204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



for pruning an orchard. In walking through it, if I saw two 

 or three limbs that needed to be removed, the next time I 

 went out, I took the shears and saw, and took them out. 

 But still the orchard has never had a severe pruning, and 

 perhaps will never need it. 



Mr. Ordwat. One word in reference to pruning in gen- 

 eral. The gentleman on the right says, "Trim at any time, 

 and in June take off the stub." I have no doubt every 

 nursery-man will agree with me, that there is no time in the 

 year when you have got to trim with such caution as in June. 

 If you are not very careful in pruning, you are just as sure 

 to start the bark at the lower part of your stub as you live. 

 June is a good time, but July is better. I have had experi- 

 ence all my life in trimming trees, and in grafting and bud- 

 ding all kinds of fruit, and I never saw but one year when I 

 could not trim in April and the first of May. After you get 

 your trees trimmed, mix a bucket of clay and hair, just the 

 same as a man would mix mortar, and rub the mixture over 

 the place where you have cut off a limb, and you will have no 

 trouble. I did that, after 1856, to prevent the sap running 

 down and turning black and killing the bark, and I have 

 never had any trouble since. Therefore, if you trim in June, 

 you must be very careful that you do not start the bark. You 

 cannot put it back and make it stay, and there will be a dead 

 place where you leave it. 



Mr. Wetherell. I should have said, use a very sharp 

 saw. That will avoid the evil you speak of. 



Mr. Ordway. Here is the point : if your limb turns one 

 way or the other, you are sure to start the bark, which is just 

 as slippery as it can possibly be at that season of the year. 



INIr. Hills, of Plaistow, N. H. I am not a Massachusetts 

 man, but I have had a little experience in the management of 

 trees, and there are one or two points which have not been 

 covered by the suggestions which have been made, to which 

 I beg leave to allude. I am perfectly satisfied, that if trees 

 are trimmed carefully, June is the best season of the year to 

 perform the operation, and for this reason : if you trim 

 early enough, before the tree has made its growth, the wound, 

 as I have repeatedly observed in my own experience, will 

 heal over almost completely the first year. I have preferred 



