44 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Question — Wbnt time would you plant trees in the fall? 



Answer — It would depend upon the man and the conditions. One ad- 

 vantage to some men is that they do not have so much work to do 

 in the fall and so will take more pains. If you get a winter like last 

 winter and the trees stand in the ground all winter without any mois- 

 ture — if it is a long dry winter and the ground freezes deeply, the tree 

 man not come out in the spring in good condition; if the soil is exceed- 

 ingly wet or exceedingly dry it would be the same. All things con- 

 sidered, it is preferable to plant in the spring, especially peaches, and 

 other tender fruits. 



Question — I wish you would touch upon the pruning of a tree the 

 first year after planting — the second season. 



Answer — It would involve taking out the excess branches — those that 

 are too low, those that grow into the center and those that are cross- 

 ing and interlacing. 



Question — Would you advise pruning heavily and so encouraging the 

 formation of two or not more than three lateral branches on each one? 



Answer — No, you leave the strongest and best positioned one so that 

 the tree would keep opening up in the direction you wanted it to — for 

 a spreading top or to go straight up. 



Question — Suppose you get a three foot growth on plum trees how 

 much would you cut back? 



Answer — I would cut it back to about one foot. 



Question — I have heard it said that % of the growth should be cut 

 off. Suppose the growth was only four inches what would you do? 



Answer — Cut back the branches in peaches and plums or perhaps 

 cherries to at least one foot or perhaps eight or ten inches, all of that 

 growth, not leaving any more than that. 



Question — But suppose it only grew four inches? 



Answer — Then just leave that — do not cut off any. 



Mr. ITall — Mr. White criticised my methods somewhat. 

 "Open confession is good for the soul." If he will confess that he does 

 not know anything about pruning the Northern Spies I will confess 

 some things. 



I have a block of Baldwins that are headed two and one-half feet 

 from the ground and they are thirty feet high and I do not know how 

 to get them down. I have an orchard of Northern Spies headed right 

 up and they will never be over twenty-four or twenty-five feet high. I 

 have an old tree that father set out sixty-seven years ago, a regular old 

 monarch, and we get all the fruit off that tree with a twenty-four foot 

 ladder. It still has more years before it than I have— for it is healthy. 



What do you want of the body of a tree? I suppose you want 

 a body to carry the fruit up. I have picked a good many bushels of 

 fruit from limbs good and strong that bended over so that the fruit 

 touched the ground. I think people do not give their trees a chance to 

 develop if they are troubled about going too high. If you give the 

 Northern Spy a chance to spread it will not go too high. A Northern 

 Spy must not be pruned as you would a Baldwin. I have a theory 

 that they have not room enough, for they were planted when land was 

 only ten shillings an acre. I saw the cut of an orchard belonging to 

 Henry Clay in the State of Ohio. It was represented to be an ideal 



