Miscellaneous. 365 



once a year. When done thus regularly, but few large limbs will 

 ever be removed. The plan of allowing young trees to go for years 

 without pruning and of then allowing some irresponsible profes- 

 sional pruner to go in and cut and slash, thus removing, it may be 

 one-third of the top, is simply barbarous. It is wholly unnesces- 

 sary. Neglect of pruning and then over-pruning are among the 

 great sins of the orchardist. Ordinarily, all trees do not need 

 much more pruning than that which consists of removing dead 

 wood. 



In the northwestern states, the proper pruning of trees differs 

 materially from methods that are considered orthodox in the east. 

 It is absolutely necessary to head the trees low. This is necessary 

 to lessen the liability of the wind to break off the trunk and to blow 

 off the fruit. It also lessens the liability to injury from sun scald, 

 since the short trunk is more easily protected than the long one. 



Severe pruning is also relatively more injurious in the north- 

 west. The danger would seem to be greater in injury to the tree 

 where wounds are made. In fact, pruning apple trees in the north- 

 west after they have been nicely started, consists more in thinning 

 and removing dead wood than in pruning, as the term is under- 

 stood in the east. This would seem to hold true of all kinds of fruit 

 trees in the northwest. — Orange Judd Farmer. 



AFTER THE STRAWBERRIES ARE PICKED. 



A young strawberry plantation that has just borne its first 

 crop, needs careful attention after the fruit is gathered. The 

 ground has been tramped hard between the rows in the gathering 

 of the crop, and the growth of runners will now begin to be trouble- 

 some. The production of the fruit has been something of an ex- 

 haustive process on the plants, and the success of the crop another 

 year depends very largely on the way the plants are treated the re- 

 mainder of this season, says Practical Farmer. Fully one-half of 

 the fertilization made during the whole year should be made after 

 the crop has been gathered. 



We have therefore practiced the following plan : If but a gar- 

 den plat, the soil between the rows should be well dug with a dig- 

 ging fork, but in the larger field plantations we run a small plow 

 close alongside the rows, throwing the furrow from the row. The 

 fertilizer is then applied on both sides of the row, and the furrow 



