Winter Meeting. 369 



We girdled two hundred trees two years ago, and they bore much better 

 than those not girdled ; however, there has been some little damage to 

 the trees resulting later on, from the imperfect healing of the girdle. 

 We much prefer the root pruning, as it is safer, and produces the same 

 desirable result, fruitfulness. 



PEACH. 



The natural tendency of this fruit tree is to an unequal distribu- 

 tion of the sap. The upright and leading branches attract nearly all the 

 sap supply, leaving the lateral and inside branches to die of starvation; 

 hence the great importance of cutting back, which may be done without 

 loss of crop in years when the fruit buds are killed. Cut back into two 

 or three-year-old wood in early spring before the sap gets up, and cut 

 out all dead and puny branches ; they are poison to the health of the tree 

 and flavor of the fruit. 



PRUNING AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR THINNING. 



This practice may be resorted to as a partial relief to heavy loaded 

 trees, where for any reason the better plan of thinning the young fruit 

 can't be carried into practice. 



It is. well known that when trees are heavily loaded, and the fruit 

 thick upon the branches, that both size and flavor are diminished, and 

 in many instances the fruit is not only rendered almost worthless, but 

 the trees are almost ruined by the strain of an over crop. 



Time forbids me speaking of other fruits ; suffice it to say that we 

 will find it greatly to our profit to read and learn all we can pertaining 

 to our calling. 



We should be in constant communion with nature, our first great 

 teacher, try to understand her most wonderful laws, as related to fruit 

 growing, and then whatsoever we find to do in our orchards, do it with 

 our might, remembering that in fruit growing, as in everything else, 

 man's success will ever be measured by the brains, capital and labor put 

 into the business. 



ORCHARDS— ADAPTABILITY. 



(W. T. Flournoy, Marion vlUe, Mo.) 



Upon adaptability or suitableness of many things depends the whole 

 or partial success of every scheme of orcharding. 



As the man is at the beginning of the orchard, he in the first place 



H— 24 



