are the deep furrows, and tree stations are the spaces beside the stakes, always maintaining the same relative position throughout the orchard; the northern side is to be preferred, on account of the partial shade of the stake. By adopting this plan, there need be no trouble, as is often experienced, in sighting the trees to have them straight, for if the stakes have been correctly placed, the trees will also be right, and will range in every direction, when planted.
Before dismissing the subject of stakes, let us understand their object and function: it is not to tie up the trees, and to force them to attain an erect posture; no, that is not to be effected by staking, as will be set forth in another place. Rather than tie a tree to a stake, it were better to cut it down to the ground, and grow it over again. The real objects of the stakes are, first, to show the planter where to set a tree; second, to show where the tree has been planted; third, to indicate to the plowman and to his horse where to exercise care in passing the infant tree during the first years' culture, for an intelligent animal will very soon learn what objects it is intended for him to avoid injuring during his labors in the field; a fourth function of the stake is to ward off the single-tree which the careless laborer may allow to strike the tree to its manifest injury, tearing the bark, and even breaking the stem. The passage of the wagon through the field will also be directed, by these stakes, to the interspaces, instead of passing over the trees. Here are reasons enough for the use of stakes, but tying the trees to them is not among the number; indeed, it might be called the abuse of the stakes rather than their use, except in rare cases. Even in the windy prairie country, no stakes should be used, as supports, in a properly regulated orchard.
Fig. 25.—MANNER OF STAKING A TREE.
When necessary to support a tree with stakes, after an injury or accident, the plan of C. Rosenstiel, Freeport, Ill., is the best I have seen. He adopts it as a means of keeping his trees from being inclined by the wind. He drives a stake firmly into the ground, about a foot to the southwest of his tree; a band of rye straw is cast about the tree a few feet from the ground; the two ends are twisted and entwined together, forming a stiff rope from the tree to the stake, about which it is then cast, and the ends are secured with a piece of twine. By this appliance, the tree is maintained in an erect position without chafing; it can only yield to the wind by waving to the right or left; the band, by its tension, prevents it from leaving the stake, and, by its stiffness, holds it at a proper distance, and prevents its approach.
Planting comes next in order to the marking out, or hole-digging, for these are synonymous; it should be done as soon as possible after the plow, on account of the fresh furrow with its mellow soil. It is really a simple matter and upon this method may be executed with great rapidity. The trees now receive their necessary trimming, which consists in a liberal shortening of the branches, a careful inspection of the roots, and a removal with a sharp knife of such as may have been bruised or torn, and cutting away any mat of fibres; after this, they should be puddled, and then carried out to their stations by a boy. The planter follows; with a bright spade he removes any excess of soil at the station, scraping away such portions of earth as he may find in the way of the roots when the tree is placed by the stake. If the furrow has not been recently made, it will be well always to remove a portion of the surface, so as to have fresh soil next the roots. The tree being placed near the stake, the roots are carefully spread out in their natural direction, and the moist mellow earth is filled in among them, using the fingers when necessary, and gently shaking the tree so as to leave no empty cavities among the fibres. Pretty firm pressure should now be made with the foot, especially upon the fine earth placed above the ends of the roots; this excludes the air, by bringing the particles of soil in close proximity to the roots, ready to receive the new fibres that will soon be emitted from them. It also secures the tree in its place better than tying to the stake, for each root acts as a guy rope. In this manner the work may progress very rapidly, and, at the same time, may be well done. Some planters always pour a liberal supply of water upon the mellow earth, instead of pressing it with the foot. This will settle the fine soil about the roots very effectually; fresh earth should always be thrown on after the water, to prevent the surface from being caked and cracked.
The depth at which the tree should be planted is a question of interest. Most authorities and most successful planters endeavor to regulate this, so that, when settled, the original collar of the young tree may be at the surface of the ground; deep planting has few advocates. The position of the tree as to the points of the compass, is now believed to be a matter of very little moment, although there are still those who insist that the north side of the tree in the nursery row should be made to occupy the same position in the orchard. With low-headed trees this can make no difference; no others are recommended; on the contrary, if, unfortunately, none but tall trees with naked stems can be procured, it is advised to cut them back severely at planting time, so as to form a new head where wanted. Those who have not the heart to cut back a fine tree, may attempt and will sometimes succeed in bringing out branches below, by nicking the bark with a large sharp pruning-knife, at several points along the stem, on all sides, but especially to the southwest, where the shelter of the branches is most needed. This, however, requires us to wait at least one season, and that the most trying one to the young tree, during which the naked bark is exposed to the sun and insects; and the winds may add to the difficulty, by inclining the stem from the southwest. All this may be avoided by planting trees with low branches, which are becoming more and more common as their merits are more highly appreciated. Some of the most judicious planters, especially in windy districts, have adopted the plan of inclining all their trees to the southwest at the time of planting, expecting thus to overcome the difficulty so commonly observed everywhere with tall trees—their leaning to the northeast, and then becoming scorched and injured by the frost and sun, and damaged by the borers.
The season for planting is a question of some importance, and must be settled by the attendant circumstances. Fall planting has many advocates and many advantages, but the fewest practice it. In the far north, with a long, trying winter approaching, it can not be recommended; but, as the spring advances, there is a great press of work; everything is to be done at once, and all is hurry; hence, for the milder latitudes, with our charming autumnal weather, comparative leisure, and the soil in good condition, everything invites us to plant in the autumn, and with those south of latitude forty degrees, the planting season will often continue until mid-winter. If we commence this work before the fall of the leaves, care should be taken to strip these appendages from the trees in the nursery, before digging them. Instead of leaving the soil about the tree at or a little above the general level, it should be heaped up in a little mound, which will shed off the rains, support the stem, and, to some extent, protect the roots from frost. This last suggestion is a matter of much importance, for one of the great advantages of autumnal planting, depends upon the fact that, except in the most severe weather, the tree is not dormant—the hybernation is not complete; in mild weather there is some action in the buds and branches, and considerable activity exists in the roots; new fibres are emitted, and, with the first opening of spring, the young tree is ready for its summer's growth. Such is not the case with trees that have been badly planted in the fall, in a wet, tenacious soil, where their roots have been immersed in mud and water for months, and the swaying top has strained them in every direction. For such a soil, draining is needed; but, even then, the mound will be of material advantage in fall planting.
Mulching is a process about which much has been said and written, but of which, it is to be feared, very little is known and understood. The very objects of mulching do not appear to be properly appreciated by many persons. Its uses are two-fold: primarily, to keep the surface of the earth moist by preventing evaporation, and to maintain that open, friable condition we always find in the forest, under the natural mulching of the leaves. Mulching keeps the earth cooler in summer and warmer in winter; the first, by shading from the burning rays of the sun, the second, by protecting from frost; the material itself, and the confined air among it, being bad conductors of heat. Now, what material shall we use for producing these results? Almost anything that will fulfill these indications will answer—either stones, chips, boards, twigs, saw-dust, tan-bark, weeds, straw, either long or cut, coarse manure, hay, freshly-cut grass, or, perhaps the very best for all the purposes of mulching, leaves themselves, except that they are difficult to retain in their place. A combination of leaves and twigs, small branches or weeds, may be made to answer a very good purpose, for winter mulching especially. For summer mulching there is another material which has been found to answer an admirable purpose, though not mentioned in the above list; it is mellow earth—yes, mellow earth admirably fulfills most of the conditions of a good mulching material, but it must be kept mellow by constant stirring. The air is thus admitted, and deposits its moisture whenever the earth is cooler than the atmosphere; the presence of the air among the particles of the soil makes it a worse conductor of heat than when it is compacted together.
Mulching the newly-planted trees is a very valuable application, whether in summer or winter, and should be practiced wherever it is possible, always remembering that we can not well combine with it culture, which, for the summer treatment, is most essential to the successful growth of trees, and in winter we shall present a harbor to the mice if the mulch be placed too near the tree. He who may have been induced, by the recommendations of high authority, to plant an orchard in a stiff blue-grass sod, or who may allow such sod to surround his trees, in the belief that this constitutes a good mulch, will be sadly disappointed; for, though the surface is shaded, the grass will absorb the moisture from the soil at the expense of the young trees. Clover, on the contrary, makes a denser shade, and seeking its supplies more deeply, is less injurious, while its abundant broad foliage attracts ample supplies of dew to irrigate the soil. In this respect it resembles the Indian corn, which is considered the best crop to put among young trees, as it produces shade, attracts the dew, and, more than all, it demands and receives the thorough culture which the trees also require.
CHAPTER VIII.[ToC]
SELECTION AND PLANTING.
IMPORTANCE OF JUDICIOUS SELECTION—LARGE TREES NOT DESIRABLE. THRIFTY YOUNG TREES PREFERRED—REASONS FOR THE PREFERENCE—ADVANTAGES OF SMALLER TREES—LOW HEADS AND THE PROTECTION BY LATERAL BRANCHES—PERSONAL INSPECTION AND SELECTION RECOMMENDED—DIGGING THE TREES—CAREFULLY AVOID MUTILATION OF THE ROOTS—PUDDLING—TYING AND LABELING—PACKING—AVOID EXPOSURE TO SUN AND WIND, AND FROST—TREATMENT OF FROZEN TREES IN COLD WEATHER—HEELING-IN—MULCHING—MAKING RECORD—DRIED TREES, HOW RESTORED—SEASON FOR PLANTING—BANKING THE TREES—MULCHING—DISTANCE BETWEEN TREES—DEPENDENT UPON THE HABIT OF THE VARIETY—ASSORTING THE VARIETIES ACCORDING TO SIZE—CLOSE PLANTING—COMBINATION PLANTING—DIFFERENT CROPS—APPLES AND PEACHES, OR CHERRIES—SMALL FRUITS BETWEEN—ORDER OF PLANTATION—QUINCUNX—ASSORTING VARIETIES—CONVENIENCE IN HARVESTING TO HAVE EACH KIND GROUPED TOGETHER.
We now come to the consideration of a matter of great importance to the success of the future orchard—the selection of the plants we are to set therein. No matter how favorable the site, how good the soil, nor how thorough the preparations may have been; all may be spoiled by a bad selection of trees, and subsequent disappointment will be the consequence.
Formerly, and in some sections of the country even now, very erroneous notions prevailed upon this subject. Large trees, of several years' growth in the nursery, were preferred by those who were planting orchards: trees, ready to bear fruit, were eagerly inquired for, and preferred; even if they had been crowded together so as to be drawn up to a great hight without any lateral branches, and had formed their heads at the hight of seven or eight feet, so as to be out of the way of browsing by cattle and horses, they were the more admired by the purchasers. Now-a-days there is a great change in the sentiment of tree-planters as to the age, size, and shape of the trees that are to be set out.
Thrifty young trees are preferred to older and larger ones on many accounts. They are more vigorous and will endure the disturbance of digging, transportation, and change of locality from the nursery to the orchard, much better than larger and older trees. They are more easily dug, and will have a larger proportion of roots removed with them than those which have stood longer in the nursery-rows, so as to have pushed their fibres beyond the reach of the spade. Such trees are more stocky, and are furnished with lateral branches, or they should be so furnished, but these would be smothered and removed from older trees in crowded rows, as they are usually found in the nurseries. If these younger trees be not already furnished with laterals and elements for the formation of low heads, by the judicious treatment of the nurserymen who produced them, the orchardist can at least bend them to his will. He may make of them just what he pleases by his own manipulations at the time of planting or afterwards, without feeling that he is sacrificing to his fancy and judgment the growth of two or three years, by freely using the knife and saw, in the removal of the surplus and overgrown top, leaving him only a bare and mutilated stock to set out at the beginning of his orchard.
