Swnmer Meeting. 135 



Mr. McNair — One man I know girdled his trees with a band ten 

 to twelve inches broad, and he had a fine crop, and the trees lived and did 

 well afterwards. 



Mr. Hblzapple — Rabbits will do this girdling work. I have had a 

 hundred trees girdled in one night. I then took straw and wet it and 

 tied it around the wound and the bark grew over the wound and left it 

 smooth. I had some Jonathan trees, eight years old, that were sick; I 

 took a knife and slit the bark on the branches and pealed it down and the 

 trees then grew all right. 



Mr. Dutcher — I would add a word of caution as to girdling. You 

 inust know the season in your own latitude. In Johnson county we should 

 :not girdle later than the first of June. One man in July girdled every' 

 •other Jonathan in his orchard to a width of four inches. The sequel is 

 that this spring he had to blow out his dead trees wth dynamite. A 

 iew lived and are well leaved out ; they did not die because they were 

 'extra vigorous in wood growth. If there is some reason other than too 

 much wood growth why trees do not bear, then it may be harmful to 

 gifdle. 



Mr. Briggs — I would not think of girdling bearing trees, as the 

 wound may become sun-struck and kill the tree. 



President Whitten — It is a good thing to be a little cautious about 

 girdling, the bark should be perfectly free and peel oflf easily. Great 

 care should be taken not to in any way bruise the wound with the knife 

 or hand. Do not bruise the growing layer after girdling. Use a very 

 sharp knife, making a clean cut, smooth and even. If you are in any 

 doubt as to time or condition, it is well to make the cut a quarter of an inch 

 wide, running spirally around the tree. Weak trees should never be 

 girdled. Some trees do not bear because they are too weak. If you girdle 

 a tree that is too weak to bear, you do more harm than good. In three 

 days from the time of cutting you can tell whether the tree is going to 

 die. 



THE DEWBERRY. 



(By H. W. Jenkins. Boonville. Mo.) 



We hardly feel competent to write an intelligent article on the sub- 

 ject of dewberries, from the fact that we have never paid much atten- 

 tion to the berry, not because we think it time wasted, or a fruit not worth 

 growing, but simply never got started in trying to make this a part of our 

 berry business. The dewberry, or low black berry, is a trailing plant in 

 its growth, which makes it more difficult, apparently, to keep clean of 



