1882.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



77 



however, to leave the peach till towards spring, 

 in order to cut out any wood that may be in- 

 jured through the winter. In other respects, the 

 peach should have little pruning at this season, 

 as it tends only to make it grow more luxuri- 

 ously; and a too free vigor of growth is a fiiult 

 of the peach in this climate. The only pruning 

 admissible is that which has for its object the 

 production of shoots in naked or desirable 

 places. 



After a crop has been borne, however, prun- 

 ing may be more severely practiced. We once 

 heard a good fruit grower say that peaches sel- 

 dom had the yellows till after they had borne 

 one good crop, and that a good pruning the 

 winter following the first bearing was a sure 

 protection against the dire disease. How mufh 

 there may be in this notion is not clear, but it is 

 worth a thought. 



In the vegetable garden we might give a hint 

 in asparagus culture, that if very large stalks are 

 desired, the soil must be very rich, and the 

 plants set as wide apart as rows of corn. It is to 

 be observed that those who believe there are 

 some varieties of asparagus that may be repro- 

 duced from seed urge the necessity of planting 

 very wide apart. We do not know that very 

 large stalks are especially desirable, and for 

 ordinary use would set the plants about twenty 

 inches apart; about four inches beneath the 

 surface is deep enough to set. Good deep soil is 

 generallj' good; but if in a stiff soil, deepening 

 it for asparagus, only makes a well into which 

 the surrounding waters drain. It is much better 

 in such situations to plant in raised beds. The 

 alleys between them serve as surface ditches. 

 Many failures in planting asparagus arise from 

 this depth of bed, under such circumstances. 

 The plants rot from water about them. 



In vegetable garden culture, it must be re- 

 membered that we have to operate the reverse 

 of fruit culture. A woody growth is what we 

 require for fruit trees; but we need for vegeta- 

 bles a soft, spongy, succulent character, the very 

 reverse of this. For this end the ground cannot 

 be too deep, too rich, or too much cultivated. 

 The hoe and the rake should be kept continu- 

 ally going, loosening the surface and admitting 

 "air and light," as the old books used to say. 

 There is not only an advantage in this for the 

 direct benefit of the plant, but an early use of 

 these tools keeps down the weeds, and thus we 

 save labor. It is a great thing to be ''fore- 

 handed " in the weed war. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



PRUNING FRUIT TREES. 



BY REV. L. J. TEMPLIN, HDTCHINSON, KANSAS. 



It is doubtful whether there is any other sub- 

 ject connected with fruit raising upon which 

 there is such a wide difference of opinion as that 

 of pruning. 



Two wide extremes are held by different men ; 

 some holding that pruning should be done at 

 almost all times and with but little limit to the 

 quantity. On the other hand, there are those 

 who are opposed to pruning at any time and in 

 any quantity. 



The one argues that nature knows the needs 

 of her own productions better than man, and if 

 it were best for the growing tree for a considera- 

 ble portion of its annual growth to be cut away, it 

 would either not he produced, or it would fall 

 away of its own accord. And this is what does 

 take place in the case of forest trees; when the 

 growth is too thick so that some of the branches 

 do not receive a sufficient amount of light and 

 air, such branches die and fall oflf. By this pro- 

 cess of natural pruning the lower branches of the 

 treps in the thick forest have been gradually re- 

 moved till the trunks are entirely devoid of them 

 for many feet. From this it is argued that if 

 fruit trees be left to this natural process of prun- 

 ing, they will be both more healthy and more 

 fruitful. But would this follow as a consequence 

 of this let-alone system ? It appears to me there 

 are very strong reasons for believing that it would 

 not. It should be remembered that the condi- 

 tions of the forest tree are wholly natural, while 

 those of a fruit tree in the orchard are largely 

 artificial. The forest trees are generally crowded 

 so closely together that the sunlight and air 

 are largely excluded from the lower branches^ 

 which being thus deprived of their natural 

 stimulus, die and fall away. The fruit tree, on 

 the other hand, is, or should be, planted out 

 in an open space where it receives abundance 

 ol both light and air, so that so far from its being 

 deprived of its surplus branches by natural prun- 

 ing, the tendency is to grow thicker almost 

 without limit. Again, the acerb and astringent 

 fruits that are produced by the trees of nature's 

 own planting and pruning, are hardly to be com- 

 pared with the highly developed, luscious fruits 

 of our cultivated orchards. It is doubtful 

 whether even those who contend for leaving the 

 pruning to nature would be satisfied with that 



