Kitabı oku: «American Pomology. Apples», sayfa 14
CHAPTER IX
CULTURE, ETC
THOROUGH CULTURE SHOULD FOLLOW THOROUGH PREPARATION—HOED CROPS RECOMMENDED—NO WHITE STRAW CROPS, NOR GRASSES ALLOWED—HOW LONG SHALL WE CULTIVATE THE ORCHARD?—LIMITS—THE SPADE AND FORK, AND MULCHING SUBSTITUTED—HORSE CULTIVATORS NECESSARY IN LARGE ORCHARDS—THESE SHOULD NOT BE DEEP TILLERS, BUT SHALLOW, TO AVOID DISTURBING THE ROOTS—SEEDING WITH CLOVER—MULCHING IMPRACTICABLE ON A LARGE SCALE—CLOVER MULCH—THE MELLOW EARTH AS A MULCH—PASTURING AN ORCHARD—OBJECTIONS—DAMAGE DONE BY HORSES AND MULES—BY CATTLE, BY GOATS—SHEEP—THEIR ADVANTAGES—SWINE AND POULTRY MAY BE ADMITTED—HOW THEY MAY BE USEFUL—DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS—POULTRY AND CURCULIO.
In a previous chapter, reference has been made to the necessity of thorough cultivation of the soil among young trees; but the importance of the proper attention to orchard culture is so great, that it deserves separate consideration. The thorough preparation of the soil before committing the roots of our trees to its embraces, which was fully impressed upon the orchardist, might have induced some to think that this was to be sufficient for them; but it ought rather to be inferred that any crop for which these preliminary labors were recommended, should receive continuous attentions of a similar character. It is with the desire that these views should obtain, and to indicate and specify, some of the most suitable modes of procedure, that the following remarks are presented in this place.
If the ground, which has been appropriated to the orchard, be also occupied as farming land, as is usually done for a few years after planting, while the trees are small, it should be exclusively devoted to hoed crops; by which is meant those that require constant cultivation and stirring of the soil. Indian corn is a favorite on account of the thorough culture which is bestowed upon it, but there are some objectors to its use; by such it is considered too rank a grower; it is thought to absorb too much of the moisture of the soil, and too greatly to over-shadow the young trees if they be so small as has been recommended under the head of Selection and Planting. To this objection, however, it is urged by others that the partial shade during the latter part of summer is a benefit rather than an injury. If the stalks be left standing upon the ground during the winter, they modify the force of the winds, and may even be of benefit, by the protection they furnish to the stems of the young trees; and when they fall to the ground, with their abundant foliage, these materials constitute a winter mulching of considerable value. Even if the fodder has been cut up, as is usually done by prudent farmers, the shocks scattered through the fields must exercise a considerable protecting influence.
Melons, cucumbers, cabbages, potatoes, turnips, and other root crops, which require frequent cultivation, are preferred by some orchardists, because of their being lower, and thus they will shade only the surface of the ground, without affecting the trees themselves. Let it ever be remembered, particularly in respect to soils that are of poor or of moderate fertility, that all these crops will remove their full share of plant-food from the land that we have already appropriated to another object, and that the main crop which we desire to draw its sustenance from the earth for a long series of years may thus be robbed of its proper nourishment. Under such circumstances we must meet the emergency by applications of fertilizing materials. I am aware that it may be urged by the theorists of agriculture, that these crops call upon the soil for different elements, and that, according to the customary views of the objects attained by a rotation, they may even be of advantage to those which are to follow. Others will make the practical observation that the fertilizing materials of common use in modern agriculture, may so readily be applied to compensate for these abstractions from the soil, that this is a matter of little moment, and not worthy of serious consideration. But it should be observed that, while men will often be induced to apply fertilizers to the temporary crop, counting upon an immediate return for their outlay, they seldom feel willing to make any return to the soil in compensation for what they have already removed from it, and rather wait until the necessity for such enrichment becomes painfully apparent in the diminished productiveness of their fields.
