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Page 11
Beyond shortening in leading branches and cutting out crossing and
interfering boughs, so as to keep the head symmetrical and open to
light and air, the cherry does not need very much pruning. If with
the lapse of years it becomes necessary to take off large limbs
from any fruit-tree, the authorities recommend early June as the
best season for the operation.
It will soon be discovered--quite likely during the first summer--
that fruit-trees have enemies, that they need not only cultivation
and feeding, but also protection. The pear, apple, and quince are
liable to one mysterious disease which it is almost impossible to
guard against or cure--the fireblight. Of course there have been
innumerable preventives and cures recommended, just as we see a
dozen certain remedies for consumption advertised in any popular
journal; but the disease still remains a disheartening mystery,
and is more fatal to the pear than to its kindred fruits. I have
had thrifty young trees, just coming into bearing, suddenly turn
black in both wood and foliage, appearing in the distance as if
scorched by a blast from a furnace. In another instance a large
mature tree was attacked, losing in a summer half its boughs.
These were cut out, and the remainder of the tree appeared healthy
during the following summer, and bore a good crop of fruit. The
disease often attacks but a single branch or a small portion of a
tree. The authorities advise that everything should be cut away at
once below all evidence of infection and burned. Some of my trees
have been attacked and have recovered; others were apparently
recovering, but died a year or two later. One could theorize to
the end of a volume about the trouble. I frankly confess that I
know neither the cause nor the remedy. It seems to me that our
best resource is to comply with the general conditions of good and
healthy growth. The usual experience is that trees which are
fertilized with wood-ashes and a moderate amount of lime and salt,
rather than with stimulating manures, escape the disease. If the
ground is poor, however, and the growth feeble, barnyard manure or
its equivalent is needed as a mulch. The apple-blight is another
kindred and equally obscure disease. No better remedy is known
than to cut out the infected part at once.
In coping with insects we can act more intelligently, and
therefore successfully. We can study the characters of our
enemies, and learn their vulnerable points. The black and green
aphides, or plant-lice, are often very troublesome. They appear in
immense numbers on the young and tender shoots of trees, and by
sucking their juices check or enfeeble the growth. They are the
milch-cows of ants, which are usually found very busy among them.
Nature apparently has made ample provision for this pest, for it
has been estimated that "one individual in five generations might
be the progenitor of six thousand millions." They are easily
destroyed, however. Mr. Barry, of the firm of Ellwanger & Barry,
in his excellent work "The Fruit Garden," writes as follows: "Our
plan is to prepare a barrel of tobacco juice by steeping stems for
several days, until the juice is of a dark brown color; we then
mix this with soap-suds. A pail is filled, and the ends of the
shoots, where the insects are assembled, are bent down and dipped
in the liquid. One dip is enough. Such parts as cannot be dipped
are sprinkled liberally with a garden-syringe, and the application
repeated from time to time, as long as any of the aphides remain.
The liquid may be so strong as to injure the foliage; therefore it
is well to test it on one or two subjects before using it
extensively. Apply it in the evening."
The scaly aphis or bark-louse attacks weak, feeble-growing trees,
and can usually be removed by scrubbing the bark with the
preparation given above.
In our region and in many localities the apple-tree borer is a
very formidable pest, often destroying a young tree before its
presence is known. I once found a young tree in a distant part of
my place that I could push over with my finger. In June a brown
and white striped beetle deposits its eggs in the bark of the
apple-tree near the ground. The larvae when hatched bore their way
into the wood, and will soon destroy a small tree. They cannot do
their mischief, however, without giving evidence of their
presence. Sawdust exudes from the holes by which they entered, and
there should be sufficient watchfulness to discover them before
they have done much harm. I prefer to cut them out with a sharp,
pointed knife, and make sure that they are dead; but a wire thrust
into the hole will usually pierce and kill them. Wood-ashes
mounded up against the base of the tree are said to be a
preventive. In the fall they can be spread, and they at least make
one of the best of fertilizers.
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