Another advantage of selecting small trees, especially to those at a distance from the nursery, is, that they are so much more easily transported, and freight bills are a serious item in the expense account of a large orchard plantation—these may be reduced to a minimum by the selection of small instead of large trees. As to forming the heads of our trees, if we cannot get the nurserymen to do this for us, since we are unwilling to remunerate them for the extra labor, and greater space required to form such stocky specimens as we prefer, the difficulty is obviated by planting out young trees upon which we may form the heads where we please.
As already suggested, there is a great revolution going on in the minds of tree-planters as to the proper age for planting. Instead of the inquiry for huge and cumbrous, overgrown trees, that had stood four or five years or more in the nursery, we now find a growing demand for small, stocky trees, of two or three years, or even less. Of many thriftily growing kinds, good yearlings are much better for the orchard than large trees, especially such as have been crowded in the nursery and are devoid of side branches, and whose tall naked stems are exposed to the burning heats and blasting cold of their new homes in the open field, and to the depredations of hosts of insects. Those purchasers, who seek after the tall trees, with bare stems, running up like fishing poles, they who desire to buy their trees by the running yard and to get as great a length as possible for their money, can be accommodated by the nurseryman, who will produce the article to order; but such planters will soon find that their orchards are much less satisfactory than those set with short and stocky trees, and which have been encouraged to branch out so as to form low heads. As set forth in the chapter upon The Nursery, such trees can be produced, and they are greatly to be preferred on many accounts, but their production by the nurserymen must depend upon the intelligence of the orchardists producing a demand for trees of such a character, and a willingness on their part to pay the grower a liberal price for the increased labor and expense, (in space at least), requisite for their production. This no one should object to, for there is economy in planting good trees; the successful orchardist will purchase the best; he will not have the refuse or trash that may be offered him at a low figure, for he well knows that it is dear at any price.
Where it is practicable and within reach, it is best for the planter to visit the nursery and make his own selection of the trees, especially if the demand be for a limited number; but he may generally depend upon the judgment and honesty of the nurseryman, if he has given his order distinctly as to the shape of the trees he desires to purchase. In a common nursery, he will often observe at the ends of the rows, and where there may have been a gap or break in the continuous line of any variety, so that the trees are less crowded, some trees that are better furnished with lateral branches, and are consequently more stocky than where the rows are crowded. Here he will be likely to find the specimens that suit his fancy, and he will mark them for removal.
Digging.—At the proper season, and for most kinds this is at the fall of the leaf, the trees should be dug from the ground. This operation, as usually and necessarily conducted in large establishments, has to be done expeditiously and with less care than the amateur will be disposed to bestow upon this very important operation; and it sometimes happens that he will offer to pay the nurseryman a bonus for the privilege of digging his own trees with his own hands.
In performing this operation he will be very careful to avoid mutilating the roots with the spade, or by using more force than is absolutely necessary in lifting the loosened tree from its bed after the roots have been pretty thoroughly liberated from the soil. He will follow the directions given under this head in the appropriate section of the chapter on The Nursery. The importance of puddling the roots as soon as the trees are dug, cannot be too forcibly impressed upon the planter and nurseryman; its value to the trees is so great as a protection of the tender covering of the roots from exposure to the blighting influences of light, wind, and frost, that the trifling labor and expense involved in the operation, should not receive a moment's consideration.
A puddle hole should be within convenient reach of the nursery-rows where the digging is in progress, and each sort should be taken to it as soon as dug. The excavation should be about a foot deep, or more, for large plants, and as wide as is necessary to receive all the roots of the trees to be puddled. A plentiful supply of water should be at hand to put into the hole, and fine dry loamy soil should be sifted into this, or simply thrown in from the shovel, and thoroughly mixed, so as to bring the fluid to the consistency of thick cream. Into this mud the roots are dipped, until every fibre is endued with a coating of the fine material; the trees then are ready for tying snugly together, and a little dry dirt may be sprinkled or sifted upon the roots while they are still wet, so as to give them a further protection from the elements. They are then securely bound, each kind by itself, and each carefully labeled, if not already done; and as soon as all are grouped together, they are ready for transportation to their new homes. If the distance be short, so that the trees may be carried on the farm-wagon, no packing is used, unless the weather proves very inclement, but it is always safer to guard against both wind and sun, by covering the roots from their influence. For distant transportation, too much care cannot be taken to have the trees well packed to protect the roots from drying and freezing.
In our uncertain climate, it not unfrequently happens that we receive an invoice of trees in the midst of a severe storm of cold, when the ground is frozen hard, and we have reason to suppose that the roots in the cases are frozen. This need not discourage nor alarm us, if the packing be good, for we have only to be patient and allow them time to thaw out thoroughly in the dark, and we shall find our trees all right. The packages should be placed at once in a dark cellar, and allowed to thaw gradually—if no such convenience be at hand, the boxes may be buried in the soil, or covered heavily with straw or hay, materials which are generally abundant in a prairie country, where commodious cellar room is not always at command.
Heeling-in, as it is called, is a very important operation to be performed so soon as possible after the receipt of the trees. It consists in placing the fibrous roots in immediate and close contact with the fresh and mellow soil, at some point convenient to the future planting. A ditch is dug with the spade, or a deep furrow is opened with the plow, in a sheltered, but elevated and dry situation, and in light mellow soil; into this the trees are placed as fast as they are removed from the packages, each kind being separated from the next by a distinct marking stick, and it is well to place the labeled tree first, as taken from bundles when untied. The trees are inclined at an angle, generally leaning towards the south, so as to have the stems shaded by their own branches. They are carefully placed separately and held in this position by one person, while the fine mellow earth is thrown upon the roots by another, who should take great care to see that all the interstices are filled with soil, so as to exclude the air from the fibres. This is especially necessary where the trees are to remain in this situation during the winter, when they will be alternately frozen and thawed. To secure them from injury, the earth should be banked up against them several inches; and it is well also to cover this with a heavy coating of leaves or some other mulching material, if it can be safely used without danger of attracting the field mice, which might ruin the trees. It is well at once to make a record of the trees as they stand, so soon as they are heeled-in, beginning at one end of the ditches or rows, and pursuing a definite order. This record will prove of great value, and very convenient in selecting the different kinds at the time of planting, and will enable us to restore the names in case of accidental loss of labels during the winter. The heeling-in of trees as they are received is recommended, even if everything is ready for immediate planting, unless the number be very small; but if the weather and our convenience permit us to place them at once in their permanent stations, the trees need not be heeled-in with so much care as when they are to remain for a longer period.
It sometimes happens that, from accident, detention by the way, bad packing, or exposure, we receive our trees in bad condition; they are dried, and the bark appears to be shriveled and shrunken—they seem to be dead. Such trees may often be entirely restored by a little care, and will grow as well as any. The best treatment for such is to bury them at once. Opening a sufficiently large trench, a layer of trees is placed flat upon the bottom, fine mellow earth is sifted upon, and among their roots and branches, another layer of trees is spread down and covered in the same way, and so on until they are all secured, when they are left to quietly and slowly absorb the moisture from the soil. In a few days they will be found to be well plumped, and will look as fresh as ever, and should be exhumed, trimmed, and planted, selecting a moist or showery day for the operation.
Season for Planting.—This topic has already been discussed, and the advantages of fall planting have been presented: but it is well to bear in mind that there are reasons for preferring the spring, and for some fruits the latter season is generally preferred.
When planting an orchard in the fall, it has been recommended to raise an embankment of earth about the stem, for the double purpose of protecting the roots from the frost, and also of preventing the action of the wind swaying the tree and straining the roots. A copious mulching is sometimes applied to keep out the frost, or at least to prevent the frequent thawing and freezing of the surface in our variable winters; but whenever loose material is left near the base of a young tree, we must expect damage from the mice, which are attracted and sheltered, and may commit sad devastations upon the bark before spring. The banking and mulching may be combined with advantage, and with less danger from the mice, which only work under cover and are often more injurious upon older trees, surrounded with grass and weeds in neglected orchards, than upon those newly planted and mulched, if a little care has been taken to remove the straw or tramp it down near the stem.
Distance.—The distance between the trees is a matter that should be carefully determined. Their habit should be considered, and their size, when fully developed, must be studied. Some varieties will be more crowded at forty feet apart, than others at fourteen. If possible, the larger and widely spreading sorts should be assorted and planted by themselves, and the more compact, upright and smaller ones should be grouped together. It is difficult to do this, however, for want of the necessary data; we can only make an approximation to the desired result. Thus, the Yellow Bellflower, Summer Queen, Fall Pippin, King of Tompkins County, Talman's Sweet, Golden Sweet, Pennock, Northern Spy, and several others, are of the largest kind of trees, and may be allowed as much as forty feet of space between them, while the upright character and moderate growth of the Lady, Bullock's Pippin, Red June, Benoni, Early Joe, American Summer Pearmain, Summer Rose, Red Astrachan, and others, of similar habit, would enable us to crowd them into half as much space without serious injury—and there are trees of intermediate size and vigor, such as the Winesap, Rambo, Greening, Russet, Early Harvest, Fall Wine, Autumn Strawberry, Hubbardston, Jonathan, and a host of others that, at the same ratio, should have thirty feet spaces between them.
There is also a great diversity of opinion among orchardists as to the proper allowance of space for each tree, and many western planters are advocates of close planting of the apple, which I have seen placed as near as sixteen feet, occupying the whole space in a very few years, and bearing luxuriantly. The advocates of such crowding urge, that they protect one another, and that alternate trees can easily be removed whenever they become too much crowded. In other places, the old rule, of allowing two rods (33 feet), or even forty feet, between the trees, is still followed and considered the best.
A favorite method with some planters of fruits is, to make a combination of different kinds in the same orchard, so as to have the whole surface occupied from the first. In this way, by introducing a temporary crop of another variety which will make speedy returns, and will soon be ready to come away and make room for the permanent plantation, the ground may be rendered productive of remunerative crops from the first. It is a very common plan to combine in this way the apple and the peach—the latter come into bearing rapidly, and are generally ready to be removed by the time the apple trees need the whole space. Alternate rows and alternate trees are usually planted with peaches, and the small growing cherries, such as the Early May, often called the Early Richmond, can be planted in the same way. I have seen a still further combination of fruits made by the introduction of the raspberry, or even of the blackberry, the currant, and the gooseberry, in alternate rows, so that, by setting the apple trees at forty feet, with alternating cherry trees, and the cherry rows in the middle space, or twenty feet each way from the apple and cherry rows, and in the intermediate strips of twenty feet the berries, which were also set between the trees, the whole ground was laid off in rows of fruit separated by strips of ten feet wide. Nothing is then needed for the full occupation of the ground, and to yield a return of fruit the next year, but to plant a single row of strawberries in each of these ten feet spaces; these, if well treated, would make four beds in the spaces between every two of the apple tree rows, or each ten feet, which is nearly half as much as would be planted in the open field; and these would yield a half crop the next year after planting, and as much the next season, when they should be plowed up to give cultivation to the berry bushes that would then also bear a crop of fruit, and continue to do so until the larger trees needed the ground for their support. The peaches or cherries would commence bearing the third or fourth year, and some of the apples would follow quickly afterward, yielding partial crops. By such a combination, as has been represented, the land is made to yield a succession of paying fruit crops from the second year of the foundation of the orchard.