Hoed crops, such as those above mentioned, should alone be allowed to occupy the space between the young trees, and on no account should any white straw crops, or grasses be introduced, at least for several years, nor until the orchard shall have become well established. In many species of fruits, it is undoubtedly better to keep up the surface cultivation continuously, at least wherever the characters of the site and soil will permit it; but there are many situations where the abruptness of the declivities appropriated to fruit-growing, and often admirably adapted to such purpose, absolutely forbid continued cultivation. In such places it will be necessary soon to withdraw the plow, and to depend upon loosening the soil about the trees with the spade or fork, and upon the mellowing and meliorating effects of mulching. The expense of all the operations that are performed by human labor renders them inapplicable, except in small orchards and gardens; and in all large plantations we must depend upon the common earth-workers that are drawn by horses. Among these, a preference should be given to such as stir and pulverize the soil near the surface only; shallow culture of the upper layers of earth effects the objects in view better than that which is deeper. The intruding weeds are subdued and a mellow condition of the earth is the result, while the roots are not torn and bruised, but are encouraged to turn their feeding fibres into the stratum of mellow soil above them. When the trees have become well established, or when the nature of the soil and the broken character of the surface of the orchard require it, we may seed down the ground with clover, which is preferred to any of the grasses: the broad foliage will shade the ground, and may remain on the surface as a mulch, or be moderately pastured by suitable stock.
Mulching the young orchard has some advantages over cultivation, but except in the proximity of the salt-marshes of the East, or near the great straw piles on the vast grain fields of the Western prairies, it is almost impossible to procure mulching materials for extensive orchards; so that, unless we consider the clover and other legumes as a living mulch, or grow such crops upon the land itself, to be used in this way, we shall be thrown back upon culture of the surface, which, in the mellow soil thus produced, furnishes a most admirable mulching, that fills all the indications, at least in the season when it is most needed. This is a matter of the greatest importance, especially during the first year after planting, when our trees so imperatively demand the protection of a mulch; and it is found that when the usual applications of straw or similar material cannot be obtained, or are unsuitable for the situation, especial attention to the condition of the upper layer of earth about the trees is of the greatest importance; this should be kept thoroughly loosened and finely disintegrated for the admission of air and moisture.
Mulching, even of an old and apparently exhausted orchard, has been found to exercise a most happy effect upon its health and productiveness. Such a one growing upon a tenacious clay, which had ceased to yield any crops for years, was restored to abundant fruitfulness by covering the ground with a couple of inches of spent bark from an adjoining tannery, and similar effects have been produced by the application of straw, and of the bagasse from sorghum, where those materials could be procured; but these were necessarily limited to a small number of trees, and they can never be adopted in the treatment of large orchards. Fortunately, for us, however, in some kinds the trees themselves provide us shade for the ground, when they are properly trained and closely planted, which will prevent the intrusion of weeds and grasses, and the falling leaves and spray will also yield a mulching of no mean value. Indeed, the trimmings from the orchard, as well as the decaying foliage that annually falls to the ground, belong to the soil, and might be left upon it with great advantage to keep up its fertility by their decay, and even to increase it, as they do in the natural forest, were it not for the slovenly appearance they produce.
Dr. Ward, of New Jersey, has practiced mulching rather extensively, and with excellent results. He uses salt hay from the marshes; after plowing the ground in the spring, he applies the mulching in a heavy layer, which keeps down the weeds, preserves the moisture of the soil, and exerts a very happy influence upon the trees.
From what has preceded, the reader may infer that the orchard is not to be used for a pasture field, and yet this is a very common appropriation of the inclosure that contains our fruit trees—at least after they have attained sufficient size to be considered out of the way of serious injury. Let it not be supposed that the indiscriminate pasturing of an orchard is advocated; on the contrary, it is wholly deprecated, except as will be indicated below. All stock will trample and harden the soil. Low-headed trees will be sadly injured by live stock of all kinds. Horses and mules will often ruin the trees by destroying the bark, and trimming off the twigs, as high as they can reach. Horned cattle will browse the spray, and where within reach they will also break and twist branches of considerable size. Though much smaller, goats are entirely inadmissable, since they not only trim off all the foliage within their reach, but they will also greedily devour the bark from the trees, and thus commit sad havoc among them. Sheep, on the contrary, may often be introduced into an orchard with advantage, as they will eat off a great many weeds, and thus clear the land of such intruders; but they will also spoil low-headed young trees by eating all the leaves within their reach, and they should never be allowed access to the orchard in winter, at least not while there are any trees remaining with smooth bark, as they will often attack such and strip off all that they can get at: sheep are often very desirable in cider orchards when used to crop off the herbage closely, just before the ripening and fall of the fruit.
