FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 103 



Mr. Stearns: If we could have such winters as we had two years ago, 

 or three or four years ago, you might do that in December, January or 

 February, but if we get an old fashioned winter, and you do pruning, 

 you will find you have two or three inches of dead wood. 



Q: As peaches are in the ascendancy now, we are not up to the times 

 unless we are setting trees. We have this to contend with; we are all 

 beginners, and we get a peach tree from the nursery, and go into the 

 orchard to set it out. How shall we trim it; one man tells me to cut off 

 every limb; the next man says, don't cut it at all; the third man says, 

 head it back. Now how shall I trim that tree? 



Mr. Whitmeyer: My method is to cut off all the limbs and leave the 

 whip stock, and then cut off half the whip stock. 



Mr. Morrill : The first man was all right, and the next was all wrong — 

 and still the first man was not definite enough. There is a difference in 

 trees. The man who understands his business will not trim every tree 

 alike. It depends on the growth in the nursery. The man who takes an 

 extra large tree will find that the buds have nearly all developed into 

 limbs. If you cut these all off, you have few or no dormant body buds left 

 to form a top from, if cut off at the ordinary height. It is a good practice 

 to cut off at 2^ feet. When you strike a tree of that character, select the 

 limbs to form the top from, and leave the stubs with two buds. 



When 3^ou have a medium sized tree, you will find that those buds are 

 not developed into branches; cut off every branch in this case, and then 

 you will get more than you want. It requires judgment, and the habit of 

 observation is very essential in these matters. Conditions may change, 

 and a rule that applies to one tree may not apply to the next. Look into 

 these matters. The man who says leave all your top on. is dead wrong. 



Mr. Clark : It is evident that the raising of grain is a failure, so far as 

 the present condition of things is concerned; it is attributable to many 

 causes, no doubt. I think our country, becoming older, has exhausted, 

 to some extent, its ability to produce grain as in the early days; further 

 than that, the question of transportation has unquestionably worked 

 against the grain interests. 



In answer to this question, "What shall we turn our attention to," 

 hundreds of thousands of trees are being planted this year, as being more 

 profitable than grain raising. 



Q: What is the ideal peach tree, as to form, etc? 



Mr. Morrill: You have given me a big contract to try to answer that, 

 but I will be as brief as possible. I suppose you mean a tree that has 

 age — in the orchard, and what it should be like? 



Q: How do you trim it? How high should the branches be? etc. 



Mr. Morrill : There is a difference of opinion on that. I like to head 

 them at thirty inches, twenty inches of clean body, and I want to grow 

 them as nearly uniform as possible. We cut back each year one-half the 

 annual growth on the main leaders, stocking the limbs and keeping the 

 bearing weight near the body and rounding the heads each year, so that ' 

 they are symmetrical. 



Q: I have some trees that have been trimmed wrong then. They are 

 large trees, six years old, and there are trees among them with a body six 

 inches through. These trees are spreading out; a heavy yield will break 

 them down. 



