Science of Fruit-tree Fruitfulness Simplifled.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 8

Science of Fruit-tree Fruitfulness Simplifled.

The Fruitgrower, the London business journal for market gardeners, lias an article under the above title which presents many of the canons of fruit-tree pruning in an incisive way, taking as its text a criticism of the American writer on this matter, Professor L. H. Bailey, of Cornell.

j Omitting some polemics, the article pro- ' ceeds: — "There are, in a sense, two separate schools of primers in the fruit-growing centres. *There are the hackers, sawers, and slashers on the one hand, and those who believe in branch regulation and guidance by means of either the finger nails or the small pruning knife. Professor Bailpy represents the former, we the latter, "and our minority is exceedingly small — at present, at least. We pointed "out in a previous issue that that talented and intensely practical journalist, the late Mr Shirley Hibberd, adopted our views, and wrote freely in praise of the pruning we advise. Though many are coming round to our views, the majority are against us, and" support tho j views of the professcr. Lei us look at the j arguments he adduces to enforce his theory. i He writes : — ' Man covets the fleshy portion jof the "fruit ; he must,^ therefore, thin rigo1 rously.' Is such a proposition scientific? j The first part is correct ; the latter, showing 1 the meanp whereby the end desired can be j secured, is - absurd. What is the effect ' of 1 heavy pruning or tree surgery? Why, pri- , marily, the production of wood; possibly, j in a secondary sense, it tends to iucrea.se the yield of. fruit, hut, not to such an extent as I it' does tliat of wood. Pruning under- such conditions does affect the vitality of the tree, hence i 3 injurious from our point of view. } " Now for a few notes -on the system we . advocate. Here is an apple tree, say. It is a young tree and beginning to .'fruit - well, but there are distinct signs" of too free wood growtlu If this tendency does not , receive attention in "a few years the fruitfulness of the tree will be considerably injured, and though il may give a good yield as regards quantity, the fruit will be small and badly coloured also. Under the old system what would happen? The tree surgeon, with his saw, and, possibly, billhook, would be brought upon the scene, and he would advise that wood in the head should

be cut out by the cartload to induce fruir-

fulness. If one starts on -these lines the system must be kept up, and though it is '■ better than letting the trees grow wild as -it were, yet it is a method we strongly condemn,. Why? We will tell you. We , have proved that a fruit tree will last longer, be more vigorous, healthy, and fruitful, and produce larger and finer fruits if , all superfluous growth is kept pinched out .in its earliest stages, or cut oiit each winter with a small pruning knife. If any branch growth is really superfluous from the fruit-

growers'

.point of view, then why let it

grow until it becomes a big branch before it is removed. There is no economy in doing so. The tree surgeons are the very people who seem content to let fruit trees ~ develop free head wood* growth', and after , it has been developed cut it out in the most < ruthless manner. 'We admit that ' man ' covets the fleshy portion of the fruit,' and 1 tdat the greater the flesh bulk the better ;: s Jie pleased. But we disagree as to the 1 -nethod proposed to effect this develop- , ment. The continual slashing at the head . of the tree may be improved upon by adopting our method, in conjunction with root treatment.- We say root treatment advisedly. Root pruning is good under certain conditions, and ue have great faith in its efficacy to increase fruitfulness. But

we think our expression ' root treatment is

an improvement. Here are our reasons. , Increased fruitfulness cannot be properly j brought about by head pruning only. It is

, one operation out of several. Root prun- , ing is another. Surface feeding another. Proper planting 13 alsc an important factor in fruit-tree fruitfulness. We emphasise this latter because in our I opinion, and that is formed solely from what we see, few planters know how to do j this operation "properly*; The result of this , is. of course, pqoi fruitfulness later on. .Then tlia tree surgeon conies in to effect a remedy through. the head when he should

turn his attention .to the roots. It is almost , as bad as the drug doctor cutting a man's \ toe off to cure the toothache. The real root of the evil is underground. We say that the science of pruning lies in cutting out superfluous growth as soon as ,it appears, and, if any of .it is [ overlooked, in cutting out the same in the winter months of the year in which it first gre-.v. and in cutting back all weak young end branch growth at the latter time. By adopting thi v plan we get a good opeuheaded tree, which will let in the light, air, and sim freely, and that is what all intelligent fruitgrowers should seen to ensure. In addition, the vitality of the tree is not interfered with, but it grows robust, firmwooded, and strong. It is tho hard or firm wood texture tree that is long-lived and fruitful. The tree of weak, flabby growth should be avoided, and all the tree surgery possible cannot produce the results described. "Fruitful treea n-* 1 * by far the area-test

want of the day in -fruit-growing "circles, and; providing the trees come from a reliable firm of propagators', they are not difficult to secure under the method we propose."