184 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There are advantages and disadvantages attending all seasons of 

 pruning, but our own experience has led us to believe that, prac- 

 tically, aforlnight before midsummer is the best season, on the whole, 

 for pruning in the Northern and Middle States. Wounds made at 

 this season heal over freely and rapidly ; it is the most favorable 

 time to judge of the shape and balance of the head, and to see at a 

 glance which branches require removal; and all the stock of 

 organizablc matter in the tree is directed to the branches that 

 remain." 



THE APPLE. 



There is little need of extended observations concerning the 

 value and uses of this fruit. As Downing justly remarks, "The 

 apple is the world-renowned fruit of temperate climates." No 

 other fruit is of so universal use or so generally esteemed, and by 

 means of the different varieties it may be enjoyed in perfection 

 throughout the whole year. 



Besides its value as a wholesome and grateful dessert fruit, it is 

 still more so for the kitchen. This is very generally acknowledged, 

 and yet, strange to say, and very strange it is too, that although 

 there is quite as much preference in varieties for the fatter use as 

 for the former, many persons deem any wilding or natural fruit 

 good enough for cooking. On no point is reform more needed 

 than this. For pies, tarts, sauce, puddings, preserve or jelly ', or 

 for drying, or for cider, good fruit is as greatly to be prefered as 

 for the dessert; and choice varieties are just as easily grown as 

 worthless ones. 



Another use for which sweet apples may be extensively grown 

 is for feeding to cattle and swine. We have known whole orchards 

 set out for this purpose. It is true the hogs get few of the apples, 

 for none of the orchards were so extensive as to yield much more 

 than found a still more profitable market. J. J. Thomas, author of 

 American Fruit Culturist, remarks: "Its great value and cheap- 

 ness as food for domestic animals is very imperfectly understood or 

 appreciated. Take, for example, a brief estimate. Where land 

 is worth fifty dollars per acre, forty good productive apple trees 

 may be planted on an acre and brought into bearing for fifty dol- 

 lars more, making a hundred in all. These will yield, as an aver- 

 age, four hundred bushels annually, or ten bushels per tree if the 

 best cultivation is given. The annual interest on the orchard at 

 six per cent, is six d^^Uars ; the annual cultivation will not exceed 



