42 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. White— One and one-half or two inches deeper than it stood in 

 the nursery row. 



Question — Shall we leave the leader or cut it out? 



Mr. White — If you leave a leader, sooner or later the center of the 

 tree becomes thick, the leaves and limbs are shaded and become un- 

 healthy, die and drop off. Then the center limbs of the tree resembles 

 a broom upside down, long poles with a bunch of limbs on the top. 

 There is no way to get the fruit but to climb after it. 



A Member — Is not the growth liable to go into that one heavy 

 limb? 



Mr. White— Sometimes it might, and that is one reason why we should 

 cut all the scaffold limbs back the same length as nearly as can be. 



Question — Is there any danger of sun-scald with so much trunk? 



Mr. White — No. I think not. (Illustration of two peach trees one 

 year old.) 



Question : Will not the original limbs on a tree make more solid 

 crotches than the second growths? 



Answer — It will make a better top if these limbs (illustrating) are 

 cut away. Some trees will break down more from crotches because of 

 weakness. The limbs should be so trimmed that the heaviest side 

 will be toward the south or from which ever way the prevailing winds 

 come, that is so that the heaviest part is toward the way from which 

 the winds come. 



Question — What would you prefer to use, the pruning shears or the 

 pruning knife? 



Answer — I would prefer pruning shears, rather than pruning knife, 

 unless you have gained some experience, for this reason, when I cut 

 off a limb like this (illustrating) if I not very careful, I am liable to 

 wound the tree higher up in this manner (illustrating). 



Question — If a tree is planted two years, is it advisable to prune the 

 tree during the summer time where there is heavy growing. 



Answer — Sometimes ves, sometimes not. 



In passing I want to say a few words about "rootgall." In the case 

 of apples and pears there is really no need of being so much alarmed 

 as some have been. The New York, Geneva Station has found out by 

 thorough experimentation over a period of nine or ten years that there 

 is no special difference between trees that when planted have the gall 

 and those that did not have it. (In that time no material harmful 

 effects were evident.) However, in the case of peaches the gall will have 

 a bad effect within a year or two. I saw peach trees this last summer 

 that had root gall on when planted and the owner did not know it. 

 Within a year gall knots grew on those trees as large as your fist. 

 It would be well not to plant your peaches close to where you have 

 raspberries, if you have any idea that they have been troubled with 

 root gall, for it is the same disease on both. 



A Member — Do you think it is contagious? 



Mr. White — Yes, it certainly is contagious. The young tree would 

 be just as apt to have it and die the same as the other. 



In forming young growing trees I do not think there is any particu- 

 lar harm in cutting off branches in the summer that are undesirable 

 if you do not reduce the breathing surface too much. If you want to 