Fig. 26.—DIAGRAM OF PLANTING QUINCUNX.
The order of planting is a matter of some consequence, and should be settled upon before commencing the work. The simplest form, and that most usually adopted, is the square; furrows are drawn across the field, at whatever distance the plants may be desired to stand, and crossed by others equally distant and at right angles to the first. These will, by their intersections, indicate the stations to be occupied by the trees. Some planters introduce a tree at the centre point between each four, and this has been called quincunx, but erroneously—for the true quincunx is constituted by one central tree surrounded by six, and all are equidistant, as illustrated by the diagram, figure 26. This gives as many trees as possible upon the ground, all equidistant, at twenty feet apart, or at any other distance. It will be seen, that, in laying off this ground, whether with the plow or simply with stakes to indicate the stations which the trees are to occupy, we may first strike our furrows or set our sight poles, all in one direction, parallel, and at seventeen feet four inches apart. Crossing these at right angles, we may draw parallel furrows every ten feet, and by setting our stakes at each alternate intersection of these furrows, the proper stations will be found for planting trees in the true quincunx order, in which every tree will occupy the corner of an equilateral triangle, and will be equidistant from six surrounding trees. If any one prefers to dig holes with the spade, instead of the more economical method proposed, by using the plow, the stakes may be set in parallel rows, in such a manner, that in every alternate row the first stakes shall be advanced one-half of the desired distance from the base line. It will be desirable in this, as in every other system, to have a measuring-line at hand to prove the work from time to time, and make corrections; for, otherwise, the most careful planter will soon get out of range. When the stakes are set properly, on level ground, they should range correctly in all directions. If the plantation be upon an uneven or hilly surface, it will be found almost impossible to lay off the ground with absolute precision; but this is a matter of very little consequence, as the growth of the trees will soon conceal any slight defects, particularly if they be trained with low heads. In the small fruit garden greater precision is desirable, and should be attempted, but in the commercial orchard, containing hundreds or thousands of trees, such exactitude is scarcely attainable if it were desired. Sometimes the aid of the civil engineer, with his instruments, is called in by the very precise planter.
CHAPTER IX.[ToC]
CULTURE, ETC.
THOROUGH CULTURE SHOULD FOLLOW THOROUGH PREPARATION—HOED CROPS RECOMMENDED—NO WHITE STRAW CROPS, NOR GRASSES ALLOWED—HOW LONG SHALL WE CULTIVATE THE ORCHARD?—LIMITS—THE SPADE AND FORK, AND MULCHING SUBSTITUTED—HORSE CULTIVATORS NECESSARY IN LARGE ORCHARDS—THESE SHOULD NOT BE DEEP TILLERS, BUT SHALLOW, TO AVOID DISTURBING THE ROOTS—SEEDING WITH CLOVER—MULCHING IMPRACTICABLE ON A LARGE SCALE—CLOVER MULCH—THE MELLOW EARTH AS A MULCH—PASTURING AN ORCHARD—OBJECTIONS—DAMAGE DONE BY HORSES AND MULES—BY CATTLE, BY GOATS—SHEEP—THEIR ADVANTAGES—SWINE AND POULTRY MAY BE ADMITTED—HOW THEY MAY BE USEFUL—DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS—POULTRY AND CURCULIO.
In a previous chapter, reference has been made to the necessity of thorough cultivation of the soil among young trees; but the importance of the proper attention to orchard culture is so great, that it deserves separate consideration. The thorough preparation of the soil before committing the roots of our trees to its embraces, which was fully impressed upon the orchardist, might have induced some to think that this was to be sufficient for them; but it ought rather to be inferred that any crop for which these preliminary labors were recommended, should receive continuous attentions of a similar character. It is with the desire that these views should obtain, and to indicate and specify, some of the most suitable modes of procedure, that the following remarks are presented in this place.
If the ground, which has been appropriated to the orchard, be also occupied as farming land, as is usually done for a few years after planting, while the trees are small, it should be exclusively devoted to hoed crops; by which is meant those that require constant cultivation and stirring of the soil. Indian corn is a favorite on account of the thorough culture which is bestowed upon it, but there are some objectors to its use; by such it is considered too rank a grower; it is thought to absorb too much of the moisture of the soil, and too greatly to over-shadow the young trees if they be so small as has been recommended under the head of Selection and Planting. To this objection, however, it is urged by others that the partial shade during the latter part of summer is a benefit rather than an injury. If the stalks be left standing upon the ground during the winter, they modify the force of the winds, and may even be of benefit, by the protection they furnish to the stems of the young trees; and when they fall to the ground, with their abundant foliage, these materials constitute a winter mulching of considerable value. Even if the fodder has been cut up, as is usually done by prudent farmers, the shocks scattered through the fields must exercise a considerable protecting influence.
Melons, cucumbers, cabbages, potatoes, turnips, and other root crops, which require frequent cultivation, are preferred by some orchardists, because of their being lower, and thus they will shade only the surface of the ground, without affecting the trees themselves. Let it ever be remembered, particularly in respect to soils that are of poor or of moderate fertility, that all these crops will remove their full share of plant-food from the land that we have already appropriated to another object, and that the main crop which we desire to draw its sustenance from the earth for a long series of years may thus be robbed of its proper nourishment. Under such circumstances we must meet the emergency by applications of fertilizing materials. I am aware that it may be urged by the theorists of agriculture, that these crops call upon the soil for different elements, and that, according to the customary views of the objects attained by a rotation, they may even be of advantage to those which are to follow. Others will make the practical observation that the fertilizing materials of common use in modern agriculture, may so readily be applied to compensate for these abstractions from the soil, that this is a matter of little moment, and not worthy of serious consideration. But it should be observed that, while men will often be induced to apply fertilizers to the temporary crop, counting upon an immediate return for their outlay, they seldom feel willing to make any return to the soil in compensation for what they have already removed from it, and rather wait until the necessity for such enrichment becomes painfully apparent in the diminished productiveness of their fields.
Hoed crops, such as those above mentioned, should alone be allowed to occupy the space between the young trees, and on no account should any white straw crops, or grasses be introduced, at least for several years, nor until the orchard shall have become well established. In many species of fruits, it is undoubtedly better to keep up the surface cultivation continuously, at least wherever the characters of the site and soil will permit it; but there are many situations where the abruptness of the declivities appropriated to fruit-growing, and often admirably adapted to such purpose, absolutely forbid continued cultivation. In such places it will be necessary soon to withdraw the plow, and to depend upon loosening the soil about the trees with the spade or fork, and upon the mellowing and meliorating effects of mulching. The expense of all the operations that are performed by human labor renders them inapplicable, except in small orchards and gardens; and in all large plantations we must depend upon the common earth-workers that are drawn by horses. Among these, a preference should be given to such as stir and pulverize the soil near the surface only; shallow culture of the upper layers of earth effects the objects in view better than that which is deeper. The intruding weeds are subdued and a mellow condition of the earth is the result, while the roots are not torn and bruised, but are encouraged to turn their feeding fibres into the stratum of mellow soil above them. When the trees have become well established, or when the nature of the soil and the broken character of the surface of the orchard require it, we may seed down the ground with clover, which is preferred to any of the grasses: the broad foliage will shade the ground, and may remain on the surface as a mulch, or be moderately pastured by suitable stock.
Mulching the young orchard has some advantages over cultivation, but except in the proximity of the salt-marshes of the East, or near the great straw piles on the vast grain fields of the Western prairies, it is almost impossible to procure mulching materials for extensive orchards; so that, unless we consider the clover and other legumes as a living mulch, or grow such crops upon the land itself, to be used in this way, we shall be thrown back upon culture of the surface, which, in the mellow soil thus produced, furnishes a most admirable mulching, that fills all the indications, at least in the season when it is most needed. This is a matter of the greatest importance, especially during the first year after planting, when our trees so imperatively demand the protection of a mulch; and it is found that when the usual applications of straw or similar material cannot be obtained, or are unsuitable for the situation, especial attention to the condition of the upper layer of earth about the trees is of the greatest importance; this should be kept thoroughly loosened and finely disintegrated for the admission of air and moisture.
Mulching, even of an old and apparently exhausted orchard, has been found to exercise a most happy effect upon its health and productiveness. Such a one growing upon a tenacious clay, which had ceased to yield any crops for years, was restored to abundant fruitfulness by covering the ground with a couple of inches of spent bark from an adjoining tannery, and similar effects have been produced by the application of straw, and of the bagasse from sorghum, where those materials could be procured; but these were necessarily limited to a small number of trees, and they can never be adopted in the treatment of large orchards. Fortunately, for us, however, in some kinds the trees themselves provide us shade for the ground, when they are properly trained and closely planted, which will prevent the intrusion of weeds and grasses, and the falling leaves and spray will also yield a mulching of no mean value. Indeed, the trimmings from the orchard, as well as the decaying foliage that annually falls to the ground, belong to the soil, and might be left upon it with great advantage to keep up its fertility by their decay, and even to increase it, as they do in the natural forest, were it not for the slovenly appearance they produce.
Dr. Ward, of New Jersey, has practiced mulching rather extensively, and with excellent results. He uses salt hay from the marshes; after plowing the ground in the spring, he applies the mulching in a heavy layer, which keeps down the weeds, preserves the moisture of the soil, and exerts a very happy influence upon the trees.
From what has preceded, the reader may infer that the orchard is not to be used for a pasture field, and yet this is a very common appropriation of the inclosure that contains our fruit trees—at least after they have attained sufficient size to be considered out of the way of serious injury. Let it not be supposed that the indiscriminate pasturing of an orchard is advocated; on the contrary, it is wholly deprecated, except as will be indicated below. All stock will trample and harden the soil. Low-headed trees will be sadly injured by live stock of all kinds. Horses and mules will often ruin the trees by destroying the bark, and trimming off the twigs, as high as they can reach. Horned cattle will browse the spray, and where within reach they will also break and twist branches of considerable size. Though much smaller, goats are entirely inadmissable, since they not only trim off all the foliage within their reach, but they will also greedily devour the bark from the trees, and thus commit sad havoc among them. Sheep, on the contrary, may often be introduced into an orchard with advantage, as they will eat off a great many weeds, and thus clear the land of such intruders; but they will also spoil low-headed young trees by eating all the leaves within their reach, and they should never be allowed access to the orchard in winter, at least not while there are any trees remaining with smooth bark, as they will often attack such and strip off all that they can get at: sheep are often very desirable in cider orchards when used to crop off the herbage closely, just before the ripening and fall of the fruit.
The only domestic animals which should ever be allowed free range in the orchard, are swine, and the different sorts of poultry. All of these will prove really useful in the destruction of vast numbers of the insects that are particularly injurious to our cultivated fruits, and which are often enormously multiplied in our old orchards. Swine, it is true, will sometimes learn to climb small trees that have very low branches, which they break off in their attempts to help themselves to the fruit—this has been observed particularly in peach and cherry orchards. These animals are of use too as earth-workers, when they have not been mutilated, for with their peculiarly formed snouts they will turn over a large extent of the surface, while in pursuit of the larvæ and pupæ of many of the destructive insects, that in such stages of their existence occupy the soil beneath our fruit trees; in this manner, swine are valuable adjuvants to the practical entomologist. The hog is a most useful scavenger, and also a great economist in the orchard, for, being omnivorous, after feeding upon the luxuriant herbage of the red clover, he takes his dessert from the fallen fruit, which, being defective, would otherwise be wasted: but we must remember that most of these wind-falls are occupied by the larvæ of insects which are thus put out of the way of doing further harm, while contributing variety to the porcine diet. The additions of manure to the soil, which are distributed over the orchard by these animals, are also found to be of service. Trees, which are frequented by swine, are generally healthy, and the bitter-rot is reported to have disappeared from orchards that were badly affected with that malady before the swine were admitted.
