Show KEEP UP FERTILITY OF SOIL when trees begin to show sign of starvation nothing la better than application of manure A great many farm orchards have been left in bod for many years and are in sod at the present time many are cultivated each year and the crop taken off the land says farmers guide in most cases no effort has been made to keep up the fertility of the soil apples are as profitable as any crop grown on the farm it the trees are not taken care of a tanner has no reason to expect that they will give good yields you do not expect hogs and cattle to thrive without reg ular feed and just as truly the trees will tall it you starve them the only difference Is that because ot a store of food in the earth trees will live a long time between feeds this Is so true that young trees growing on rich land need no feed until after the fruit ing years begin but after a tree has borne three or four crops it will be much less vigorous the leaves will be smaller and of a lighter color and they will be noticed to drop quite early id the tall the leaders will make but slow growth perhaps none at all where a few years earlier they extended ten or twelve inches a year the difference will be noticed in the size of the apples for they will be small and imperfect all these changes are danger signals your trees are feeling the exhaustion ha of starvation the remedy Is and nothing Is so cheap as the barnyard manure for it contains matter which the soil needs to restore its primitive condition do not teed in a halt hearted way tor when a tree feeds only once in eight or ten years it needs a good big feed manure applied at the rate of 16 to 20 loads per acre Is none too heavy GOOD protection FOR TREE where splitting Is threaded Threat ed as result of storm or heavy fruit screws may be used when trees threaten to split down as a result of wind storms or the bur den of fruit they can easily be protected by the use of ordinary lag screws which can be bought at any hardware store they should be six or eight inches long and your blacksmith will turn the heads into a hook as shown in the picture bore holes into the trees deep enough to give the screws a start without splitting the wood screw them in solidly and connect with a protection for tree wire cable do not use rope because that stretches when wet and is therefore of no account this same method may be used to prevent the splitting off of large branches always taking care that the screws enter the tree and the branch in such position that the wire will form a straight pull and not an angle as it Is likely to cause a split PRUNING OF THE PEACH TREE limited amount of summer work can be done to advantage reduce operations to minimum sometimes the owner of a peach orchard will find it necessary to prune bis trees throughout the winter when ever the weather is suitable tor men to work in the orchard particularly it the operations are very extensive but it the fruit buds are endangered dur ing the winter by adverse tempera tures it may be advisable to delay pruning aa much as economic condl alons permit until settled spring er arrives this Is especially advis able it heavy heading in ot the previous seasons growth Is involved since the proportion of live buds may determine the extent to which the cutting back should be carried A limited amount of summer pruning usually can be done to advantage the trees should be observed constantly throughout the season of active growth whenever a branch Is seen which Is so placed that it obviously will need to be removed at the annual pruning tor the shaping up of the tree it Is well to take it off at once in this way the annual pruning can be reduced to a minimum and the removal of large limbs rarely will be necessary support for raspberries Rasp berries all of the black and purple varieties ot raspberries rasp berries do better it provided with a support or trellis to prevent the cans bending over aad dragging the arc ind v x s ar a r |