TREATMENT OF FRUIT TREES.

Temuka Leader, Volume I, Issue 71, 21 August 1878, Page 3

TREATMENT OF FRUIT TREES.

A gentleman, who has had considerable experience in fruit-raising, gives the following account of a curious method of forcing barren trees to become productive : —Some fifteen years ago I had a small apple tree that leaned considerably. I drove a stake by it, tied a stake to a limb, and fastened it to the stake. The next year that limb blossomed full and not another blossom appeared on the tree, and, as Tim Bunker said, ‘ that sot me a-thinking,’ and I came to the conclusion that the string was so tight that it prevented the sap returning to the roots ; consequently it formed fruit buds. Having a couple of pear trees th it were large enough to bear but never blossomed, I took a coarse twine and wound it several times round the trees above the lower limbs and tied it as tight as possible. The next spring all the top above the cord blossomed as white as a sheet, and there was not one blossom below where the cord was tied. A neighbour, seeing my trees loaded with pears, used this method with the same result. I have since tried the experiment on several trees, almost with the same result. I think it is a much better way than cutting off the roots. In eaply summer, say June or July—-wind a strong cord several iimes round the tree, or a single limb, and tie it, the tighter the better, and you will be pleased with the result; the next winter or spring the cord may he taken off.”