The only domestic animals which should ever be allowed free range in the orchard, are swine, and the different sorts of poultry. All of these will prove really useful in the destruction of vast numbers of the insects that are particularly injurious to our cultivated fruits, and which are often enormously multiplied in our old orchards. Swine, it is true, will sometimes learn to climb small trees that have very low branches, which they break off in their attempts to help themselves to the fruit—this has been observed particularly in peach and cherry orchards. These animals are of use too as earth-workers, when they have not been mutilated, for with their peculiarly formed snouts they will turn over a large extent of the surface, while in pursuit of the larvæ and pupæ of many of the destructive insects, that in such stages of their existence occupy the soil beneath our fruit trees; in this manner, swine are valuable adjuvants to the practical entomologist. The hog is a most useful scavenger, and also a great economist in the orchard, for, being omnivorous, after feeding upon the luxuriant herbage of the red clover, he takes his dessert from the fallen fruit, which, being defective, would otherwise be wasted: but we must remember that most of these wind-falls are occupied by the larvæ of insects which are thus put out of the way of doing further harm, while contributing variety to the porcine diet. The additions of manure to the soil, which are distributed over the orchard by these animals, are also found to be of service. Trees, which are frequented by swine, are generally healthy, and the bitter-rot is reported to have disappeared from orchards that were badly affected with that malady before the swine were admitted.
The advantages resulting from keeping both swine and poultry, but particularly the latter, confined among plum trees, is a matter of general notoriety; nor need we inquire whether this depends upon the far-reaching instinct of the insect, which warns her against depositing her eggs where the progeny must surely be destroyed, or upon the actual destruction of the larvæ by these animals, to such an extent as to diminish the number of depredators the following season. We must not, however, depend upon these and other valuable aids, to the exclusion of personal efforts, if we desire to secure good crops of the delicious fruits that usually fall a prey to their attacks.
In conclusion, the orchardist cannot be too strongly impressed with the importance of cultivating his young trees in the most thorough manner; nor can he exercise too much care in avoiding injury to the stems and roots, in practising this constant culture of the soil. In collections of dwarf fruit trees, he will have less difficulty on this score, because he will be restricted to hand-labor; but the spade and fork will be found much more expensive in their use than the plow and cultivator.
Plowing Up Old Orchards.—A question frequently arises as to the best course to be pursued with an old neglected orchard, which has become covered with a dense sod of grass, and this often of an inferior character, and full of disagreeable weeds. Orchards that have been widely planted, and which have gaps from the decay of trees, especially when these have been trimmed up with high stems and long naked branches, do not cast sufficient shade upon the ground to prevent the growth of grass and weeds. These intruders occupy the surface soil to the disadvantage of the roots of the fruit trees, and we may wonderfully improve the health of such orchard by plowing the ground, and at the same time severely pruning the branches and cleansing the bark of these old trees. These good results may be continued by shallow culture of the soil, with suitable applications of manure where needed. By giving a dose of lime, or of marl, and ashes, we shall infuse a new life and growth and productiveness that will astonish and delight us, and reward us for our labors and outlay.
It may be urged as an objection to breaking up the sod, that the most careful plowman will unavoidably damage some of the roots that approach the surface, but this is an injury that must be submitted to; and after all it is not such a serious affair, and is overbalanced by the advantages of renewing the productiveness of the exhausted orchard.
