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Show HOME COURSE IN SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE SIXTH ARTICLE HOME FRUIT GARDEN. i By L. C. C0RBETT, Horticulturist, Ba reau of Plant industry, Depart mrnt of Agriculture. 11 TIE possibilities in fruit culture upon restricted areas have been , very generally overlooked, with tho result that many persons who own n city lot! a suburban home or oven a farm now, look upon fruit as a luxury. This can all bo changed, and much of the laud which Is now practically wasto aud entirely unre-muneratlve unre-muneratlve cau bo made to produce fruits in sufficient quantity to giro them a regular place upon tho family bill of faro and at tho same tlmo add greatly to tho attractiveness of tho tablo and healthfulmm of the dlot In order to provo n source of con Btant plcasuro aud gratification a fruit plantation must claim tho attention of its owner from early spring to late autumn. Its products, too, must bo so planned as to cover tho greatest possible pos-sible portion of tho seasons between frosts. For n coinniorclal.placo on nn extensive scale It would bo out of tho question to attempt to niter the char actcr of the soil to suit tho needs of tho plant, but with a small area tho enso is qulto different If the soil Is heavy It can bo lightened with sand if It is not desirable to increase tlid proportion of humus which it contains. If it is lacking in organic matter tho addition of leaf mold and well rotted manure or the turning under of some leguminous crop, such as cowpcas or Photo by New Hampshire agricultural station. WELIi PRUNED AMD WELIi CULTIVATED onoaABD. Canada field peas, will accomplish tho desired result. If the soil is looso and sandy, losing Its storo of plant food readily, this fault cau bo remedied by tho addition of retentive material, such as clay. Tho amount of clay to be added must bo governed by tho degree of stiffness desired in the soil. If, on tho other hand, tho class of plants to bo generally grown Is suited to a loose, sandy soil and it seems desirable to add to the collection a plant, such as plum, which naturally requires a heavy, retentive soil, it would undoubtedly undoubt-edly bo better to chango tho character of tho plant by grafting It upon n stock adapted to sandy soil conditions than to attompt to modify the soil to suit the plant.' Such modifications in plants are not always easily accomplished, and with many plants there Is no alternate but to uso them on their own roots. In this latter case tho soil itself must be made to conform to tho domands of the plants. The soil, In addition to boing bo-ing henry and retentive, may also bo com ana wet. If the soil be unduly moist the only safe and satisfactory remedy lies in thorough undcrdrnlnago. This can bo accomplished In two ways. Drains may bo dug and a stone conduit built to nllow tho superfluous water to escape, es-cape, or, what Is better, agricultural tile, may bo lnld In tho bottom of the trench. If tho soil is very stlCf nnd retentive re-tentive the tiles should not 'bo laid oror two nnd a half or three feet deep and about ono rod apart. If tho soil Is porous the drains may bo placed farther far-ther apart and burled deepen At planting time nil broken or decayed decay-ed roots shbuld bo cut away, leaving only smooth cut surfaces nnd healthy wood to como In coutnet with tho soil. It a large part of tho root area of the plant has been lost in transplanting tho top should bo cut back in proportion propor-tion to the roots remaining. Tho holes In which trees, vines or shrubs are to be set should bo nmple so that tho roots of the plant mny have full spread without bending them out f their natural course. Tho earth at tho bottom of tho holes should be loosened a spade depth below tho Hue of excavation. The soil placed Immediately Imme-diately In contact with tho roots of the nowly sot plant should bo rich top soil, free from sod or partially decayed organic or-ganic mntter. Firm tho soil over tho roots by trampling, as this brings tho soli particles together and at tho satno time in closo contact with tho nurfneo of tho roots. A movement of soil water wa-ter Is thus set tip nnd tho food supply of tho aoil brought immediately to the -1 I'" Use of the plant When the opcratloa of transplanting Is complete the plant ihould stnnd one or two luches deeper than It stood In the nuncry. In the case of the apple and the pear the fruits arc borne upon "spurs" of the previous year's growth only, these spurs appearing on wood one year or more of age. Ilcadlng lu or shortening each shoot of the season's growth, therefore, must bo dene with care in order not to reduce tho bearing bear-ing wood beyond a profitable limit Tho bearing shoots .are usually obscurely ob-scurely located upon the sldos of the branches. With tho pench, however, It Is tht wood of the last season's growth upon which tho fruits nro directly borne, and with them heading in may bo successfully suc-cessfully