422 



ON PRUNING APPLE ORCHARDS. 



the whole surlaro annually with a heavy 

 coat of manure. For nine years past it has 

 had no other attention than to keep the suck- 

 ers from the roots of the trees. We fatten our 

 hogs every year upon the lot, which keeps 

 it well manured. It is too rich for some 

 kinds to bear well — for instance the Rliode 

 Island Greening grows less, and bears more 

 plentiful on thinner soil. 



With respect to sun and air, as improving 

 the flavor of fruit; this may be true in re- 

 gard to peaches, grapes, and some others ; 

 but in reference to apples, generally, we be- 

 lieve it to be an unsound maxim. We be- 

 lieve that all apples whose defect is too 

 much aciditj^ — and this class is a very con- 

 siderable one— will be found best which 

 grow in the shade. Take the Jeneting of 

 this vicinity, for instance, or the Rhode Isl- 

 and Greening alone, and you will find on 

 examination, that such as grow on the 

 tops of the trees, where they have both air 

 and sun, will be coarse and sour, while such 

 as grow^ on the under limbs, and are pro- 

 tected by the leaves from the sun, have a 

 fine texture and pleasant flavor. We have 

 examined this subject until we are satisfied 

 of the truth of this position, and all we ask, 

 is, that no man condemn the doctrine until 

 he tests it for himself. 



As it regards trimming trees, we are now 

 satisfied that it cannot be done to any con- 

 siderable extent, at any age, without es- 

 sential injurJ^ We have made a number 

 of experiments to illustrate this subject, one 

 of which we shall here give. We planted 

 two natural pear stocks, and the next year 

 grafted them with Burlingame pear. The 

 first season one grew three feet five inches, 

 and the other two feet five inches. The first 

 threw up a single shoot ; the second a fork 

 with two equal branches, which, if they had 

 been tested w^th the scales, would have 



weighed about the same as the single shoot 

 of the other. In the spring of the second 

 year we cut ofl'one of these forks, which, it 

 will be recollected, was about one half the 

 previous year's growth. According to the 

 doctrine in the article before us, " the 

 sap flowing into fewer branches, would give 

 them a larger growth." But the experi- 

 ment shows a difl^erent result. The one 

 which had half its top amputated, grew the 

 second year, just one foot, while the other 

 tree, which remained without trimming, 

 grew three feet. These two trees, about 

 equal in the start, have now had, since 

 grafting, three years' growth, and the trim- 

 med tree is about one-third less than the 

 other. And we have no doubt, from this 

 and similar experiments, that the difTerence 

 is the sole result of trimming. 



If some varieties of fruit trees must, of 

 7iecesisty,he subjected to much pruning to 

 induce them to bear and perfect their fruits, 

 let it be done. But we are satisfied from 

 the best of all teachers, — experience — that 

 this necessity does not exist on the part of 

 apple trees. And so long as we have larger 

 and better apples from untrimmed trees than 

 our neighbors have from trimmed ones, it 

 is not very likely we shall be induced to 

 try the trimming system. Particularly, as 

 much loss of time will be required to sub- 

 due the many small sucker-like shoots, when 

 once the trimming process is commenced, 

 for they will trouble you to the end of the 

 race. And as for the sap which formerly sup- 

 plied an amputated limb, transferring itself 

 to the other branches of the tree, facts teach 

 us that this is not done very readily ; but 

 that the natural effect of this lopping-ofT sys- 

 tem is to throw out sucker-like shoots in 

 abundance; and if these be suppressed pal- 

 sy of the part is to be feared, which in most 

 cases of the amputation of large limbs does 



