1f>h 



THE TROPICAL AGRIGULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883.. 



boles of trees shoiilil be pruned off before they are affected 

 with rot at. the liase, iu order that the woimds shall 

 heal before decay takes place. Great care should always 

 bp taken against over-pruning, as thereby trees are re- 

 tarded in their development, and rendered very unsightly. 

 Trees at the last and final co'urse of prumiig ought to 

 be left with their heails varying from one-halt to one- 

 thhd of the height of the tree. Oak coppice has become 

 so utte;-ly worthless that pruning may in the meantime 

 be discardeil. 



Ml'. J., McLaren, Hopetoun, said he was very much 

 in favour of judicious pruning. He was sorry to see so 

 Uttle of it carried on in the. couutry. As to the liranches 

 taken off kiUing the roots, he chd not believe in that 

 at all. If our trees were well pruned and well balanced . 

 there would not be so many blown down in oui' poUcies 

 and plantation^. (Hear, hear, and applause.) 



Mr. McGa-egor, Ladywell, corroborateil all that had been 

 said regarding the benefit of judicious pmning. He ad- 

 vised young foiesters to read Lindley's " Theory of Practical 



. Hor.ticulture " on this subject. With regard to the question 

 of the pnuiing of branches causing the death of roots, 

 he w.ould like to a.sk the converse question, " If the roots 

 are cut would the branches die?" Now if he had to 



. prepaj'e^ oak trees for transplanting, his first operation 

 ^vas .to . cut all the roots, and yet he did not di.scover 



-any of the "branches died. (Laughter.) 



V Ml-. Dunn, .said that arguing from the theorj' put forward, 

 a- cutting of the stem or branch of a tree would die ; 

 yet, on the contrary, such cuttings very soon formed 

 roots and grew vigorously. (Laughter and applause.) And 

 again, if cuttings were made of the roots of certain trees 

 they would quickly produce stems. (Hear, hear.) It was. 

 he thought, needless to discuss that point further in 



. reference to pruning. He thoroughly agreed with Mr. 



■ McGregor • that ymmg foresters ought to read Lindley's 

 ^ " Theory and Practice of Horticulture," for it bore quite as 



- much onarboricultareiason horticulture. In regard to prun- 

 ing, he maintained that the more judifinu^ly it was practised 

 the better it would be for the arlioriculture of the country. 

 There is a great; difference between judicious pruning, and 

 mutilation or the cutting off of big limbs. Many a fine and 

 beautiful tree had certainly been ruined from the injudicious 

 use of the pruning saw. They shouhl go roimd the trees 

 when they are young and tender ; for them as much 



' could' be done in one day as could be done in a week, 



- when the trees had got up a bit. His motto would be 

 " Prune when small, or not at all." 



Mr. McCorquodale quite agreed as to pruning youug, 

 if a forester got charge of a young plantation. But when 

 a forester went to a forest iu all stages of growth and 

 which had been neglecteil, he nnist nse the saw. Then 

 he should go up the large trees with a ladder and shorten 

 the straggling branches half^vay, to prevent them being 

 broken and destroyed. 



■Mr. Dunn said that when things got into such a .state, 

 it was right to apply the saw to put them straight ; 

 but then that was a state of neglected forestry, and would 



• never occur in well managed woods. 



■ -The President said he was not aware of any ea.se that 



- had' been noted, as the ingrafting of two such different 

 plants as a pine and an ash, as mentioned by Mr. JlcCor- 

 quodale. The case was a very ■ interesting one. As to 



- pruning; — everything turneil on whether it was done juiliei- 

 ously. Evei-y green leaf that was taken off diminished 

 the supply of oiganie matter to the tree. The main 



- question was the proper balancing of a tree, and of its 

 being pruned so as to form a stem .suitable for timber 

 ptirposes. Probably if the only use of trees was to pro- 

 duce fire-wood, the best way would be to allow them 

 to grow without pi'iuiing or training. But for timber 



" pm'poses pruning was best. 



■Mr. Gordon, Loss, said he knew of in.stances of the 



■ growth of wood on larch, and ,Scots pine roots or stools, 



• -which were, of course, without leaves, and which were 

 near no other trees. - - 



■ -The President said there must have been a sufficient 

 store of organic matter iu the roots to provide for a 

 certain amount of growth of -wood and bark for a short 

 time, but that time would be limited where there were 

 no leaves and where there was no natmal root grafting. 



- — Journal of Forestry^ 



DIFFERENT MANURES IN POTATO CULTURE 



An article in T}ie Field last year, relating the results of an 

 important series of experiments on the use of various manures 

 in the cultivation of potatoes, conducted in 1881 at the 

 Bluuster Agi-icultm-al and Dairy School, near Cork, attracted 

 a good deal of mterest thi-pughout England. During the past 

 year a similar series of experiments were conducted at the, . 

 Albert Model Farm, Glasuevin, near publin, and the results 

 obtained ought to be made widely known. The experiments 

 were carried out under the supermtendence of Dr. 0. A. 

 Cameron, Dubhn,'weU known as ah able and experienced agri- 

 cultural chemist. . : , _• , ; ■ 



The maniu-es tested were kaiuit, nitrate, of sodium, sulphate 

 of ammonia, and mineral siqjerphosphate, .and they were tried 

 singlj- and in various comljinations. The results obtained will 

 be most clearly shown by the foUowuig table, in which the 

 plots are arranged in order of the highest marketable yield : 



This table is calculated to teach unportant lessons. The 

 most striking feature in the Irfsh potato experiments in 

 18S1 was the remarkable results brought out by the use 

 of kainit. This year again kainit stands j)re-eminent. It 

 produced by itseli the highest gi'oss yield, and that, too, 

 at by far the lowest cost. Kainit, applied at a cost of 

 only 14s. Sd. per acre, gave a yield higher in gross weight, 

 and only -IJ civt. less in marketable tubers, than a mixt- 

 ure of nitrate of soda and superphosphate, costing ,£1. 

 13s' (id. per acre. The marketable potatoes from kamit 

 thus cost ba.rely 4d. per cwt. for manure, while those 

 from nitrate of soda and superpliOK]ihatc cast nearly Is. 

 per cwt. — an advantage to the kauiit of more than l.'is 

 per ton. Kainit in use with other ninnm-es also did w^U, 

 generally adding to the yield. It -will be seen that a 

 mixture of kainit and superphosphate, costm^ £1. "s. per 

 acre, gave a much higher j-ield than a dressmg of super- 

 phosphate alone, costing £1 I'is. per acre. , 



The table indicates that superphosphate as a single 

 manure ranis next to kainit, and there is no doubt that, 

 judiciously applied, it forms- a very useful manure foj 