CHAPTER X
PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING
PRUNING, NATURE'S—WE PRUNE, FIRST, FOR SHAPE AND COMELINESS; SECOND, FOR FRUIT—PRUNING YOUNG TREES IN THE NURSERY—RULES FOR—SEASON FOR—PRUNING FOR FRUIT IS TO BE DONE CHIEFLY IN SUMMER—THINNING OUT—SHORTENING-IN—ROOT PRUNING—PHILOSOPHY OF—ADVANTAGES OF—CHARACTER OF ROOTS PRODUCED BY IT—IN THE VINE—SEVERE IN WINTER TO PRODUCE WOOD AND DIMINISH BLOSSOMS—ADAPT TO VARIETIES—IN SUMMER TO DIMINISH EXCESSIVE FRUITAGE, AND TO DIRECT SAP INTO NEW CANES—TRIMMING IN GARDENESQUE, REQUIRING A CORRECT EYE AND GOOD TASTE—PRUNING SHOULD BE CONDUCTED UPON TRULY PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES, OR NOT AT ALL—QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED IN THOSE WHO PRUNE—THE OPERATION SELDOM WELL PERFORMED—PRUNING OF THE GRAPE, SHORT AND LONG—REASONS FOR AND OBJECTIONS TO EACH—SEASONS FOR PRUNING THE VINE.
Pruning is one of the most important operations that we perform upon plants,—especially woody plants. Pruning, in some sort, has to be performed at all periods of their existence and growth, and upon all plants, from the noble forest tree, or the fruit trees of the orchard, of whatever kind, to the humble bushes and brambles that yield us their abundant and most welcome fruits: the trailing vine that adorns our arbors and covers our trellises with its rich and tempting clusters of grapes, also needs to be pruned. Many herbaceous plants are also submitted to judicious pruning, and yield in consequence an increased product of fruit. Our ornamental gardeners and plant-growers practice pruning most admirably upon their house-plants, and by their successful practice, they produce the most wonderful effects, which are manifested in the vigor, thrift, symmetry, and blossoming of their specimens.
And yet, when we come to travel about the country, and to see the shrubberies, the parks, the orchards, fruit-gardens, and vineyards, as they are, we shall be struck with the great amount of ignorance or neglect manifested by what we everywhere behold! Still more shall we be surprised, when we hear nurserymen and orchardists, men who have had opportunities for extended observation, and those too, who are considered successful cultivators, advocate the idea that trees should not be pruned at all. An apology may be found for them in the many instances of bad pruning that may frequently be met with. They may say that no pruning is better than such mutilation, and with some varieties of fruit, they may have a show of reason on their side, as there are many sorts that will very naturally produce an open head, every where provided with abundant fruit-spurs, which are the great desiderata of the fruit-grower.
We prune our plants for the most opposite purposes; we prune to make them assume some desired form, we prune to produce symmetry, and we prune to torture them as much as possible from their natural habit. Again, we prune to make them grow vigorously, and we perform other pruning operations, in order to dwarf and stunt our specimens, and to make them as diminutive as possible. The experienced orchardist will tell you to prune a barren but thrifty tree, in order to make it productive of fruit; and he will also tell you to prune one that has expended all its energies in fruit-bearing, and appears likely to exhaust itself to its own destruction. Upon very high authority, supported by universal and annual practice, the vine dresser will tell you to prune your vine in order to make it fruitful; the same authority will advise you to prune in such a manner as to prevent an over-production—and he will insist that you shall prune again during the season of growth, to promote the same objects.
Thus it appears that the ends to be attained by this important operation are exceedingly diverse, and apparently contradictory: nor is it any wonder that the novice should feel bewildered in the midst of directions so opposite, nor even that those who have grown gray in the orchard, should have arrived at the strange conclusions just mentioned, not to prune at all. And yet, notwithstanding these apparent contradictions, there is a reason for each of these various modes, as well as for the different seasons that have been recommended for performing the several operations of pruning.
