SUMMER MEETING AT CHILLICOTHE. 21 



Mr. Gilbert thinks it would be a good plan to have plates of ideal 

 trees of various varieties as guides in pruning. 



Mr. Lowe — An orchard planted on rich lands needs more pruning 

 than on light soils. Wants the bodies three feet high, and thinks dif- 

 ferent varieties need different pruning. Never buy a tree with a fork. 

 Prune in February and March. 



Mr. Menifee would like to have all kinds of trees and conditions, 

 and have a number of expert pruuers give an example of their work 

 in order to get practical suggestions from actual operations, and discus- 

 sion of the same. 



Mr. Ralph Smith : Willow Twig must be pruned closely while 

 young. Take off with a pen-knife and finger-nail. Watch the trees 

 two or three times each geason, and take oft' all branches not needed. 

 Keep out the ])rofe8sional tree pruner. Winesap is hard to manage, 

 and it is best to have a few water-sprouts left on the trees (for what 

 reason he does not say). 



Levi Chubbuck tells of an example of pruning given before one 

 of the Farmers' Institutes by the Secretary, Mr. Goodman, where a 

 large peach tree about ten feet high was given him to prune. He 

 thinks the eye better than the ear for this purpose. He indorses the 

 plan of illustrating pruning with actual practice in the orchard. 



Mr. J. W. Green : No one will deny that a tree should have a 

 center stem. We should never have forks, and branches should be 

 thinned out. His trees are so pruned. Thinks we should give rules 

 not to prune instead of trying to teach how to prune. 



Mr. Evans thinks not to prune at all better than too much prun- 

 ing. 



Mr. Finn has tried the no-pruning process and finds the apples 

 Jieep much longer if grown on unpruned trees, and he thinks they keep 

 longer because thej; are not properly matured. 



Prof. Duffey condemns the idea of trying to make all trees like a 

 sample or an ideal. Cut off the branches when you have to do so, and 

 no sooner. 



Mr. Murray agrees that no man can make his trees conform to an 

 ideal. It is sheer folly. His orchard is pruned but little ; pruned 

 about one-sixth of the trees, and his trees not pruned gave four bush- 

 els to one on those pruned. Apples will color well on trees not pruned, 

 and there will be more of them too. Prune judiciously, and if you have 

 a doubt about a branch, let it alone. 



Mr. Menifee — I am still in doubt about the best plan. Heads the 

 trees three and a half to four feet. 



