MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 35^ 



each branch when the tree is laden with fruit or loaded with ice and 

 snow. 



The top properly balanced as a whole, the branches will bend ; 

 the hard substance of the collar which forms at the junction with the 

 main trunk rarely gives way, even if the limbs are bent to the ground. 



A tree properly shaped when young rarely requires the removal 

 of large limbs in after-training. If this is ever necessary, it is well to 

 check the flow of sap for one or two seasons by a narrow girdle around 

 the branches to be removed. Cut the limbs away in the autumn, and 

 the wounds will keep dry and soon harden up. Always cover the ex- 

 posed part with some waterproof substance — thick paint, with 25 per 

 cent of coach varnish added, is excellent. 



Scions set in thrifty stocks generally require no pruning the first 

 season. The second year, while two scions have been set out and both 

 lived, one — the inside one — should invariably be removed and the 

 wound covered. 



If limbs of much size are to be removed, cut in autumn, else when 

 the tree is in full leaf, about June 15. In June the wound will imme- 

 diately begin to heal. Spring pruning — cutting off of branches of 

 considerable size — invites disease. When the sap starts it oozes from 

 the wound, discolors and kills the bark, the heart wood becomes af- 

 fected, and the whole tree suffers. Small trees are often ruined from 

 this injudicious pruning, and larger trees seriously damaged. The 

 twigs of young trees from the nursery may be cut at pruning time with 

 safety. 



A Study in Fruit Buds. 



How are fruit buds formed upon trees preparing to grow their 

 first crop ? For a study of this subject an apple-tree twig from a tree 

 that has been set in an orchard four or five years will show the gen- 

 eral method upon our common fruit trees. 



At the axil of each leaf — that is, just above the base of each leaf 

 stalk — there is a bud. These buds appear to be nourished each by its 

 own leaf, for the development of e^ach bud seems to correspond in 

 size, vigor and character to that of its leaf — good leaves producing 

 good buds and poor leaves poor buds. 



It is the function of leaves to perform their part in storing the 

 buds and terminal twigs with starch and surplus plant food with which 

 the end growth of trees should be gorged in the fall. If the foliage 

 is poor this store of material is deficient and since the buds that ex- 

 pand each spring depend upon this surplus store to give size and vigor 