The advantages resulting from keeping both swine and poultry, but particularly the latter, confined among plum trees, is a matter of general notoriety; nor need we inquire whether this depends upon the far-reaching instinct of the insect, which warns her against depositing her eggs where the progeny must surely be destroyed, or upon the actual destruction of the larvæ by these animals, to such an extent as to diminish the number of depredators the following season. We must not, however, depend upon these and other valuable aids, to the exclusion of personal efforts, if we desire to secure good crops of the delicious fruits that usually fall a prey to their attacks.
In conclusion, the orchardist cannot be too strongly impressed with the importance of cultivating his young trees in the most thorough manner; nor can he exercise too much care in avoiding injury to the stems and roots, in practising this constant culture of the soil. In collections of dwarf fruit trees, he will have less difficulty on this score, because he will be restricted to hand-labor; but the spade and fork will be found much more expensive in their use than the plow and cultivator.
Plowing Up Old Orchards.—A question frequently arises as to the best course to be pursued with an old neglected orchard, which has become covered with a dense sod of grass, and this often of an inferior character, and full of disagreeable weeds. Orchards that have been widely planted, and which have gaps from the decay of trees, especially when these have been trimmed up with high stems and long naked branches, do not cast sufficient shade upon the ground to prevent the growth of grass and weeds. These intruders occupy the surface soil to the disadvantage of the roots of the fruit trees, and we may wonderfully improve the health of such orchard by plowing the ground, and at the same time severely pruning the branches and cleansing the bark of these old trees. These good results may be continued by shallow culture of the soil, with suitable applications of manure where needed. By giving a dose of lime, or of marl, and ashes, we shall infuse a new life and growth and productiveness that will astonish and delight us, and reward us for our labors and outlay.
It may be urged as an objection to breaking up the sod, that the most careful plowman will unavoidably damage some of the roots that approach the surface, but this is an injury that must be submitted to; and after all it is not such a serious affair, and is overbalanced by the advantages of renewing the productiveness of the exhausted orchard.
CHAPTER X.[ToC]
PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING.
PRUNING, NATURE'S—WE PRUNE, FIRST, FOR SHAPE AND COMELINESS; SECOND, FOR FRUIT—PRUNING YOUNG TREES IN THE NURSERY—RULES FOR—SEASON FOR—PRUNING FOR FRUIT IS TO BE DONE CHIEFLY IN SUMMER—THINNING OUT—SHORTENING-IN—ROOT PRUNING—PHILOSOPHY OF—ADVANTAGES OF—CHARACTER OF ROOTS PRODUCED BY IT—IN THE VINE—SEVERE IN WINTER TO PRODUCE WOOD AND DIMINISH BLOSSOMS—ADAPT TO VARIETIES—IN SUMMER TO DIMINISH EXCESSIVE FRUITAGE, AND TO DIRECT SAP INTO NEW CANES—TRIMMING IN GARDENESQUE, REQUIRING A CORRECT EYE AND GOOD TASTE—PRUNING SHOULD BE CONDUCTED UPON TRULY PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES, OR NOT AT ALL—QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED IN THOSE WHO PRUNE—THE OPERATION SELDOM WELL PERFORMED—PRUNING OF THE GRAPE, SHORT AND LONG—REASONS FOR AND OBJECTIONS TO EACH—SEASONS FOR PRUNING THE VINE.
Pruning is one of the most important operations that we perform upon plants,—especially woody plants. Pruning, in some sort, has to be performed at all periods of their existence and growth, and upon all plants, from the noble forest tree, or the fruit trees of the orchard, of whatever kind, to the humble bushes and brambles that yield us their abundant and most welcome fruits: the trailing vine that adorns our arbors and covers our trellises with its rich and tempting clusters of grapes, also needs to be pruned. Many herbaceous plants are also submitted to judicious pruning, and yield in consequence an increased product of fruit. Our ornamental gardeners and plant-growers practice pruning most admirably upon their house-plants, and by their successful practice, they produce the most wonderful effects, which are manifested in the vigor, thrift, symmetry, and blossoming of their specimens.
And yet, when we come to travel about the country, and to see the shrubberies, the parks, the orchards, fruit-gardens, and vineyards, as they are, we shall be struck with the great amount of ignorance or neglect manifested by what we everywhere behold! Still more shall we be surprised, when we hear nurserymen and orchardists, men who have had opportunities for extended observation, and those too, who are considered successful cultivators, advocate the idea that trees should not be pruned at all. An apology may be found for them in the many instances of bad pruning that may frequently be met with. They may say that no pruning is better than such mutilation, and with some varieties of fruit, they may have a show of reason on their side, as there are many sorts that will very naturally produce an open head, every where provided with abundant fruit-spurs, which are the great desiderata of the fruit-grower.
We prune our plants for the most opposite purposes; we prune to make them assume some desired form, we prune to produce symmetry, and we prune to torture them as much as possible from their natural habit. Again, we prune to make them grow vigorously, and we perform other pruning operations, in order to dwarf and stunt our specimens, and to make them as diminutive as possible. The experienced orchardist will tell you to prune a barren but thrifty tree, in order to make it productive of fruit; and he will also tell you to prune one that has expended all its energies in fruit-bearing, and appears likely to exhaust itself to its own destruction. Upon very high authority, supported by universal and annual practice, the vine dresser will tell you to prune your vine in order to make it fruitful; the same authority will advise you to prune in such a manner as to prevent an over-production—and he will insist that you shall prune again during the season of growth, to promote the same objects.
Thus it appears that the ends to be attained by this important operation are exceedingly diverse, and apparently contradictory: nor is it any wonder that the novice should feel bewildered in the midst of directions so opposite, nor even that those who have grown gray in the orchard, should have arrived at the strange conclusions just mentioned, not to prune at all. And yet, notwithstanding these apparent contradictions, there is a reason for each of these various modes, as well as for the different seasons that have been recommended for performing the several operations of pruning.
It may be said that in natural trees, whether standing alone in the midst of a prairie, thinly grouped in the "opening," or crowded together in the dense forest, we may behold the most perfect models of beauty and fruitfulness; yet these have never been subjected to the action of the knife, the saw, nor the hatchet. True, and yet they have all been pruned by nature. She prunes and trains magnificently, and gives us the finest models for imitation, whether for park scenery, as in the lone tree of the prairie, or in the scattered groups of the island groves that are so often seen in the broad savannas of the West, or in forests of noble shafts, gazed at with admiration, then felled by the ruthless ax, and converted to man's economic uses. She also shows us the pattern in the dense pineries, and other timber tracts of our country. All these have been pruned into their present condition by the hand of nature. In the single specimen, free access of air and light have enabled it to assume its full proportions, developing itself on every side, and giving us the grand and beautiful object we behold. The winds have tossed the branches and some have been broken, the lower ones have quietly and gradually yielded to the smothering influence of those above them, which, in turn, have swept downward toward the ground. In the groves, the scattering trees have for a while enjoyed the same opportunities for development; but at length their branches have met together, and interlocked in friendly embrace. Those that were nearest the ground had already begun to suffer from the denser canopy above them but the great sturdy boughs that had shot upward so as to form a part of the crown, were able to retain their vantage ground, and continue as important members of the trees. In these illustrations, we have seen more of nature's training than of her pruning; but it must be remembered that training is one of the objects, and indeed, a leading element of pruning, and is very properly a matter for our consideration.
In the dense primeval forest we see nature's pruning exhibited upon a grand and perfect scale; tall, straight, and noble trunks rise majestically on every hand; not a twig nor limb breaks the symmetry of the gradually tapering shafts, that are clothed in bark which does not indicate that they had ever been furnished with branches; and yet they have borne branches from their base to their summit, and nature has so neatly removed them that we cannot detect the marks of her pruning-saw. How this has been effected, may be seen in any dense thicket of young forest growth. It is simply a smothering of the lower branches by those next above them, which has destroyed their vitality, and their decay has soon followed; while a new growth of branches at a higher point, in turn, performs the same office of destruction upon those next below them. As there is no outlet for the wood-growth but in an upward direction, upwards they must needs go, and as there is no light nor air for lateral branches under such a canopy of shade, death and decay ensue, and down they perforce must come.
If it be asked why we prune at all, it may be answered in general terms that in the orchard, our objects in performing this operation, are two-fold.
1st—We prune for shape and comeliness, and for the removal of dead and dying branches, in aid of nature, but working in sympathy with her.
2d—We prune for the sake of inducing fruitfulness.
Let us consider some of the principles that are to guide us in these operations.
The first object, that of producing the desired shape of the future tree, is chiefly done upon the young subject, even in the nursery-row. The judicious pruner, being well aware of the upward tendency of young growth, and that this is increased by the crowded condition of the trees in the nursery square, seeks to overcome the evil by proper pruning. If the growth be altogether upward, with no side branches the first season, the stem will be slender, often so much so as to bend over with its own weight. The wise nurseryman carefully avoids disturbing the leaves or lateral branches, well knowing their importance in forming the woody trunk. At the proper season he trims his trees down, instead of trimming them up—this he does by heading them back to the hight at which he desires them to form their branches—at the same time, he shortens in the laterals; his object in both instances being to check the upward tendency of growth by removing the strong terminal buds, which would naturally have formed the new shoots the coming season. The result of this treatment is to call into action several buds at the upper part of the stock. These are to form the arms of the tree, and hence a very important part of the pruning and training of the plant is thus performed at once by this simple operation of heading-back the young nursery tree. But further attention is needed, as these arms develop themselves during the next season of growth; they should not be too numerous, nor too much crowded together; they should not be too nearly matched in strength, and one should be kept as a leader, stronger than the rest. Never allow two shoots to remain contending for the mastery; one of them should be subordinated by cutting, breaking, or twisting, as soon as it is observed; for how beautifully developed, a tree grown in this way, may appear when well balanced, there is always danger of its splitting down when heavily laden with fruit. This very common error of our orchards used to be quaintly illustrated by a dear old friend on the prairies of Illinois, who cited the advice of a Scotch jockey to whom he had applied for counsel in the purchase of a piece of horse-flesh. "Ne'er buy a horse whose twa fore-legs cum oot frae ae hole," said he, and Mr. W. Stewart applied the same principle to his young fruit trees, by never allowing them to have two equal leaders, branching from one point. It is also important to have the lateral branches regularly distributed on different sides.
The precise point or elevation point at which this heading-back should be done, will depend very much upon the object of the cultivator, and whether he desires to produce a high or a low head, a standard, half standard, or a dwarf, or conical tree—such as are often called pyramids. He will study the wants and fancies of his customers in this matter, but we of the West, have learned the importance for us, at least, of trimming our trees down, and not trimming them up, as is often done by those who anticipate plowing and planting crops under the shade of their orchards. The proper point for forming the branches to make the head, will very much depend, however, upon the habit of the variety; whether it be drooping, spreading, or upright. The former will require the branches to be started at a higher point. The proper season for performing this kind of pruning is in the early spring, or after the severe frosts of winter have passed; and with some kinds of orchard trees, it may be done at the time of transplanting them, when they need a severe pruning.
