Mineral Point Weekly Tribune

From the Lancaster Herald.
A Fatal Year for Orchards.

The Michigan and Illinois horticulturists are reporting to the local and agricultural papers concerning the damaged condition of their orchards, as revealed since leafing, and the several surmised causes.

One Bennett reports the Michigan orchards badly used up—in some parts half the trees dead, or partly dead: in other parts a fourth dead or dying, and in some places heard from, a tree in six to ten killed.

In Illinois, and as far south as the uncommon wet weather prevailed in the summer of 1865, the orchards suffered severely—one man in Sangamon County losing half of his beautiful young orchard—his older trees suffering but little. Second growth and immaturity of wood are the alleged causes of failure in the State of Illinois.

The Michigan farmers are not agreed as to the cause of so many of their trees dying. One writes to the Detroit Advertiser his views, as follows, which we consider sensible:

"The apple orchards, so far as I have examined, are generally more or less hurt—young orchards of eight or nine years old the worst: but I have seen some plats of trees of that age not hurt at all, but in all cases the trees so escaping stood in land but little cultured, or even in grass. The old orchards, especially such as the owners had neglected to have plowed, escaped without visible loss. Orchards but recently set out also escaped much injury. The high land trees did best: those in low or rather wet land fared the worst. Perhaps orchards should be less cultured after the fifth year than before that age, though it might be dangerous to abstain from giving orchards of any age and size of trees an occasional plowing and crop of corn."

Another Michigan farmer writes to the Cleveland Farmer that a fourth of his trees have "died outright or are so killed in the bud that they cannot leaf out and some of them may die." He thinks the very cold winter froze his trees.

In Indiana the trees have failed to leaf and bloom as early as usual: the buds appeared reluctant to start, particularly on the young trees. Some are complaining of their young orchards dying.

Our Experience and Practice in the Orchard—Causes of the Apple Tree Failure.

From the foregoing it will be seen that we in Wisconsin, are not alone in the misfortunes of the year 1865, and that the causes of failure in apple orchards are as uniform as general throughout the country.

We now offer our experience for the year 1865, and to this date in 1866, in our orchard of above 3,000 trees, varying in age of five to ten years, and of which lot of trees we have lost but nine from all causes, these among those we neglected to treat at all last year.

In the summer of 1865, during June and July, we pruned more or less all our trees, taking from each all the new shoots, water sprouts and other surplus growths shooting from the bodies and large limbs. Also, we cut away, not all, but the worst part of the mal-formed limbs, by which is meant such limbs as have the barks of crotches turning inward instead of rolling upward and outward as hitherto explained. So much pruning caused the new limbs and wood to fully ripen and mature, and be able to stand any extreme of weather or other usual cause of injury.

Some of our orchard land was worked in corn, and some was in blue grass. The nine trees dying this spring, three of them from fork blight, and five from the peculiar effects of 1865, no doubt the second growth occurring after the rains stood upon land that had been in corn for several years, and were last year neglected as to pruning.

From an experience, and from what we have observed in neighboring orchards, we feel warranted in offering some points as facts not to be successfully refuted nor in the future disturbed by any such weather or hurtful causes as operated in the year 65.

For two or three years after setting out a young orchard, it is best and perfectly safe to cultivate orchard land: for two or three years thereafter it is best and safest to cultivate land but very little—still less after the trees mature in size and form.

Trees should be pruned more or less every year after the season of transplanting, and until the mature or bearing age is arrived at, say when trees are a dozen years old or upward, after which but little pruning and little cultivation of orchard land is required.

The lands of the west are too powerfully fertilized with mineral and animal manures, consequently send up through their roots too much top and foliage to be well supported, the roots falling short in ability to thrive with the top: and the artificial stimulation of land by culture, but for its effect in producing a larger quantity of roots, could well be dispensed with. But the cutting of roots by culture causing them to multiply and throw out abundantly from the ends and increase the quantity and support for the top, indirectly promotes growth of top. A cutting away of such excess of top is therefore indispensable, especially for such seasons as we had in 65.

A reckless disregard of attention to orchards insures their periodical destruction from such seasons as the last, while a little prompt labor each year, in pruning especially, insures perfect success—in proof of which we offer our orchard and its present successful condition.

For pruning trees, prepare such implements as a compass saw, narrow chisel, axe and jack knife, all sharp, and in two hours you can relieve quite an orchard of all excess of limbs. On Saturday last we, with another hand relieved 50 large trees of their surplus limbs, and of such trees as had malformed forks, often more than half their tops were cut away. The work appeared quite destructive and contrary to the taste of old fogy orchard men. But if any have doubts of its success, they may call any time and be relieved. Last year and the year before we practiced the same on several hundred, and since have not lost a tree so treated, but on the contrary they appear so reclaimed as to keep their tops within right bounds, neither throwing out an excess of limbs nor any limbs badly formed at the crotch. It is worth something handsome to a man to be able thus cheaply to save his orchard from ruin; and it would pay 1,000 men in Grant Co. each $100 per day for visiting our orchard and learning how, as well as satisfying the mind that what we write and print is true.

Our method of treatment all followed as the logical result of the discovery we made three years ago, that diseased circulation or damaged sap is the cause of the so called winter killing, and that the prime causes of such diseased circulation are bad or deformed forks, out-of-season pruning, second growth and failure to mature wood. All of which may be prevented or remedied by a small amount of work at the right time, a little common sense, and the knowledge how to operate, which knowledge may be had of the subscriber without charge.

J. C. COVER.
Lancaster, June 11, '66.