It may be said that in natural trees, whether standing alone in the midst of a prairie, thinly grouped in the "opening," or crowded together in the dense forest, we may behold the most perfect models of beauty and fruitfulness; yet these have never been subjected to the action of the knife, the saw, nor the hatchet. True, and yet they have all been pruned by nature. She prunes and trains magnificently, and gives us the finest models for imitation, whether for park scenery, as in the lone tree of the prairie, or in the scattered groups of the island groves that are so often seen in the broad savannas of the West, or in forests of noble shafts, gazed at with admiration, then felled by the ruthless ax, and converted to man's economic uses. She also shows us the pattern in the dense pineries, and other timber tracts of our country. All these have been pruned into their present condition by the hand of nature. In the single specimen, free access of air and light have enabled it to assume its full proportions, developing itself on every side, and giving us the grand and beautiful object we behold. The winds have tossed the branches and some have been broken, the lower ones have quietly and gradually yielded to the smothering influence of those above them, which, in turn, have swept downward toward the ground. In the groves, the scattering trees have for a while enjoyed the same opportunities for development; but at length their branches have met together, and interlocked in friendly embrace. Those that were nearest the ground had already begun to suffer from the denser canopy above them but the great sturdy boughs that had shot upward so as to form a part of the crown, were able to retain their vantage ground, and continue as important members of the trees. In these illustrations, we have seen more of nature's training than of her pruning; but it must be remembered that training is one of the objects, and indeed, a leading element of pruning, and is very properly a matter for our consideration.
In the dense primeval forest we see nature's pruning exhibited upon a grand and perfect scale; tall, straight, and noble trunks rise majestically on every hand; not a twig nor limb breaks the symmetry of the gradually tapering shafts, that are clothed in bark which does not indicate that they had ever been furnished with branches; and yet they have borne branches from their base to their summit, and nature has so neatly removed them that we cannot detect the marks of her pruning-saw. How this has been effected, may be seen in any dense thicket of young forest growth. It is simply a smothering of the lower branches by those next above them, which has destroyed their vitality, and their decay has soon followed; while a new growth of branches at a higher point, in turn, performs the same office of destruction upon those next below them. As there is no outlet for the wood-growth but in an upward direction, upwards they must needs go, and as there is no light nor air for lateral branches under such a canopy of shade, death and decay ensue, and down they perforce must come.
If it be asked why we prune at all, it may be answered in general terms that in the orchard, our objects in performing this operation, are two-fold.
1st—We prune for shape and comeliness, and for the removal of dead and dying branches, in aid of nature, but working in sympathy with her.
2d—We prune for the sake of inducing fruitfulness.
Let us consider some of the principles that are to guide us in these operations.
The first object, that of producing the desired shape of the future tree, is chiefly done upon the young subject, even in the nursery-row. The judicious pruner, being well aware of the upward tendency of young growth, and that this is increased by the crowded condition of the trees in the nursery square, seeks to overcome the evil by proper pruning. If the growth be altogether upward, with no side branches the first season, the stem will be slender, often so much so as to bend over with its own weight. The wise nurseryman carefully avoids disturbing the leaves or lateral branches, well knowing their importance in forming the woody trunk. At the proper season he trims his trees down, instead of trimming them up—this he does by heading them back to the hight at which he desires them to form their branches—at the same time, he shortens in the laterals; his object in both instances being to check the upward tendency of growth by removing the strong terminal buds, which would naturally have formed the new shoots the coming season. The result of this treatment is to call into action several buds at the upper part of the stock. These are to form the arms of the tree, and hence a very important part of the pruning and training of the plant is thus performed at once by this simple operation of heading-back the young nursery tree. But further attention is needed, as these arms develop themselves during the next season of growth; they should not be too numerous, nor too much crowded together; they should not be too nearly matched in strength, and one should be kept as a leader, stronger than the rest. Never allow two shoots to remain contending for the mastery; one of them should be subordinated by cutting, breaking, or twisting, as soon as it is observed; for how beautifully developed, a tree grown in this way, may appear when well balanced, there is always danger of its splitting down when heavily laden with fruit. This very common error of our orchards used to be quaintly illustrated by a dear old friend on the prairies of Illinois, who cited the advice of a Scotch jockey to whom he had applied for counsel in the purchase of a piece of horse-flesh. "Ne'er buy a horse whose twa fore-legs cum oot frae ae hole," said he, and Mr. W. Stewart applied the same principle to his young fruit trees, by never allowing them to have two equal leaders, branching from one point. It is also important to have the lateral branches regularly distributed on different sides.
