384 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



PRUNING. 



COAL TAR IX PRUNING. 



I liavG pi-cacticcd for seven years applying coal tar -where large limbs Avero 

 taken olT, and I cut one that was fifteeen inches at tiic place of cutting (for I 

 always cut so close as to wound tlic enlargement that surrounds all limbs where 

 they grow out). The tar is applied immediately with a paddle and rubbed till 

 it thoroughly adheres all over the wound to the outer edge of the bark, taking 

 care not to get it on the outside of the bark for it will kill in that case. Tlie 

 second or third year another application is made, i. c, when any checks begin 

 to show. In this case a roll of growtli and new glossy bark, one and a half 

 inches in diameter is traveling towards the center, having got one third of the 

 distance, and no check or sign of decay is to be seen. I always keep a 100- 

 jDOund paint keg of coal tar on hand for dressing wounds on trees, and I have 

 seen no ill effects from its frequent use. Limbs thus cut and tarred will grow 

 over without producing any bunch or viueveuness. S. W. 



PRUNING GRAPE VINES IN SUMMER. 



Grape vines are managed in summer in different ways by different men; and 

 when one has read tlie various methods of summer pruning, published in the 

 agricultural papers, he fmds the opinions of grape growers so various that he is 

 merely befogged by them, if lie is a novice in the business. Even tbc books 

 published on grape culture are of little value, as they were written from fifteen 

 to twenty years ago, and when our ideas on grape-growing were very crude. I 

 will state a few points that twenty-live years' e.xperience have j^roved to me to 

 be correct, as follows : 



1. Thrifty vines, as the Concord, Hartford Prolific, and other vines of very 

 free growth, should have trellises, ten or twelve feet high, in order to obtain 

 the greatest amount of fruit, after the vines have fruited four or live years; 

 and the summer pruning should consist in cutting away feeble shoots wherever 

 found, thus throwing the vitality of the vines into tlie stronger canes, which 

 Avill produce the fruit buds of the next reason. 



2. Pinching back bearing canes to within a leaf or two of the nearest bunches 

 is of no benefit to tlie fruit, as the leaves of the canes are the lungs of the 

 vines; and I claim if the vines be shortened in at all, it should be done very 

 moderately, merely stopping the further growth of canes by pinching tliem olf 

 near their ends. 



3. In no case should the most thrifty canes be shortened during the summer, 

 as they will be the canes which bear the next year's fruit. 



4. As the fruit Ijcgins to turn in color, do not remove any leaves to expose 

 the grapes to the sun, as they ripen no sooner by so doing, and the effect of 

 the sun is injurious rather than beneficial, while the removal of the leaves ac- 

 tually retards the ripening of the grapes, by checking the flow of Bap through 



