Vermont State Horticultural Society. 13 



clay, will stick — hence clay and water will stick to the roots of 

 a tree the same as to your boots. This will protect the roots 

 and keep them away from the air, and will furnish a little moisture 

 to start the tree off. If a little later in the season the leaves 

 haven't started I think it is good to give them two or three 

 quarts of water; that quantity is as good as much more, and 

 does not cause the soil to dry and crack, as much as more water' 

 would do. 



If the leaves have started in the spring, it is very import- 

 ant to strip them off, before the planting is done, because if the 

 tree is planted with the leaves on, they will draw the moisture 

 rijjht out of the root, and the root has no chance to take mois- 

 ture in ; this is very important. Trees planted in the fall re- 

 quire no pruning ; in fact they should not be pruned. 



There are several theories in regard to pruning; some 

 think it is too bad to cut them all to pieces; but it is the best 

 thing that can happen to a tree to be cut to pieces considerably 

 at that time. Take the young tree, you only see what roots there 

 are on it when it comes to you; you haven't more than one- 

 tenth of the roots that belong to the tree. The roots of a tree will 

 extend in the soil certainly as far as the tree stands in the air, 

 laterally, not right straight down. So you can see when we 

 have trees from the nursery with roots 6 to 7 inches long, how 

 much has been sacrificed in taking them up. You can see what 

 happens if you leave the top on You should cut off nine-tenths 

 of the top. Then what vigor the tree has in the root is thrown 

 entirely into the few buds left, and it will make a good growth. 



You can certainly get the best results by pruning all the trees 

 alike; and practically all the way you can prune them alike is to 

 cut the top all off, and in my experience this has given the best 

 result. Some people would say leave two or three buds on each 

 branch, but my experience has been that it is best to cut the top 

 off clean, leaving a straight cane. The cane will throw out 

 plenty of branches, and it will be a very short time before you 

 will have to rub them off, and you can then throw the growth 

 where you want it. The most beautiful orchard I have ever seen 

 consisting of some 14.000 trees was handled in just this way; 

 they looked alike; all made a beautiful growth. So much for 

 the pruning at the time of the planting. 



The pruning which follows in the succeeding years depends 

 upon the shape in which you wish to grow the tree, whether 

 open to let in the sunlight, or compact. Now, there are reasons 

 for growing trees in both ways. Permanent trees which you 

 want to grow for 40 or 50 years, should certainly spread to let 

 the sunshine in. The "vase" form of pruning is, after you cut 

 your tree back to a cane, you can then allow three or four 