The second object of pruning being done with a view to the production of fruitfulness in the tree, is to be practised chiefly in the summer. At the same time, or during the growing season, much may be done to advantage, both in thinning-out and shortening-in such parts of the tree, as may need these plans of treatment. Various methods are pursued to produce fruitfulness, all of them depending upon the fact that this condition arises from the natural habit of a tree to make its wood-growth freely for a series of years. After it has built up a complicated structure of limbs and branches, with some consequent obstruction to the flow of sap, depending upon the hardening of the woody tissues, and the tortuous course of its circulation, it then appears to have reached its maturity, or its fruit-bearing condition. It then ceases to make such free wood-growth, and prepares a set of buds, which develop flowers and fruit.
Now this period of growth and unfruitfulness may continue for a longer or shorter time in different varieties of fruits; and the shortening of this, is the great object of summer pruning, and of other methods of producing fruitfulness that may be classed under this second head of the objects of pruning.
To appreciate their importance and the mode in which the effect is produced, we must ever bear in mind the two great acts of vegetable life, that of wood-growth or growth by extension, and the wonderful morphological change of this growth into flowers and fruit. These are, in some sense, antagonistic. The first is essential to the production of timber, to the building up of the tree, and should be encouraged to do its work undisturbed, up to a certain point, that we may have a substantial frame-work by which our fruits can be supported. The latter, however, is the ultimate desideratum with fruit-growers, and in our impatience to reap a quick reward, we often resort to measures that tend to curtail the usefulness, size, and beauty, as well as the permanence of our trees. This is an illustration of the axiom, that whatever threatens the vitality of a plant, tends to make it fruitful; it calls into activity the instinctive effort to perpetuate the species by the production of seed, that may be separated from the parent, and establish a separate and independent existence, to take the place of that, the life of which is threatened.
Summer pruning and pinching interferes with the growth by extension, and threatens the very life of the tree; the entire removal of all new shoots and their foliage, and the removal of the successive attempts by the tree at their reproduction, will cause its death in a little while. Their partial abstraction, as practiced in summer pruning and pinching, being an attack of the same kind, results in the formation of fruit-buds. The operations of budding and grafting upon an uncongenial stock, interrupting the circulation by ringing, by ligatures, by hacking, twisting, and bending downward, all tend to check the growth by extension, and are attended by similar results, since they are antagonistic to the mere production of wood. Shortening-in the branches of some species, which form their fruit-buds upon the shoots of the current year, has the effect to give them a fuller development, if performed during the summer, but if deferred until the following spring, it will have the directly opposite result, and will cause the production of woody shoots at the expense of the fruit.
The season for pruning has been made the subject of much discussion, and different periods have been very confidently advised by different authorities, from which it may safely be inferred that all are somewhat right, or may be supported by good reasons. This refers of course to pruning in its general sense, of trimming, and applies to the removal of limbs of greater or less size. We always desire to avoid the removal of large limbs, and should endeavor to provide against the necessity of such removal, by trimming our orchards sufficiently when they are young, and while the branches are small; but when such removal becomes absolutely necessary, it should be performed late in the autumn, when vegetation is at rest, because it is found that such large wounds, which cannot be soon healed over by the new growth, will at this season dry in, and resist the action of the elements better than if the section had been made when the wood was full of sap in active circulation.
Early spring is a favorite period for pruning, chiefly because it is comparatively a period of leisure; the weather is less inclement than in winter, and the absence of foliage affords us an opportunity to see our work and to anticipate its effects upon the tree. So soon as the buds begin to swell and the foliage to expand, pruning should be arrested, unless in small trees, because the sap is in active motion, and the material called cambium is not yet developed, hence the wounds will bleed, and are not so readily healed over; besides, the bark at this season is very readily separated from the wood, and bad wounds are thus frequently produced by the pruner, which may seriously damage the tree. Then follows a period when pruning had better be suspended until the time that the trees have completed their growth by extension, and formed the terminal bud at the ends of their shoots. The date cannot be given, but it is sufficiently indicated by this mark in nature's calendar; the formation and full development of the terminal bud, and by the copious deposits of woody matter throughout the tree. The annual layer of fibres is then being produced, and the tissues are in the formative stage; the tree now possesses within its own organism the best of all plasters to cure and cover the wounds made by the saw and knife, now the tree possesses the true vis medicatrix naturæ in the highest degree.
A few intelligent nurserymen have learned this very important lesson, and have applied it in the preparation of their trees, for the exposure incident to their removal from the nursery to the orchard. A very few practice it systematically; I knew one, (alas, for the lamented Beeler, of Indiana), who acted upon the suggestion made to him by observations and experiments in vegetable physiology. He left the side branches, though subordinated by shortening when necessary, in order to give stocky stems to his trees, and then removed them with the knife during the summer before they were to be sold and planted, instead of waiting until they were dug and sent to the packing house in the fall or spring. The result was, that while his stems were stout and stocky, they were also smooth, the wounds neatly healed over with new bark, instead of being open from the fresh cuts and liable to crack or bleed, as they would have done had this pruning been deferred until after digging, either in the fall or spring. This may be considered a small matter, but it is an illustration of the principle involved in selecting the period for pruning.
For the removal of small limbs from young trees, hardly any time can come amiss—better to do it out of season than to neglect it, and it is a good rule to have a sharp pruning knife always at hand when passing through our young orchards. There is but one time when pruning is absolutely interdicted, and that is when the wood is frozen. When so circumstanced, it should never be cut nor disturbed in any manner—not even to gratify your best friend, by helping him to a few grafts from your proved tree of some coveted variety. Let him wait for a thaw, or go away without the grafts, rather than commit such an outrage upon your tree: as to approach it with a knife when frozen.
While considering the question of the proper season for pruning, there is one axiom of great importance which should be firmly impressed upon the mind of the orchardist. Much will depend upon which of the two leading objects, above indicated, he may have in view—vigor of growth and symmetry of form, or simply fruitfulness, as the result of his labors in pruning his trees. Pruning at one season will induce the former result, at a different period of the year the same work will conduce to the latter; hence the postulate Prune in winter for wood; in summer for fruit.
CHAPTER XI.[ToC]
THINNING.
PROFUSION OF FRUIT-BUDS—WISE PROVISION AGAINST ACCIDENTS—PERIOD OF MATURITY OF PLANTS—MORPHOLOGY—THE YOUNG PLANT GROWS BY DEVELOPMENT OF STEM AND BRANCHES—LEAF BUDS ALL POINTED—THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE VARIES—THE CENTURY PLANT—A DEFINITE PERIOD FOR EACH VARIETY—HOW DIMINISHED OR EXTENDED—STARVING—CROWDING—CUTTING THE ROOTS—OLD OR UNCONGENIAL STOCKS—AT MATURITY AN ACCUMULATION OF NUTRITIVE MATTER—PRESERVING THE BALANCE BETWEEN GROWTH AND FRUITAGE—WE DO NOT THIN FRUIT ENOUGH—TREES EXHAUST THEMSELVES—BIENNIAL BEARERS—ANNUAL BEARERS DESIRABLE—DISBUDDING—FIELD'S HEDGES OF PEARS—REMOVE PORTIONS OF FRUIT—CUTTING-IN THE SHOOTS TO REDUCE FRUIT—DR. HULL AND OTHERS—THINNING THE STRAWBERRY—GOOSEBERRY—GRAPE—THINNING APPLES BY THRESHING THE TREES—BY SEVERE WINTER PRUNING.
Every person who has looked at a bearing fruit tree in the winter season, must have been struck with wonder at the great profusion of fruit-buds with which it was clothed; they are crowded along the slender spray of some varieties as thickly as a necklace of beads, or still more abundantly, like clusters of pearls, they are crowded together upon the little fruit-spurs. We are inclined to cavil at this profusion of nature, and to ask why this waste of vegetative effort. But we may rest assured that it is only another evidence of the unerring wisdom of Him who doeth all things well.
All blossoming and fruiting is but a changed condition of those buds that would otherwise have produced leaves and wood-growth. Every tree, sooner or later, reaches a point which we call its period of maturity, when some of its buds are thus modified. The same elemental parts are still present; but those that were arranged for the production of an elongated shoot, with leaves set around it in some definite manner, and destined for the formation of woody growth, are now so constituted as to have a growth of very short extension, and furnished with modified leaves, so changed, that we scarcely recognize them thus crowded together upon this shortened and modified axis. We here take our first lesson in the very interesting study of morphology, or the science of the changes of form to which the parts of a plant are subjected, in the production of flowers and fruit, from what were otherwise the source of shoots and leaves. This will be found one of the most interesting branches of the study of botany, as it leads us to the investigation of one of the most beautiful displays of Divine power, and, like all such studies, gives us more and more elevated views of the exalted wisdom and benevolence of an All-wise Creator, who has produced nothing in vain, and who, while creating worlds and systems of the greatest magnificence, has condescended to prepare the most tiny flower, and its previous bud, in the most perfect manner.
The study of morphology which gives us such an insight into the mechanism of the plant, and which leads us into such mazes of wonder and admiration, cannot now detain us further than to be named and referred to as the explanation of the formation of what we call fruit or blossom buds. The reader is referred to the full explanations of this subject by the famous philosopher and poet, Goethe; or, if more conveniently accessible, to his English translators, or to the appropriate chapters in any of the modern text books of botany.
When the plant is young, its chief object is to grow; it must acquire size and development, to enable it to produce and bear up the enormous crop it is destined one day to yield. Hence in the early years of a tree there is none, or very little of this transformation of the buds, which are all of the pointed character, and when excited into growth, they all produce shoots and leaves only, which result in the formation of an increase of the woody fabric, that we call the tree. This period of adolescence is longer or shorter in different species and varieties—in some it may extend through many years. Thus, the American Aloe is called the Century Plant, from the common belief that it must survive a hundred summers before this stage of maturity and blossoming is reached; whereas this plant only needs a period of thirty years or less to produce its blossoms, when it is favorably situated as to soil and climate.
There is, it is probable, a definite period at which each kind of plant will have these changes occur in the buds, when they will begin to flower and to produce fruit. This period may be accelerated or retarded, to some extent, by human means; for we have observed, that whatever produces excessive vigor, is attended with the formation of leaf buds; whereas, all those conditions and circumstances that check the vigorous growth by extension, provided they do not too greatly impair the vitality of the plant, will conduce to the formation of flower-buds.
Some of these conditions consist in starving the tree, or by planting it in a sterile soil, that has deficient moisture; by severely crowding the roots, or by cutting them, as in root pruning; in grafting a portion of the young plant upon an old or an uncongenial stock, or one that is naturally dwarfish; in ringing the bark; in frequent transplanting, or in continued summer pinching; in short, almost any circumstances which appear to threaten the life of the tree, seem to excite within it an effort for the preservation and perpetuation of the species, by changing the bud plants, attached to the parent, into seed plants, that may and will be separated from it to reach the soil eventually, and there to establish an independent existence.