The precise point or elevation point at which this heading-back should be done, will depend very much upon the object of the cultivator, and whether he desires to produce a high or a low head, a standard, half standard, or a dwarf, or conical tree—such as are often called pyramids. He will study the wants and fancies of his customers in this matter, but we of the West, have learned the importance for us, at least, of trimming our trees down, and not trimming them up, as is often done by those who anticipate plowing and planting crops under the shade of their orchards. The proper point for forming the branches to make the head, will very much depend, however, upon the habit of the variety; whether it be drooping, spreading, or upright. The former will require the branches to be started at a higher point. The proper season for performing this kind of pruning is in the early spring, or after the severe frosts of winter have passed; and with some kinds of orchard trees, it may be done at the time of transplanting them, when they need a severe pruning.
The second object of pruning being done with a view to the production of fruitfulness in the tree, is to be practised chiefly in the summer. At the same time, or during the growing season, much may be done to advantage, both in thinning-out and shortening-in such parts of the tree, as may need these plans of treatment. Various methods are pursued to produce fruitfulness, all of them depending upon the fact that this condition arises from the natural habit of a tree to make its wood-growth freely for a series of years. After it has built up a complicated structure of limbs and branches, with some consequent obstruction to the flow of sap, depending upon the hardening of the woody tissues, and the tortuous course of its circulation, it then appears to have reached its maturity, or its fruit-bearing condition. It then ceases to make such free wood-growth, and prepares a set of buds, which develop flowers and fruit.
Now this period of growth and unfruitfulness may continue for a longer or shorter time in different varieties of fruits; and the shortening of this, is the great object of summer pruning, and of other methods of producing fruitfulness that may be classed under this second head of the objects of pruning.
To appreciate their importance and the mode in which the effect is produced, we must ever bear in mind the two great acts of vegetable life, that of wood-growth or growth by extension, and the wonderful morphological change of this growth into flowers and fruit. These are, in some sense, antagonistic. The first is essential to the production of timber, to the building up of the tree, and should be encouraged to do its work undisturbed, up to a certain point, that we may have a substantial frame-work by which our fruits can be supported. The latter, however, is the ultimate desideratum with fruit-growers, and in our impatience to reap a quick reward, we often resort to measures that tend to curtail the usefulness, size, and beauty, as well as the permanence of our trees. This is an illustration of the axiom, that whatever threatens the vitality of a plant, tends to make it fruitful; it calls into activity the instinctive effort to perpetuate the species by the production of seed, that may be separated from the parent, and establish a separate and independent existence, to take the place of that, the life of which is threatened.
Summer pruning and pinching interferes with the growth by extension, and threatens the very life of the tree; the entire removal of all new shoots and their foliage, and the removal of the successive attempts by the tree at their reproduction, will cause its death in a little while. Their partial abstraction, as practiced in summer pruning and pinching, being an attack of the same kind, results in the formation of fruit-buds. The operations of budding and grafting upon an uncongenial stock, interrupting the circulation by ringing, by ligatures, by hacking, twisting, and bending downward, all tend to check the growth by extension, and are attended by similar results, since they are antagonistic to the mere production of wood. Shortening-in the branches of some species, which form their fruit-buds upon the shoots of the current year, has the effect to give them a fuller development, if performed during the summer, but if deferred until the following spring, it will have the directly opposite result, and will cause the production of woody shoots at the expense of the fruit.
The season for pruning has been made the subject of much discussion, and different periods have been very confidently advised by different authorities, from which it may safely be inferred that all are somewhat right, or may be supported by good reasons. This refers of course to pruning in its general sense, of trimming, and applies to the removal of limbs of greater or less size. We always desire to avoid the removal of large limbs, and should endeavor to provide against the necessity of such removal, by trimming our orchards sufficiently when they are young, and while the branches are small; but when such removal becomes absolutely necessary, it should be performed late in the autumn, when vegetation is at rest, because it is found that such large wounds, which cannot be soon healed over by the new growth, will at this season dry in, and resist the action of the elements better than if the section had been made when the wood was full of sap in active circulation.
