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Show FRUIT FROM BARREN TREES. A correspondent of the American Agriculturers [?] says, I wish to describe to you a method of making fruit trees bear, that I blundered [?] on. Some fifteen years ago I had a small apple tree that leaned considerably. I drove a stake beside it, tied a string to a branch and fastened it to the stake. The next year that limb blossomed full and not another blossom appeared on the tree, and, as Tom Banker said, "It set me thinking," and I came to the conclusion that the string was so tight that it prevented the sap returning to the roots; consequently it formed fruit buds. Having a couple of pear trees, that were large enough to bear but had never blossomed, I took a coarse twine and wound it several times around the tree above the lower limbs, and tied it as tight as I could. The next spring all the top above the cord blossomed as white as snow, and there was not one blossomed below where the cord was tied. I have since tried the experiment on several trees, with the same result. I think it is a much better way than cutting off the roots in early summer, say June or July, wind a strong twine around the tree, or a single limb, and tie it, the tighter the better, and you will be blessed with the result: the next winter, or spring the cord may be taken off. |