As the tree advances in growth, and approaches toward its natural period of maturity, it is supposed that there is an accumulation of nutritive matter within it, and at the same time the roots will have exhausted the soil, to some extent, of the elements that contributed to the production of wood-growth, and the result is the formation of flower-buds. Now it becomes a nice matter to preserve the proper balance between these two systems of growth, the wood producing and the fruit forming. Two opposite systems of production have become established in the tree, the one infertile, the other producing the desired fruits; the one preserving the health and vigor of the tree, the other tending to preserve the species at the same time that it satisfies our demands for fruit, but also meanwhile tending to the destruction of the tree, for all old trees are apt to overbear. Young trees, on the contrary, in which the vigor of wood-growth remains in full activity, very often produce fruit-buds and blossoms, but do not perfect their fruit, which either fails to set, from some imperfection of the organs of reproduction, or falls prematurely, in consequence of the wood system absorbing the nutriment, or failing to prepare the proper juices for their support. Trees, in these different conditions, require an entirely opposite treatment. The younger need summer pruning and pinching, to check their too great vigor, and to develop the laterals or spurs with their blossom buds; the older need winter pruning, for the double purpose of reducing the amount of fruit, and also to excite renewed vigor in the production of wood growth that shall take the place of that which has been removed. This subject will be more appropriately discussed in another chapter, to which the reader is referred; while we proceed to the legitimate topic of thinning fruit.
Thinning fruit is not practiced as it should be, particularly on the apple; old trees are often too fruitful, so much so as not only to deteriorate the fruit, but to injure the tree itself. This is so much the case with certain varieties, as to constitute a serious objection to planting them; other sorts so exhaust themselves by over-production in one season, as to be barren, or nearly so, the next year, during which period of rest they are able to recuperate their energies and to provide a new set of flower-buds. These are called biennial bearers, and such are quite numerous in our orchards. Those kinds that are prone to overbear every year, are often objectionable on account of the diminished size and inferior character of their fruits, which result from this cause, particularly when the trees have become old. The great desideratum, especially with those who object to the trouble of thinning the fruit, is to find a variety that will produce an even or well distributed, continuous, and moderate yield—an annual bearer, that does not exhaust itself by the production of one enormous crop so as to require it to rest and recuperate. Such varieties are to be found in our collections, and should be highly prized.
But to return to our topic, the bold method of reducing the crop by winter pruning, has already been alluded to, and is highly recommended for such old trees as have ceased producing thrifty shoots of wood-growth at their tips, and have taken on an excessive tendency to fruitage. There are other methods of producing this desired effect, diminishing the amount of fruit when excessive, and thereby greatly enlarging the size, and improving the flavor of that which is left behind: some of these will now be mentioned.
Disbudding.—One of these consists in the removal of alternate buds, or even a greater proportion than one half; this may be performed either in the end of winter or in early spring, or even after the buds have pushed, still later in the season. This work may be done with the fingers, a knife, or by using the shears, when the buds are terminal, as in old bearing apples and pears, or on some cherries. This plan has been practiced with very good success upon the Duchesse pear, by T.W. Field, who accidentally had his attention directed to the feasibility of making this variety very productive. He had observed that certain trees, which were rubbed so by the cart-wheels as to be stripped of a portion of their buds in the winter season, instead of being injured thereby, were more productive than those which retained all of their abundant spurs and blossoms, and which, nevertheless, often bore sparsely. Improving upon this hint, he has since planted some such varieties in close rows or hedges, which he trims annually with the shears to keep them within bounds, and at the same time to diminish the amount of blossoms. Disbudding is systematically pursued in the European fruit-gardens, and we have elaborate directions for the season and mode of performing the operation, which is extensively practiced, particularly on the trees that are grown as espaliers, and those kept in orchard houses. If neglected, the trees become exhausted by over-production; and the failure of production by the fruit-spurs which results, causes vacant spaces upon the tree, which are afterward, with difficulty, restored to a profitable condition.
Another method, and the one usually pursued by those who practice thinning, is, to go over their trees after blossoming, while the fruit is still small, and systematically remove such a proportion as they may deem sufficient to relieve them of the surplus; and while so doing, they select for removal all the inferior specimens. This is found to pay very well in the increased size, appearance, and flavor of those that remain, and is practiced by all good horticulturists.
It is found in some varieties that the thinning may be done when the fruit has attained to one-half its usual size, so that it may be marketed, and yet those which are left, will swell out to their full proportions after this removal, and will realize, when harvested, more money, and will even be of greater weight than if the whole crop had been left upon the tree until its natural period of maturity. The reason is obvious, and depends upon the greater size and fuller development of the fruit, which remains after thinning.
Summer Pruning has already been alluded to as one of the methods of producing fruitfulness. When it is here introduced as a means of thinning the fruit, the recommendation may appear somewhat paradoxical—yet it is not so. Neither is this cutting a parallel operation to that in which we seek to check the excessive vigor of young shoots by pinching and heading-in, with a view to directing the sap to the lateral buds so as to cause their development for the formation of fruit-spurs, which will insure a greater production of fruit: whereas this summer pruning removes a portion of the crop to be supported by the tree. This plan is most successfully practiced by judicious orchardists, among whom may be named Dr. Hull, of Alton, Ill., who has thus treated his peaches, nectarines, and plums. This process consists in cutting off the ends of the shoots that are laden with fruit, while these are yet quite small; the superabundance is thus removed in a great degree by the knife, and the excess of foliage is also diminished so as to expose the fruit freely to the sun and air, which insures an increased size and heightened color, particularly to the peaches and nectarines. The remaining fruit is also suitably thinned so that no specimens shall crowd one another. The exact distances between them must be determined by the judgment of the operator; some have decided that peaches should not be nearer than nine inches; plums and nectarines may be separated by a smaller distance; but it is not easy to lay down a precise rule.
Thinning is not often practiced upon the strawberry crop, which appears able upon suitable soils to produce a great abundance of fine fruit, but it may be done by the curious, and enormous show specimens, such as are often exhibited at fairs, are produced by special care and high manuring, aided greatly by judicious thinning; not only by cutting back a portion of the crowns, so as to throw the whole force of the plant into one or two trusses, but still further, by removing with the scissors a portion of the blossoms or fruit, so that the few which are left may become enormously distended with the nutriment that had been stored up in the plant for a much greater number. Some may consider this one of the tricks of the trade, and so it is when merely done for the sake of deceiving the public, who are asked to purchase the variety by the sample of fruit, without detailing the arts by which the results were accomplished: but there can be no objection raised against such practices when pursued by the amateur for the sake of producing unusually large fruits of any variety.
The English pursue a similar method with their show gooseberries; by means of thinning and high feeding, with great attention to watering, these fruits are made to assume gigantic proportions that are little dreamed of by cultivators of the smaller varieties, which are chiefly grown in this country.
The grape is very prone to over-production, and the crop, as well as the vine itself, is often much injured by a want of attention to this particular. So avaricious is man, that few persons will exert the needed firmness and perseverance to remove the excess which the beautiful vine annually affords. The result of this neglect is apparent at the vintage, especially when from any fault of the season, or from the invasion of insects or of mildew, the foliage may have been damaged, as it frequently is, to a considerable extent. Then we find large quantities of the grapes so deficient in color and flavor as to be worthless; in some varieties whole bunches will hang flaccid, withered, and insipid—while perhaps a few, more favorably situated, will have their proper flavor. The grape vine is well called beautiful, and it is capable of sustaining most wonderful amounts of fruit; but on young vines, especially, it is very bad policy to allow of this over-production.
The tendency to fruitage may be met in different ways, a few of which will now be pointed out, and all planters are urged to observe and to practice some of these plans for reducing the exuberance of this kind of fruit. In the first place we practice winter pruning, regardless of its established and well-known effect of producing an increase of wood-growth, for this is what we desire to obtain in the vine, on account of its habit of yielding its fruit on wood of the previous year's growth; by this means we are able to pursue the renewal system, which is so generally preferred, and thus we may keep our vines perpetually clothed with new wood, or canes as they are technically called. By this winter pruning we can reduce the amount of wood that is of a bearing character, to any point which may be deemed desirable, according to the strength and age of the vine, and thus the crop is thinned by a wholesale process of lopping off the superabundance of buds, that would have produced an excess of fruit. Another method of thinning is, to rub out a portion of the shoots, this may be every alternate branch in close jointed varieties of the vine: this is to be done soon after the buds have burst, and while the branches are yet quite small, so that the vital forces may be directed to those that remain. Wherever double shoots appear, the weaker should always be removed.
Still another method of reducing the superabundance, remains to be noticed; this consists in thinning the grapes themselves, the separate berries, which, in some varieties, are often so crowded upon the bunch, as to prove a serious injury to one another. In hardy out-door culture this is seldom practiced, being less necessary than in the large varieties of foreign grapes that are grown under glass. These are systematically thinned with the scissors, so that none shall crowd together; and this process, repeated from time to time, is found to produce much finer and larger berries and heavier bunches than when all are left.
A very rude method has sometimes been pursued in thinning the superabundance of fruit upon apple trees. It appears so very Gothic that its description may only excite a smile, when it is stated that it consists in threshing the tree with a long slender pole, by which a portion of the fruit is cast to the ground. Rude and primitive as this method may appear, it is surely better than no thinning at all, and is attended with this good result, for which it deserves some commendation; the threshing removes portions of the excessive twiggy spray that always abounds upon such trees as those under consideration, and thus, in a degree, it prevents the recurrence of so heavy a crop the following year. Whenever an old orchard has reached this condition of over-fruitfulness, however, the best method of thinning is to give a severe winter pruning; removing portions of the spray and encouraging the free growth of young wood in various parts of the top, to replace the older portions that were removed.
CHAPTER XII.[ToC]
RIPENING AND PRESERVING FRUITS.
CHANGES DURING THE PROCESS OF RIPENING—ANNUALS RIPEN THEIR FRUIT AND DIE—PERENNIALS HAVE AN ACCUMULATION OF STRENGTH—YOUNG PLANTS OFTEN FAIL TO PERFECT THEIR FRUIT—THE NECESSITY FOR THINNING—ALTERNATE CROPS OF FRUIT FAVOR THE ACCUMULATION—CHANGES IN CONDITION OF PERICARP—GREEN FRUITS APPROPRIATE CARBON—GIVE OFF CARBONIC ACID AS THEY RIPEN—COMPOSITION OF RIPE SUCCULENT FRUITS—FORMATION OF SUGAR—INFLUENCE OF LIGHT, OF EXCESSIVE MOISTURE—TESTS OF RIPENESS—CHANGES AFTER SEPARATION DEPEND UPON OXIDATION—TIME REQUIRED FOR RIPENING—FROM BLOSSOMING BLOSSOMS RENDERED ABORTIVE BY TOO HIGH TEMPERATURE—TREES ARE ABORTIVE FROM EXCESSIVE WOOD-GROWTH—EXPERIENCE REQUIRED TO JUDGE OF RIPENESS—PRACTICAL TEST—GATHERING—SOME MATURE ON THE TREE; OTHERS, PLUCKED PREMATURELY, WILL RIPEN—EFFECTS ON KEEPING QUALITIES—SELECT FINE WEATHER—HANDLING—PACKING—THE GATHERING BAG—WHY RED APPLES ARE PREFERRED.
PRESERVATION—LOW TEMPERATURE AND DRYNESS, BUT AVOIDING FROST AND DESICCATION—COVERING IN PILES—THE RAIL PEN WITH STRAW—THE CIDER HOUSE—THE CELLAR—PACKING IN BARRELS—SWEATING—WAXY COATING TO BE PRESERVED—FRUIT-ROOMS—PLANS—NYCE'S PATENT.
