322 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



been thorouglilj neglected, that has been aJlowed to 

 stand in the grass with no care whatever, the ground hav- 

 ing been cropped every year and nothing returned, the 

 trees being left entirely free to make what little growth 

 they could in their own way until each tree is nothing but 

 a mass of moss, rough bark, tangled brush and dead limbs. 

 This is no fancy sketch. There are hundreds of just such 

 orchards all over the country, and the treatment which they 

 require is what the surgeons would call heroic, both as 

 regards pruning the trees and cultivating the soil. As 

 regards time of pruning, any time would prove better than 

 no time — l:)etter prune any month in the year than let it 

 remain in its present condition. In managing such an 

 orchard I should prune either in November or in midsum- 

 mer, at the time the new wood is forming, when tlie 

 wounds will soon heal up, doing the tree but little injury. 

 Would never prune in early spring, at the time growth first 

 commences, for the reason that the cut does not heal over 

 readily, soon decays, leaving an unsightly wound, and 

 because pruning done in the season of rapid growth tends 

 to check the vitality of the tree. AYriters object to prun- 

 ing at this season of the year because of the flow of sap, 

 but my own ol)servation has led me to mistrust this idea, 

 and I am of the opinion that the flow of dark, unhealthy 

 sap that we often see, causing a black, cankerous stripe 

 wherever it touches, is due more to the condition of the tree 

 than to the time of pruning. I would, in connection with 

 the pruning, plow the soil, turning a light fmTOw, 

 apply a liberal amount of fertilizing material and then pro- 

 ceed as recommended with a newly set orchard. 



