| | | | i | | 58S [IMM ee 14a Apel _ « Smet Tye Re ete ke ae Be om ol ae mew *« ‘ nd y Pe e*- “6 . 2, an, Lic wes Sein & we ° - a t. es “ ; 4s ag os. * .s . wey ~ ” yy Rr soe te - . . . -. , . ae ey es ?. - ' ' fl i —__ _ 7 PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE t 1 06° 2903 6/01 c:/CIRC/DateDue.p65-p. 15 et tw LISRALY ID Rese dk Pea te CARE, * ac Qe c Biriclel onay & 9 Meche * | rd wl a - ; 9. Tie. Gi creas AS . . ¥ Th, Ber ste View, = | «} fr Oo Re ee et Re PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE H 1 0,5 03 6/01 c:/CIRC/DateDue.p65-p. 15 Thesis. Pruning of Frost Bitton reach Trees. Michigan Agricultural Collcge, Agricuctural Coliego, iiichigan. THESIS A number of times the peach trees of Michigan have been badly injured by the frost, and many nucthods ot pruning have bcen tried. My. Hanford, of Indiana, said that in the cold winter of 1856 he had an orchard of thrifty young trees absolutely killed to the snow line, and of course a total loss as far as avvearances indicated or experience could suggest. Knowing, however, that the trees had been vigorous, and that thoir roots must possess considerable power of reproduction, he procesdod to cut off the entire top of every tree that had been killed, and left nothing vut unsightly stumps throughout the orchard. The spring came on; advanced some- what; he watched his stumps with anxiety; found that numbrous buds started out from these stubs, put forth their shoots and made a remarkable growth, and in two years he had as good and healthy an orchard as that which had been cut off by frost. Since that time he had frequently the occasion to treat other trees in similar manner, some times cutting off injured branches only, and had almost uniformly had good results. But it is necessary to cut off the injured branchss of frozen tops as early as possible after the snow is gone, and always before the sap has begun to ascend the tree. Mr. T. T. Lyon said his experience had taught him during the cold winter of 1873, to take vigorous measures with trees that have been seriously injured by cold. The discoloration of the bark was only the indication of injury to the tree, and if the sap 93808 oD e vessels are too much ruptured the trce will die. The only remedy, and one which will be efficient if there is any vitality left in the tree, is a thorough pruning early in the spring. Suggestions as to the treatmont of trees frozen by the cold snap of 1899, were given by many of the lcaders in horticulture. Prof. W. Je Green of the Wooster, Ohio, Experiment Station, issued early in Maroh, a press bulletin. He said, in the beginning, that a frozen branch is of no use to the tree, and the best thing that can be done is to remove all parts that are seriously effected. The questions which naturelly arise are "When should pruning be done and how much of the top shall be removed?" It is well to wait until it is possible to determine about how much injury has been done, as shown by tho discolored wood and shriveled barn. Usually one warm spell is a sufficiont length of time to wait, but it 1s possible to defer the work too long, as the frozen wood seems to have a deleterious effect upon the sound parts, if not removed before growth commences. During March, and in some cases even as late as April, the pruning should be done. The peach ought to be pruned more severely than mcrely to remove injured wood, excert where they are killed to the snow line, and in such a case it is doubtful if they can be saved at all. Peach trees that are from three to five years old and have never been vruned to any extent need special attention. In case the injury to such trees doss not extend beyond the twigs and small branches, the best thing that can ve donc is to cut off all the branches to within one to three feet of the body of the tree. A tree five ycars old, which has been allowed to grow at will, may have long, siender branches, six to ten fest in length, with most of the fruit-pearing wood near the extremitics. Such a tree needs topping, even if a crop has been sacrificed in order to get it into proper shape. To cut out half the top from such a tree will improve succeeding crops and prolong the life of the tree. This puts the pruning upon a different basis. t+ is to be done not merely to remove dead wood, but to get the trees into shape for future usefulness. With this object in view the trees are to be so pruned that they can carry the next crop of fruit without breaking down. Of course it wili be necessary to cut off limbs of consider- able size, in many cases, and it will not be possible to avoid naked stubs. This can be remedied the next season, however, at which time surplus branches may be removed also. Incidentally, it should be stated that some cutting back is necessary each season, in order to keep the trees in proper form. This method of pruning tress has so many advantages, that the loss of this season's crop will really prove to be a blessing to those who take advantage of the present opportunity to get trees into proper shape. In case of young trees which have been planted only one or two years, it may be found that the injury extends to the trunk and possibly to near the ground. If thore is life above the bud the best thing to do is to cut the entire top away as far as there uppears to be injury, and start a mew top. If cut off early in the scason, however, the stump is apt to bccome dry, as shown by cracking. To prevent this the end should be covered with wax, or some material that will prevent the escape of moisture. From Michigan we get the following as to the troatinent of frozon trees. The trees in the different parts of the State were subjected to texnperatures ranging from fiftcen to forty degrees below zero and, in many places, were severely injured if not killed outright. The zero weather during the recent freeze lasted so long that many of the old trees suffered as much as others recently planted. In some cases, large cracks have formed in the bark won large trees of all kinds, and in others, openings extend clear through the trees. More comonly, however, the bark and wood are unbroken, but one or both are discolored. When discolor-= ation is confined to the wood, and especially if it is not very dark, the trees will live a mumber of years and may practically recover from the effects of the freeze if properly handled, but usually their psriod of life will be mich shortened. Where the inner bark has been imuch discolored, and certainly if it has becoms loosened from the tree, there will be little hove of saving it if a considerable area is involved, In some sections of state, the ground was covered with snow to the depth of from six to sixteen inches, and tho injury may not extend mich below the snow line. In such cases of trees not over four years old, where tho bark above the snow nas become browned and loose from the trees, and where thore is a space of six