Ripening Fruits.—Having succeeded in bringing our trees into a productive condition, we now come to a period of their history which is possessed of great interest to the orchardist. While he is contemplating the rich returns for his capital and labor expended upon the orchard, however, he will find many circumstances in the functions of his plants that will amply repay him for their careful study. Nor should he consider these only as matters of philosophical interest, for they will often lead him into courses of treatment that will enable him to secure richer returns than he would otherwise attain. A few of these will be presented in the commencement of this chapter, nor need any apology be offered for quoting one of the highest authorities in the language upon this branch of botanical study. Balfour gives the following account of the changes which occur in the vegetable economy during the formation and ripening of fruits, under which term he includes, in botanical language, all seeds, whether the dry pericarps, or the pulpy drupes, and other appendages, which are recognized as fruits proper in pomological language.
"While the fruit enlarges, the sap is drawn towards it, and a great exhaustion of the juices of the plant takes place. In annuals, this exhaustion is such as to destroy the plants; but if they are prevented from bearing fruit, they may be made to live for two or more years. Perennials, by acquiring increased vigor, are able better to bear the demand made upon them during fruiting. If large and highly flavored fruit is desired, it is of importance to allow an accumulation of sap to take place before the plant flowers. When a very young plant is permitted to blossom, it seldom brings fruit to perfection. When a plant produces fruit in very large quantities, gardeners are in the habit of thinning it early, in order that there may be an increased supply of sap for that which remains. In this way, peaches, nectarines, apricots, etc., are rendered larger and better flavored. When the fruiting is checked for one season, there is an accumulation of nutritive matter which has a beneficial effect upon the subsequent crop.
"The pericarp is at first of a green color, and performs the same functions as the other green parts of plants, decomposing carbonic acid under the agency of light and liberating oxygen. Saussure asserts that all fruits, in a green state, are adequate to perform this process of deoxidation. As the pericarp advances to maturity, it either becomes dry or succulent. In the former case it changes into a brown or white color, and has a quantity of ligneous matter deposited in its substance, so as to acquire great hardness, where it is incapable of performing any process of vegetable life; in the latter it becomes fleshy in its texture, and assumes various bright tints. In fleshy fruits, however, there is frequently a deposition of ligneous cells in the endocarp, forming the stone of the fruit; and even in the pulpy matter of the sarcocarp, there are found isolated cells of a similar nature, as in some varieties of pear, where they cause a peculiar grittiness. The contents of the cells near the outside of succulent fruits are thickened by exhalation, and a process of endosmose goes on, by which the thinner contents of the inner cells pass outward, and thus cause swelling of the fruit. As the fruit advances to maturity, however, this exhalation diminishes, the water becoming free and entering into new combinations. In all pulpy fruits, which are not green, there are changes going on by which carbon is separated in combination with oxygen.
* * * "Succulent fruits contain a large quantity of water along with cellulose or lignine, sugar, gummy matter or dextrine, albumen, coloring matter, various organic acids, as citric, malic and tartaric, combined with lime and alkaline substances, beside a pulpy gelatinous matter, which is converted by acids into pectine, whence pectic acid is formed by the action of albumen. Pectine is soluble in water, and exists in the pulp of fruits, as apples, gooseberries, currants, strawberries, etc. Pectic acid is said to consist of C.14, H.3, O.12 + H.O. It absorbs water, and is changed into a jelly-like matter, hence its use in making preserves. Each kind of fruit is flavored with a peculiar aromatic substance. Starch is rarely present in the pericarp of the fruit, although it occurs commonly in the seed. * * *
"During the ripening much of the water disappears, while the cellulose or lignine and the dextrine are converted into sugar. Berard is of opinion that the changes in fruits are caused by the action of the oxygen of the air. Freney found that fruits, covered with varnish, did not ripen. As the process of ripening becomes perfected, the acids combine with alkalies, and thus the acidity of the fruit diminishes, while its sweetness increases. The formation of sugar is by some attributed to the action of organic acids on the vegetable constituents, gum, dextrine, and starch; others think that the cellulose and lignine are similarly changed, by the action of acids. The formation of sugar is said to be prevented by watering the tree with alkaline solutions. * * * In seasons, when there is little sun, but a great abundance of moisture, succulent fruits become watery and lose their flavor. The same thing frequently takes place in young trees with abundance of sap, and in cases where a large supply of water has been given artificially." Travelers, who have eaten the magnificent specimens of fruits produced by irrigation, in California, tell us that they are deficient in flavor, and the same thing is sometimes observed as a result of an unusually wet season.
"It is not easy in all cases to determine the exact time when the fruit is ripe. In dry fruits, the period immediately before dehiscence,[21] is considered as that of maturation; but in pulpy fruits, there is much uncertainty. It is usual to say that edible fruits are ripe when their ingredients are in such a state of combination as to give the most agreeable flavor. After such are ripe, in the ordinary sense, so as to be capable of being used for food, they undergo further changes by the oxidation of their tissues, even after being separated from the plant. In some cases these changes improve the quality of the fruit, as in the case of the medlar, the austerity of which is thus still further diminished. In the pear, this process renders it soft, but still fit for food, while in the apple it causes a decay which acts injuriously on its qualities. By this process of oxidation, the whole fruit is ultimately reduced to a putrescent mass, which probably acts beneficially in promoting the germination of the seeds when the fruit drops on the ground.
"The periods of time required for ripening the fruit, varies in different plants. Most fruits ripen within a year from the expansion of the flower, some come to maturity within a few days, others require months. Certain plants, as some Coniferæ, require more than a year, and in the Metrosideros the fruit remains attached to the branch for several years. The following is a general statement of the usual time required for the maturation of fruits:—
| Grasses and Grains | 13 to 15 days. |
| Raspberry, Strawberry, Cherry | 2 months. |
| Bird-cherry, Lime-tree | 3 months. |
| Roses, White Thorn, Horsechestnut | 4 months. |
| Vine, Pear, Apple, Walnut, Beech, Plum, Nut, Almond | 5 to 6 months. |
| Olive, Savin | 7 months. |
| Colchicum, Mistletoe | 8 to 9 months. |
| Coniferæ | 10 to 12 months. |
| Some Coniferæ, certain Oaks, and Metrosideros | above 12 months. |
"The ripening of fruits may be accelerated by the application of heat, the placing of dark-colored bricks below it, and by removing a ring of bark, so as to lead to an accumulation of sap. It has been observed that plants, subjected to a high temperature, not unfrequently prove abortive; this seems to result from the over stimulation, causing the production of uni-sexual flowers alone. Trees are sometimes made to produce fruit by checking their roots when too luxuriant, and by preventing the excessive development of branches."[22] Here we have the explanation of the processes of root pruning and of summer pinching, and shortening-in, which have been more extensively introduced upon another page; as well as the plan for inducing fruitfulness in such trees as are tardy from excessive wood-growth, by hacking the bark to interrupt the flow of sap from the buds to the roots; by this, some of the former are changed to flower-buds.
We may learn to judge of the condition of ripeness of our larger succulent fruits, such as apples and pears, by a little experience. When ready to be picked, they will have attained their maximum size, their color will have changed somewhat from its greenness, and they will assume a sort of translucency that indicates the approach of maturity; but the best practical test for the fruit-gatherer, is the ready separation of the stem from its attachment. In those fruits, which are suspended by a stem of considerable length, and in which this organ belongs to the fruit itself, and is intimately connected with its tissues, we shall find that it will part easily from the branch at that period of ripeness when it is best to separate it. Such fruits are often much improved by a continuation of the process of ripening after they are gathered, but this more properly belongs to another division of the subject. There is another class of fruits which are found to attain their greatest excellence and most perfect ripening upon the tree itself, and these can never be enjoyed elsewhere in so great perfection as in close proximity to the place of their production; because, so soon as they are separated from their connection with the plant, a process of decomposition commences, they begin to decay, and many of them soon become really unwholesome. Most of those that are called stone-fruits are of this character, such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and cherries—all of which have a very transitory period of excellence. The same is still more remarkably the case with most of the berries, hence all of these classes of fruits are better adapted to a near than to a distant market.
With apples and pears, however, the case is quite different. Some of these, it is true, especially some of the summer varieties, will attain a perfect state of ripeness while yet attached to the tree, and some of them will even remain hanging to the twig, until they reach that condition of over-ripeness in which they lose a portion of their fine juices and become mealy, or incipient decay may set in, so as to make them rotten at the core. Hence, in nearly all varieties, it is found best to pluck the fruit a little prematurely, and we are guided by the natural indication of the falling of a portion of the crop. By this means we can, in a degree, control the final ripening of our fruits; and we have the great advantage of being able to ship them in a firm condition to distant markets, so as to arrive at the end of a long journey in prime order; whereas, if thoroughly ripe, they could only be transported a few miles, and then needing the greatest care in their handling. Our summer varieties always require to be near their ultimate ripeness when gathered; for, if plucked too soon, they will wither, and be worthless. Among these, there are some varieties, particularly of the apple, which continue ripening for a long period. In the limited family orchard this quality is a great desideratum in the summer fruits, but it is quite otherwise in the orchards, which are planted for profit in the market, because of the increased expense of gathering only a few at a time repeatedly, instead of clearing the tree at once. It is also found to be an advantage in shipping, to have a considerable quantity of a kind to send off at one time.
Gathering.—We now come to the important matter of harvesting our crops of fruits that have been the cause of so much care and anxiety, as well as of pleasure. This will require new considerations as to its disposition and preservation to the best advantage, and will call for a discussion of the best modes of packing, storing, ripening, and transportation to market.
From what has already been said with regard to the process of ripening of fruits in the natural way upon the tree, it will be understood that we must gather some kinds before they have reached their perfect condition of maturity. There is a point at which they have obtained, from their connection with the parent tree, all the elements that are necessary to the development of their highest qualities. They may now be separated, not only with safety, but with decided advantage in many instances, as they are improved by the further process of maturation under different circumstances from those supplied by nature, and when properly treated, they will acquire a much finer condition as to delicacy and flavor than is ever reached by ripening upon the tree exposed to the light and air. This, it will be remembered, is not the case with all fruits; for, as has already been stated, there are those which must remain upon the tree until they acquire their most perfect ripeness, and which begin to depreciate in quality so soon as they are separated from their connection with the fruit-bearing twig. These need to be at once disposed of, and the consideration of the best means of transportation, is a question of more importance than any plans for their temporary preservation. They must be sold or used at once, and should be handled with the greatest care, packed in suitable boxes or baskets in the most judicious manner for a good display of their beauties, for their preservation from bruising and decay, and for sending them forward to their destination with the least possible delay: the details of these several parts of the business will be left for the exercise of the ingenuity of the parties most deeply interested. In the class of fruits which are so constituted as to bear and indeed to require picking, before they have reached the period of perfect ripeness we shall find several particulars that need consideration. First, it will be found that the proper time for gathering them varies considerably. Thus, with early apples and pears, a few days only embrace the best period, during which they may be gathered without becoming wilted if plucked too soon, or decaying if left too late. Even with winter fruits, we find that, to have them in perfection, some varieties require to be gathered much earlier than the time usually assigned for harvesting the general crop. It is somewhat singular also, that this course very considerably extends their time of keeping, and that some of those varieties which would become dry, mealy, and insipid, early in the winter, if gathered too late, will remain sound, firm, plump, and juicy, and retain all their fine flavor through the winter, if they have been taken from the tree at an earlier period of the season. They must be left upon the tree until properly developed, however, and then be carefully kept in a cool apartment.
