CHAPTER IX
THE GROWING OF THE FRUIT PLANTS
Fruits should be counted a regular part of the home premises. There are
few residence plots so small that fruits of some kind cannot be grown.
If there is no opportunity for planting the orchard fruits by themselves
at regular intervals, there are still boundaries to the place, and along
these boundaries and scattered in the border masses, apples, pears, and
other fruits may be planted.
It is not to be expected that fruits will thrive as well in these places
as in well-tilled orchards, but something can be done, and the results
are often very satisfactory. Along a back fence or walk, one may plant a
row or two of currants, gooseberries, or blackberries, or he may make a
trellis of grapes. If there are no trees near the front or back of the
border, the fruit plants may be placed close together in the row and the
greatest development of the tops may be allowed to take place laterally.
If one has a back yard fifty feet on a side, there will be opportunity,
in three borders, for six to eight fruit trees, and bush-fruits between,
without encroaching greatly on the lawn. In such cases, the trees are
planted just inside the boundary line.
A suggestion for the arrangement of a fruit garden of one acre is given
in Fig. 270. Such a plan allows of continuous cultivation in one
direction and facilitates spraying, pruning, and harvesting; and the
intermediate spaces may be used for the growing of annual crops, at
least for a few years.
[Illustration: Fig. 270. Plan for a fruit-garden of one acre. From
"Principles of Fruit-growing."]
Dwarf fruit-trees.
For very small areas, and for the growing of the finest dessert fruits,
dwarf trees may be grown of apples and pears. The apple is dwarfed when
it is worked on certain small and slow-growing types of apple trees, as
the paradise and doucin stocks. The paradise is the better, if one
desires a very small and productive tree or bush. The doucin makes only
a half-dwarf.
The pear is dwarfed when it is grown on the root of quince. Dwarf pears
may be planted as close as ten feet apart each way, although more room
should be given them if possible. Paradise dwarfs (apples) may be
planted eight or ten feet each way, and doucin twice that distance. All
dwarfs should be kept small by vigorous annual heading-in. If the tree
is making good growth, say one to three feet, a half to two-thirds of
the growth may be taken off in winter. A dwarf apple or pear tree should
be kept within a height of twelve or fifteen feet, and it should not
attain this stature in less than ten or twelve years. A dwarf apple
tree, in full bearing, should average from two pecks to a bushel of
first quality apples, and a dwarf pear should do somewhat more
than this.
If one grows dwarf fruit trees, he should expect to give them extra
attention in pruning and cultivating. Only in very exceptional instances
can the dwarf fruits be expected to equal the free-growing standards in
commercial results. This is particularly true of dwarf apples, which are
practically home-garden plants in this country. This being the case,
only the choice dessert fruits should be attempted on paradise and
doucin roots. For home gardens the paradise will probably give more
satisfaction than the doucin.
If the tree is taken young, it may be trained along a wall or on an
espalier trellis; and in such conditions the fruits should be of extra
quality if the varieties are choice. Plate XXII shows the training of a
dwarf pear on a wall. This tree has been many years in good bearing. In
most parts of the country a southern wall exposure is likely to force
the bloom so early as to invite danger from spring frosts.
Age and size of trees.
For ordinary planting, it is desirable to choose trees two years from
bud or graft, except in case of the peach, which should be one year old.
Many growers find strong one-year trees preferable. A good size is
about five-eighths of an inch in diameter just above the collar, and
five feet in height, and if they have been well grown, trees of this
size will give as good results as those seven-eighths of an inch, or
more, in diameter, and six or seven feet high. Buy first-class trees of
reliable dealers. It rarely pays to try to save a few cents on a tree,
for quality is likely to be sacrificed.
If properly packed, trees can be shipped long distances and may do as
well as those grown in a home nursery, but it will generally be best to
secure the trees as near home as possible, provided the quality of the
trees and the price are satisfactory. When a large number is to be
purchased, it will be better to send the order direct to some reliable
nursery, or to select the trees in person, than to rely on
tree peddlers.