or eight inches of uninjured wood above the bud, tho top can often be cut back and a sprout trainca from the stub. Wher young trees have the ti:s of the branches destroyed, or if they merely show serious injury, while the trunk is in good condition, it is advisable to head the trees back severely. Bearing peach trees, that have been allowed to grow with little or no heading in, may be cut back so as to leave four or fivc arms, well distributed about thse trunk, with a length of from one to three foet. When trees of this size are unpruned, the sap will have to pass for a long distance through the injured in order to reach the leaves and, as there will be a large muuober of buds from which shoots will develop, the reduced quantity of sap that will find its way to the growing points will result ina feeble growth and probably in the death of the trees. When the trees are headed back, the distance that the sap will have to pass will be much lessened and, as only a few buds will remain, each will recsive a mich larger proportion of the sap and a mich stronger growth will be secured than wnere trees are unpruned. aA considerable number of shoots will start from these stubs, but before they have reached a length of teii or twolve inches, a part of them should be removed that those remaining will not be crowded and suffer from a lack of light and air. Treated in this way, the shoots wiil makea firm growth and wiil much less likely to be injured by the cold of the following wintcor, than when all are allowed to grow, end in their own crowded condition, develop weak and watery shoots. When the bark has cracked and loosened from the wood over a small area, there is still a chance of saving the tree if the loose bark is cut away and tne wound is covered with grafting wax, or if grafting clay is bound upon it. The trees that have been most injured will soon begin to shrivel and may be removed at any time, but there is always a possibility that trees may prove less injured than they at first indicate, and too much haste in the removal of the trees might result in serious loss. When smail trees are to be cut back to stubs near the ground, it is best to delay it until severe freezing weather is over, but if cutting back is put off too long the roots may be weakened. If it is sufficient to prune back the tops of the trees, this can best be done during the month of April, as at that time it will be possible to see how much the wood has been killed back, and there will be less dang2r from the drying out of the onds of the stubs than would be the case were they headed back carlicr. The extreme cold of the winter just passed has been very disastrous to nearly all kinds of fruit and has done imuch damage to tne tree themselvos, yet in a way it has been a benefit for it gave opportunities of trying several important experiments in re- Te gerd to prunning frost bitten peach trees. Very early the trees gave evidence of having been badly frozen and it was determined if possible to answer the question about the different degrees of heading back; and also about the different times of doing the work during the spring. fhe experiment was somewhat limited on account of having only a limited mumber of trees; and also beomise the final notes had to be taken before the trees could mxke sufficient growth. For the purpose of making the experiment, the orchard was divided into timee blocks of nine trees cash with three trees in each row. See table. April 14th 1899, the first three trees of bleek ene, row one, were pruned and headed back to one half of the previous years grovth. The sam date, the first three trees of bloek two, row one, were pruned and headed back nearly all of the previous years growth and also at the same time, the first three trees efbleck three, row one, were pruned and headed clear bask to stubs, leaving only a few young sheets. May 28,1899, the second. pruning was mege. This was just as the buds began to open. Phis time the second three trees of bDleck ene, rew two, were pruned and headed back, the same as row one, also the second rew ef blocks two and three, were pruned and headed back the same as row one of blocks two and three. May 16th,1899, the third and final pruning was made. The growth now being from one to three inehes long. This time the last three troes of block one, row three, were pruned and headed back the samc as row one and two, also the third rows of blocks two and three were vruned and headed back, the sa@ie as rows one and two of blocks two and three. Duplicates of this experiment were also made, and in ali about seventy five trees were pruned. Photographs were taken of the three methods of heading back, before tho growth started, and also of the sane trees, the same day the final notes were taken. Tne photograpns correspond to the block in their order one, two, and three. The final notes were taken May 29, 1399. The results were not very satisfactory, from the fact that the trees were so badly frozen, aiid the season so late that what trees did live had not made ruch growth. The indications were, that the different degrces of heading back, did not make any material difference. The trees that were headed back to stubs, were making as good a growth, in proportion to their tops, as those trees which had only onc half of the previous years growth removed. In some instances tho growth on the stubbed trees, down closer to ground and woon larger limbs was much more vigorous. As to the tine to prune could not as ycot sce any difference, only in the fact, that the trees pruned after the growth had made a good start, and all of the dead wood could be removed. in the trees pruned earlier, ail the dead limbs could not be removed, for they could not be told from tne live ones. Thus the trees pruned later in the season would save a repruning in order to have all the dead limbs removed and trees left in proper condition. The indications are at this time, that the trees were too severely frosted to survive the simmer. Some of the trees that appeared all right early in spring never leaved out, while many only made the growth sustained by the first flow of sap, and then withered and died. The one, two, and three year old trees seemed to stand the winter, but even they are in a condition which pespeaks little for the future thrift of the orchard Lo. TA SLE. Block I Block II Row I Row It Row III _Row I Row If Row Itt Apr. 14 iiay 2 May 16 Aor. 14 #£iay 2 May 16 One nalf Noarly all the vrevious previous yours Browen. yoars 2rourtn. ft # as + ¥ + 4 + 4 # # + i + 7 af ff Table continued. Block III Row I R O Apr. 14 May 2 May 16 Headed back to stubs. AN UNPRUNED TREE BLOCK ONE BEFORE GROWTH STARTS BLOCK ONE AFTER GROWTH STARTS: BLOCK TWO BEFORE GROWTH STARTS BLOCK TWO AFTER GROWTH STARTS BLOCK THREE BEFORE GROWTH STARTS BLOCK THREE AFTER GROWTH STARTS A A =e Sete aod! ges oe ~ = A TREE PRUNED AFTER GROWTH, STARTS ] OUT 1293 01750 742 il