The usual season for gathering winter fruits is October, before the access of severe frosts, and at a time when the wood-growth for the season has been completed, and the foliage is nearly ready to separate from its attachment to the tree. The fruits will then generally part readily from the twigs, without either breaking them or rupturing the fruit-stem, which should always be preserved, and from the apple especially, it should never be pulled out, as is apt to happen in certain varieties, when proper care is not exercised in picking them. Some of the apples that require to be gathered early, are, the Rambo, Pryor's Red, Hubbardston, Westfield, Rhode Island Greening, several Russets, and all those which evince a tendency to fall prematurely. There are others which may be left to a later period with impunity, some of these will even bear a little freezing without serious damage, but we should always endeavor to anticipate the exposure of our fruits to any great depression of temperature while they remain attached to the trees. An early and severe frost has often proved disastrous to a fine crop of apples, thus left too long upon the trees.
For all fruits it is essential that the weather should be fine at the time they are gathered. They should be perfectly dry when plucked, and they must be handled with the greatest care to avoid bruising in the slightest degree. Each specimen must be taken separately in the hand and turned to one side, when, if it do not part readily from the twig, the thumb and finger must be applied to the stem, to aid the separation at the proper point; each is then to be placed in a gathering basket, which should be shallow, and for delicate sorts should be lined loosely with fresh leaves or with soft moss, or a little wilted grass. From the baskets, the fruit should be transferred to its permanent winter quarters, by a careful and judicious hand, who should select them and reject all that are bruised, specked, or otherwise defective, and place them on the shelves, or pack them in the boxes or barrels into which they are placed for preservation, or transportation to market. In packing, it is best to use no material but the fruit itself, which should be so closely placed that they shall not jostle and bruise one another when moved. Some persons use a bag, slung around the neck, when gathering the fruits from the tree; into this they are placed as fast as they are plucked, and successively transferred to the barrels, or poured in piles upon the ground. With very firm varieties, this may be done without serious damage, but the bruising that necessarily ensues will be very prejudicial to all the more delicate fruits, and will materially depreciate the value of such as are also of a pale color. A want of care in this matter of handling fruit is, no doubt, the chief reason for the popular preference of red apples in our markets, since those, that are well covered with a deep color, do not show the bruises that are so unseemly upon the fair cheek of the lighter colored varieties.
The modes of keeping winter fruits are exceedingly various, and some of them are quite primitive. The desiderata are coolness and dryness, which should not be carried to the extent of freezing, nor of desiccation. The simplest method is to place the fruit in a pile upon a dry piece of ground, to cover it thickly with clean dry straw, and, as the winter approaches, to apply a heavy layer of earth, sufficient to keep out the frost. Sometimes this is kept from the straw by a simple roof of boards, which support the earth from pressing upon the fruit, and leave it in a sort of cave, which can be entered occasionally during the winter. This plan is only recommended for those who have no cellars or other suitable apartments, for many fruits acquire an earthy flavor from this near contact with the soil. Another primitive plan, and one which is well adapted to the preservation of cider apples, and might be used for the keeping of those needed for stock feeding, is to build a rail-pen, four square, like a field corn-crib, into which the fruit is put upon straw, and a lining of the same material is placed at the sides and upon the top, which may also be sheltered with boards to shed off the rain. In our mild winters, many varieties of fruits can be sufficiently well preserved in this manner for the purposes mentioned. In a proper establishment for cider-making, large bins and rooms are provided within the building, which afford sufficient protection from the frost, so that cider-making may be carried on during the winter; and in well arranged farm-steads, the feeding barns should be provided with suitable compartments for the safe storage of fruits or roots, that are to be fed to the stock during the inclement season, when they are so much needed.
All farm-houses should be provided with good deep and dry cellars, which will prove the best place for the storage of fruits. These may be placed in bins, or, still better, upon shelves, as it is not desirable to have too great a bulk together. When but one, or at most, but two layers of fruit are deposited upon each shelf, and when each of these is placed at a sufficient distance from those above or below it, the whole may be easily inspected from time to time, and defective specimens can be removed without disturbing the rest. These shelves should be made of narrow strips, separated from one another by a space that will admit of thorough ventilation. The whole apartment devoted to fruit, should be kept cool and dark, and free from moisture or dampness.
Many large orchardists prefer to select their fruit from the picking baskets, and pack at once in new barrels, which are made for this special purpose, and are not so tight as those used for flour. In packing these, it is desirable to place the fruit carefully in layers, filling the space completely as the work proceeds, putting each specimen down by hand, and when the vessel is filled to about an inch above the chine, the heads are put on, a follower placed upon them, and the whole brought under the pressure of a lever, which forces the mass together so that there shall be no possibility of motion among the fruit. It is better that the outer layers should be somewhat indented by the barrel heads, than that the whole should be spoiled by the bruising that would follow from loose packing. These barrels are often left under the trees for some time, or they may be placed under an open shed for protection, prior to transportation. It is a common practice, before barreling, to deposit the fruit in piles as it is gathered, giving it only a covering of straw to allow it to throw off a part of its moisture, a process generally termed sweating. Now it cannot be gainsaid that there may be an escape of the fluids by transpiration through the pores of the skin, and we know that there is a loss of weight and even of plumpness, in many varieties, by exposure in a dry atmosphere; but the excessive moisture observed upon the surface of fruits that have been exposed to a low temperature, when they are brought into a warmer apartment, is unquestionably the simple precipitation of atmospheric moisture, and entirely independent of the juices of the fruit itself. The advantages of this method of treatment are, that more time is given for the careful selection of the fruits before placing them in the barrels, and a better opportunity for selection, and the rejection from the packages of all those which are in any way defective. The disadvantages are the increased labor and the greater amount of handling to which the fruits are subjected. The surface of our seed-fruits, (pepins), is endued with a peculiar coating of a waxy nature, which is of great value for their preservation, and should not be removed, hence the less fruit is handled, the better it will keep, and it should never be rubbed nor wiped; if too wet, or "sweating," it should be exposed to a dry atmosphere, until the surplus moisture shall have quietly evaporated before it is transferred or handled.
It is often observed of particular varieties that they are more prone to wilt than other kinds: this is particularly the case with Russet apples, and is believed to result from a deficiency of this protecting outer covering or waxy exudation, which appears most plentiful in those that retain their plumpness.
In packing for market, besides the directions already given as to prevent motion, it is very desirable to have the packages, of whatever form, whether boxes or barrels, of a neat appearance and uniform full size. The fruits should be well selected, and of a like average quality throughout, and not fixed up for market with the best only at the ends or sides that are to be first opened, while the inferior fruit is concealed within. Honesty is the best policy everywhere, and dealers soon learn to discriminate in favor of the brands of honest packers. It is believed that any orchardists, who will take pains in the selection of their fruits, and in the excellence and honest measure of their packages, will soon establish a reputation that will be of great value to them in their future offerings.
Fruit-rooms.—For those who wish to reap the highest rewards and the greatest profits from a near and convenient market, as well as those who desire to preserve their fruits, prolong their enjoyment of them, and to bring them to the highest perfection, the fruit-room or fruit-house becomes indispensable. These should be so constructed as to meet the required conditions of an equable and cool temperature, with darkness, and a sufficient amount of dryness to insure freedom from mold and damp. To avoid the precipitation of atmospheric moisture, the apartment should be tight, and seldom opened, particularly in damp weather. To absorb the exhalations from the fruit itself, and that emitted from the burning candle or the breathing of the visitor, the introduction of certain chemical absorbents has been suggested; among these, freshly burned lime has been recommended and used, but Mr. Du Breuil advises the introduction of dry chloride of calcium, which has so great an affinity for moisture as to absorb it completely from the atmosphere. This is the material used by B.M. Nyce, of Cleveland, Ohio, in his patent fruit preserving establishments; and this mode of preserving a dry atmosphere is a leading, and indeed, the chief feature and element of his success.
In the construction of fruit-houses, the fluctuations of the outer atmospheric temperature must be guarded against by making double walls, and by filling the spaces with non-conducting materials. The floors and the ceiling should be similarly arranged—unless where the cooling is effected by a layer of ice above the fruit-room, when the ceiling should be metallic, so as to enable the caloric to be rapidly abstracted from the space below. The house, patented by Prof. Nyce, is essentially a large refrigerator, with the ice at the top, and provided with absorbents for removing from the air the moisture it has received from the fruit. Its construction will be understood from the accompanying diagrams and description. The lettering of similar parts is the same in all three diagrams; the description is that of the inventor.
Fig. 27.—NYCE'S FRUIT PRESERVING HOUSE. (CROSS SECTION.)
(A) Foundation walls. The ground floor is leveled off, and made solid, and even with the foundation walls. (B) A covering of tar and pitch, one-half inch thick, put over the ground and foundation walls, to prevent the entrance of moisture. The tar and pitch should be mixed so as to be only moderately hardened by the temperature of the ground. (D) The filling between the walls is composed of short dry shavings, chaff, or other poor conductors, 3-½ feet thick, on the bottom and sides. (C) Joist for plank floor, 3-½ feet above the ground. The floor is made level throughout. (F) Chloride of calcium, or dried waste-bittern, from salt works, spread on every part of the floor of the preserving room, to absorb moisture. (I I) Air-tight casings, made of common sheet-iron, No. 26; the edges thickly painted, and nailed to upright studding. The outer casing in some houses is made of brick. The inside of the brick wall is covered with roofing cement, or pitch, or some other air-tight coating. (K K) doors 6 or 8 inches thick, filled with chaff or shavings, and fitted tightly to the door-frames, by listing or cloth nailed over thin layers of cotton. (X) The ice-chamber. (L) Joists to support the ice floor, resting 2 inches on the posts at Q. (N) Iron bars, 1-¼ inches wide, and ¼ inch thick, gained ½ inch into the joists, and placed crosswise to them. A bar must always be put directly under the seams and rivets. Three bars are enough to be under a sheet 30 inches wide. (M) The galvanized-iron ice floor, No. 18 or 20; the edges joined with rivets not more than 1 inch apart, and very carefully soldered. The ice floor is put on the edges of the iron bars so as to expose every part of its surface, on which ice directly rests, to the air of the room below. (S) Sides of ice room made of upright planks. Better have it lined with zinc or galvanized-iron, inside of the plank. Scantling, 2 by 6 inches, are placed on the ice, 4 feet apart, made even with the ice. Wide plank (P) are placed loose across the scanting, the edges as close as may be put together, to prevent the filling falling on the ice. Saw-dust, 6 inches thick, is placed on the plank (P). Shavings are not compact enough on the top to keep the air from the ice. (O) A discharge pipe to conduct the water from the ice. (W) An ante-room with an ice-water trough, (Y), in which canned fruit is kept, in large stone crocks, for retailing by small measure.
Fig. 28.—NYCE'S FRUIT PRESERVING HOUSE. (LONGITUDINAL SECTION.)
Fig. 29.—NYCE'S FRUIT PRESERVING HOUSE. (GROUND PLAN.)
The following estimates are given by the inventor, for a house, with room 15 ft. square, 8 ft. high, 22 ft. square on outside, with capacity for holding 500 bushels. The cost would be about as follows:
| Common iron, at 7-½ cts. per lb., cost in the house | $210 00 |
| Galvanized iron, No. 26, at 20 cts. per lb. | 105 00 |
| Galvanized iron, No. 20, at 18 cts. per lb. | 80 00 |
| Whole cost, probably | 800 00 |
The frame and roof being simple, their cost need not exceed that of similar structures.