THE ANNUAL MEETING. 239 



siished thereby is far preferable to the wholesale slaughter usually wrought by 

 them ill such hands, ruining trees at the rate of a dozen a minute. I once bought 

 a lot of Bartlctt trees that the nurseryman liad trimmed up according to his 

 rules and notion. I did not consider them worth half as much as if his knife 

 had never touched them, and told him so; but being the best lie could do on 

 Bartletts it was ''Hobson^s choice" — I must have the pear and I took them, 

 with every twig and branch gone. I could have wept for them. But the 

 effect was even worse than my apprehensions. Wherever the knife had struck, 

 the black, deadly plague spot struck also, and spread downwards, blighting the 

 whole tree, while no others in the orchard, of about 1,000 pears, were similarly 

 alfected. 



Another instance I have in mind, is that of an orchard which was the pride 

 of that region, with each and every tree a perfect model; but the itinerant 

 grafter and pruner got hold of the owner and pursuaded him it was in dire 

 need of certain trimming that could be done by no one else ; the usual results 

 followed, — the orchard has been an eye-sore and nuisance ever since. The 

 cheek and impudence of one of these slashers in orchards is something won- 

 derful. Walking along the rows, perhaps praising the soil and culture, he 

 whips out his death dealing-pruner, — his voluble tongue the while playing as glibly 

 as his knife, — says *' there ! that's how I should trim 'em," — and quicker than 

 you can think, off goes the heads of some of your proudest model trees ; fortu- 

 nate indeed are you if in years of subsequent caretaking you can replace them, 

 for it was done equally regardless of time or season and probable results. All 

 things considered, jn'obably more harm results from pruning than from the 

 want of it, in the pear (and the cherry also). Nature has kindly provided 

 these trees with habits of growth requiring little aid from art in furnishing 

 such styles of use and beauty as leave nothing to be desired either in the utili- 

 tarian or the ornamental view. Therefore what the orchardist has to do is, 

 to stand guard over them with a two-edged sword to prevent all undue cutting 

 and marring. And if luckily he could use it to strike of! the head of an 

 occasional *^ tree-slasher" he would earn the thanks of us all. A painful 

 sight to me was that I recently witnessed in visiting an orchard containing 

 3,500 pear trees, which had, by instruction of the nurseryman who sold tlie 

 owner the trees, their entire tops cut off when planted ; leaving not a twig, 

 shoot or leader. The idea of pruning everything alike, — peach, pear, plum, 

 cherry, apple, quince, etc., down to a bare stump, is very erroneous; yet this 

 practice is quite common. 



Now to begin with the pear orchard at planting I would recommend but 

 slight heading back, if an}^ providing the trees have been well grown and 

 are of the proper strong and stocky habit, — for what we want to produce the 

 first year is foliage as liberally as possible in order to force the corresponding 

 profusion of rootlets and new system of fibrous roots in the shortest possible 

 time. 



I am aware of all this being in conflict with old fogy instructors. But lot 

 us compare the two widely contrasting methods, as applicable to pear trees. It 

 is evident that by no possible means can as great an amount of foliage and 

 rootlets be obtained so quickly and set to their reciprocal tasks for pushing 

 forward the newly-set pear tree, if deprived of its entire head and all or nearly 

 all its leaf buds as it could if the leaf buds were remaining plentifully to in- 

 cite and invite the circulation of sap and encourage the new roots. I am not 

 merely speaking theoretically, but have demonstrated it practically and plainly 

 to the sight and comprehension of any who choose to look. 



