I ran across this last month when I was pruning my fruit trees. I don't think anyone does it this way anymore! Branches should be able to hold a crop without braces.
This is a W.D. Rogers image. Notes indicate it was the George Castner ranch, owned by the Home Orchard Company of Hood River.
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Interesting that the ground is bare but a machine could not get under there.
Chemicals? Surprising that they had not discovered that trimming the tree
increased production.
Is that a wagon wheel in the background?
nels on 2nd March 2022 @ 9:44am
People still use props. If you look close when driving by orchards they're stacked against the tree most of the year except for the last bit before harvest.
Peter on 2nd March 2022 @ 2:21pm
The Castner Farm was evidently on Belmont. Some history of George Castner.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24171587/george-reimer-castner
He was from New York. I wonder how Hood River trees compared to New York apple trees.
L.E. on 2nd March 2022 @ 8:01pm