PRUNING FIK TREES. 



count of their greater productiveness, and 

 more extensive demand for them. Black 

 currants are only used by the majority 

 of people for medicinal purposes. Very 

 few relish them when canned. But the 

 red varieties can be turned to a variety 

 of uses, as canning, and for jelly for pies, 

 etc 



There miaht be an outside market 



found for red currants and their pro- 

 ducts, made into jam, jelly, or canned. 

 There should be a profit in growing 

 them, even at present prices. (They 

 sold here at 5c. per box, for best ones|. 

 Will someone who has been growing 

 them on a large scale and for some 

 length of time, kindly rise and tell ? 



G. C C.ASTON. 



PRUNING FIR TREES. 



•^^TT^HE problem with tViany owners 

 of fir trees is how to keep them 

 the desired size and shape, and, 

 in addition, maintain a healthy 

 growth from the lowest limb to the top- 

 most shoot. As a rule the entire conifer 

 family possesses a tendency to assume a 

 conical shape, differing some in outline. 

 The object sought is to so regulate the 

 pruning as to preserve this form, strength- 

 en the lower branches and lessen its ten- 

 dency to an excessive upward growth. 



The idea of depriving an evergreen of 

 its leading shoot at first seems barbarous, 

 but if by so doing the tree acquires a 

 tendency to fill up below and grow much 

 more slowly, it is just the operation 

 needed for all except the largest park- 

 like effects. No better illustration of 

 this can be had than an ordinary ever- 

 green hedge. Prevent the putting forth 

 of leading shoots and the normal coni- 

 cal shape is converted into an impene- 

 trable mass of shoots. Here, then, is 

 the idea to work on : Check the upward 

 tendency by shortening the leader. This 

 will strengthen the base and cause very 



slow upward growth. This pruning must 

 begin early, at least by the time the young 

 trees are 3 or 4 feet high, when they 

 usually begin to make rapid growth. 

 This will of course depend upon the 

 condition of the tree. If a tree is mak- 

 ing but moderate growth with a plentiful 

 supply of side branches, the main shoot 

 might need no shortening, while another 

 no higher, but with a leading shoot 2 to 

 3 feet long, may be cut back one-half. 

 By so doing it will be found that all the 

 buds left on the leader will push out 

 One of them, unually the topmost, will 

 start out to replace the original main 

 stem. Sometimes two leaders will start. 

 In this case a summer pinching of one 

 will give impetus to the other, it not 

 being desirable to have more than one 

 leader. But this effort of the tree to 

 replace a pruned leader is what is wanted. 

 This with judicious checking means in 

 the end a perfectly formed mass, which 

 will increase in beauty with years, and 

 yet will be only of moderate height for 

 a long time. 



3''9 