Pruning.
Having planted the trees, they should be carefully pruned. As a rule,
trees with low heads are desirable. Peaches and dwarf pears should have
the lower branches from 12 to 24 inches above ground, and sweet cherries
and standard pears generally not over 30 inches; plums, sour cherries,
and apples may be somewhat higher, but if properly handled, when started
3 feet from the ground, the tops will not be in the way of the
cultivation of the orchard.
For all except the peach in the northern states, a pyramidal form will
be desirable. To secure this, four or five side branches with three or
four buds each, should be allowed to grow and the center shoot should be
cut off at a height of 10 to 12 inches. After growth has started, the
trees should be occasionally examined and all surplus shoots removed,
thus throwing the full vigor of the plant into those that remain. As a
rule three or four shoots on each branch may be left to advantage. The
following spring the shoots should be cut back one-half and about half
of the branches removed. Care should be taken to avoid crotches, and if
any of the branches cross, so that they are likely to rub, one or the
other should be cut out. This cutting-back and trimming-out should be
continued for two or three years, and in the case of dwarf pear trees
regular heading-back each year should be continued. Although an
occasional heading-back will be of advantage to the trees, apple, plum,
and cherry trees that have been properly pruned while young will not
require so much attention after they come into bearing.
Heavy pruning of the top tends to the production of wood; therefore the
severe pruning of orchard trees, following three or four years of
neglect, sets the trees into heavy wood-bearing, and makes them more
vigorous. Such treatment generally tends away from fruit-bearing. This
heavy pruning is usually necessary in neglected orchards, however, to
bring trees back into shape and to revitalize them; but the best
pruning-treatment of an orchard is to prune it a little every year. It
should be so pruned that the tops of the trees will be open, that no two
limbs will interfere with each other, and so that the fruit itself will
not be so abundant as to overload the tree.
In general, it is best to prune orchard trees late in winter or early in
spring. It is sometimes better, however, to leave peaches and other
tender fruits until after the buds have swollen, or even after the
flowers have fallen, in order that one may determine how much they have
been injured by the winter. Grape vines should be pruned in winter or
not later (in New York) than the first of March. If pruned later than
this, they may bleed. The above remarks will apply to other trees as
well as to fruits.
Thinning the fruit.
If the best size and quality of fruit are desired, care must be taken to
see that the plant does not overbear.
Thinning of fruit has four general uses: to cause the remaining fruit to
grow larger; to increase the chances of annual crops; to save the
vitality of the tree; to enable one to combat insects and diseases by
destroying the injured fruit.
The thinning is nearly always performed soon after the fruit is
thoroughly set. It is then possible to determine which of the fruits are
likely to persist. Peaches are usually thinned when they are the size of
one's thumb. If thinned before this time, they are so small that it is
difficult to pick them off; and it is not so easy to see the work of the
curculio and thereby to select the injured fruits. Similar remarks apply
to other fruits. The general tendency is, even with those who thin their
fruits, not to thin enough. It is usually safer to take off what would
seem to be too many than not to take off enough. The remaining specimens
are better. Varieties that tend to overbear profit very greatly by
thinning. This is notably the case with many Japanese plums, which, if
not thinned, are very inferior.
Thinning may also be accomplished by pruning. Cutting off the fruit-buds
will have the effect of removing the fruit. In the case of tender
fruits, as peaches, however, it may not be advisable to thin very
heavily by means of pruning, since the fruit may be still further
thinned by the remaining days of winter, by late spring frost, or by the
leaf-curl or other disease. However, the proper pruning of a peach tree
in winter is, in part, a thinning of the fruit. The peach is borne on
the wood of the previous season's growth. The best fruits are to be
expected the strongest and heaviest growth. It is the practice of
peach-growers to remove all the weak and immature wood from the inside
of the tree. This has the effect of thinning out the inferior fruit and
allowing the energy of the tree to be expended on the remainder.
Apples are rarely thinned; but, in many cases, thinning can be done with
profit.
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