PRUNING APPLE-TREES. 203 



than any man I know of in Eastern ISfassachusetts. Capt. 

 Pierce says, "My time for pruning is the lirst two weelis in 

 June, in ordinary seasons ; it may vary a little from that. 

 But," he says (and this is rather a compromise between the 

 views expressed l)y Mr. Ordway and Mr. Gold), "farmers 

 find it hard to iret their wood over the ijround in June, and 

 so I have my orchard pruned in this w^ay : I cut off a limb 

 any time I have leisure after harvest, a foot or more from the 

 tree, and let it remain on the ground until I am ready to 

 remove it. Then, in June, I take a fine-cut saw and go 

 through my orchard and cut off all the stumps close to the 

 tree." The final pruning is thus done in June, at the time 

 he considers most desirable, and the wound, he says, heals 

 over smooth and sound, leaving none of that canker to which 

 my friend has referred as likely to follow from cutting off a 

 limb in winter. That is the statement of Capt. Pierce, who, 

 from the success which he has had in the cultivation of the 

 apple, has been called the "King of Orchardists " ; and I 

 think his success in regard to pruning has done more than 

 anything else to confirm me in the opinion that June is the 

 best time for pruning the apple-tree. 



Mr. Slade. I perhaps ought to state what I know to be a 

 very cheap and efficient remedy for the curculio. I got it 

 from old Mr. Buckminster, and it has proved successful every 

 time I have tried it. Take a tin pan that will hold three 

 quarts, put two or three quarts of leather chips in it, set fire 

 to them, and let the smoke go up through the tree. It Avill 

 prove an efficient remedy for the curculio. I give that as my 

 experience. 



Mr. Flint. How long is it necessary to have the smoke 

 go up? 



Mr. Slade. I let the chips burn out. They will burn an 

 hour or two. One application is sufficient. I never tried 

 anything but that. It did very well when I tried it. 



I will say one word in regard to pruning. It is important 

 that trees should be pruned. It is better to prune them at 

 any time than not to prune at all. It will be a misfortune if 

 the result of this discussion should be to induce any man to 

 neglect to prune his trees. As I said in the remarks that I 

 made from the platform, I have never had any particular time 