employed to limit the quantity quanti-ty of fruit borno by the tree. Japanese plums bear on both year-old wood and spurs. Pruning may thcroforc bo usod to thin tho fruit tho samo as in tho case of tho peach. Tho grape bears its fruit on shoots of tho season, which in turn usually arlso from canes of the previous year's growth. Old wodd on the grnpo is thorefore of llttlo value; hence tho de-relopment de-relopment of so many systoms of training which maintain only a single permanent trunk, from tho top of which tho bearing canes are renewed each year. By planting tho rlnes closely and carrying up single trunks to a fixed height and from tho top of the stalk carrying out horizontal arms along whloh "spurs" aro maintained a short growth from each spur will bo buWt dent to giro a uniform and sufficiently dense canopy of leaves for tho arbor. Raspberries and blackberries both bear their fruits on short shoo' which arise from canes of tho prerlous season's sea-son's growth. In the case of tho currant apd gooseberry goose-berry tho fruits nro produced on both old and now wood. Tho fruits appear as axillary growths from the shoot Itself, It-self, and wood three years or more of ago Is unprofitable and should bo cut awny. Strawberries aro rarely produced In profltablo quantities by plants more than ono year old. PlantB ovor two years of ago should be rooted out to give room for now ones. Tho Interest of a fruit garden may bo greatly enhanced by growing therein there-in plants not adapted naturally to tho climatic region in which tho garden 1 la located. Tho most hardy sort should be Belectod, in addition to which the fruiting shoots may bo wrapped in matting, covered with straw, and tho fruits thus successfully protected, or. If It seems dcslraHo, temporary sheds may be built over tho plants and theso thatched with straw' or fodder sufficiently suffi-ciently to protect them from frost Then, again, semi-hardy sorts may be tipped over by cutting the roots on ono side, bending tho branches closo to tho soil, pinning them down nnd then covering cov-ering tho whole plant with matting and earth or a straw thatch and earth. The fact that treos can bo grown a " dwarfs as well as standards will enable en-able one to utlllzo a space which bad previously been considered unsulted for th6 development of a tree. In pro- portion to 8lzo dwarf trees aro moro j fruitful than standards, and thoy come into bearing sooner. Dwarfing Is accomplished by bud- ding or grafting robust growers on slow growing Btocks, and most tree fruits lend themselrcs to this treatment treat-ment Besides this method of modlfl- , cation, there aro other methods qulto as Important to tho owners of small areas. Standards may be grown as "bushes" or as "pyramids," thus making It possible pos-sible to grow thorn much closer together. togeth-er. Pruning nnd trnlnlug used in combination com-bination have shown tho possibilities of restricting plants to tho "espallor," "cordon" and other styles of training employed In growing fruits against walls. These mothods not only nllow plants to bo grown moro closely than Is common In orchard practice, but they allow tho grower to take ndran-tage ndran-tage of locations nnd conditions under which trees could not develop normally. nor-mally. Bosldes tho ndvantago of dwarfing, grafting may bo turned to good account ac-count to enablo tho owner of few treea to Increase his sorts beyond tho limits of the trees he possesses.' Tbero are slnglo trees known which bear as many as 150 varieties of apples. UN JUU vuiiuiiua ui ujijjiua. In addition to tho advantages to bo gained from restricting tho growth of plants by training and dwarfing, somo of the methods of training offer adaptations adap-tations which allow of combining plants of various habits of growth to tho advantage of tho grower and with llttlo or no disadvantage to the plants To Ulustrato this, currants may bo combined with grapes, apples with currants cur-rants or raspberries, grapes nnd straw-borrles. straw-borrles. Tho advantages of these methods become be-come apparent at onco when tho object ob-ject Is tho most economical utilization of a limited land area. Besides tho special adaptations afforded af-forded by dwarfed trees and by special spe-cial combinations of low growing and high growing plnnts, certain well known systems of pruning and training allow additional liberties to the skillful planter. Tho vine may be utilized an a cover for walks and drives or as a canopy over small outbuildings. A cozy summer veranda may bo covored by grapevines, thus securing the double dou-ble ndvantago of a cool, shady noot during summer and a supply of fruit In autumn. Whero tbero is moro Innd nt one's disposal thoro may bo both a fruit gap den and a vegotablo gardon. For specific recommendations ns to varieties of fruits adapted to the various va-rious fruit sections of tho United States eeo farmors' bulletin No. 208, "Varieties "Varie-ties of Fruits Recommended For Plant ing." |