748 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Pruning. When performed in the proper manner and at the proper time, pruning is 

 very easy and simple work, but the indiscriminate cutting of trees, so frequently practiced 1 

 under the name of pruning, is very injurious, and often ruinous to trees. Pruning is usually 

 practiced for the purpose of regulating and improving the form of healthy, luxuriant trees, 

 and of increasing the vigor of feeble trees. It increases the vigor of trees in two ways, 

 first, by directing the entire supply of nourishment to a smaller number of branches, which 

 cause them to grow with greater luxuriance; and by enlarging and expanding the small sap 

 channels of weak, feeble trees, by having all the force of the circulating fluid thrown into a 

 smaller number of branches and buds, thus causing larger sap- vessels, new and more luxu 

 riant shoots, and adding increased vigor, which will be apparent for a long time. Pruning 

 is especially valuable to small trees of a stunted growth, but it should also be judiciously 

 performed in order to be beneficial and prevent injury. 



Best Time for Pruning. It is generally conceded by the most successful fruit 

 growers that the best time for pruning, in order to promote growth and to insure a perfect 

 and ready healing of the wood, is early in the spring, or as soon as the severity of winter has 

 passed. If delayed until after the buds begin to swell, the sap being in full flow, there will 

 be a loss of sap by bleeding that is very injurious to the trees in lessening their vigor, and in 

 some trees causing a serious and incurable disease of the limbs. Fall pruning is usually 

 done in the latter part of October, or in November, shortly after the leaves have fallen, but 

 as previously recommended, it is better to have pruning deferred until the close of winter, 

 before the buds begin to swell. 



Summer pruning is applicable to young orchards, and when practiced consists of direct 

 ing the main flow of sap into a few shoots in each branch by pinching off the ends of all 

 other shoots when two or three inches in length. In pruning, it must be borne in mind that 

 the direction in which a bud or shoot points, determines the direction of the growth of the 

 branch. It is better to prick or break off these tender shoots rather than to cut them off 

 with a knife or shears. Young trees that are pruned in this manner require but little prun 

 ing in the following spring, and then only for two or three years, after which time summer 

 pruning will generally be sufficient. 



Methods of Pruning. Pruning should commence when the tree is quite small, and 

 there should be a constant watchfulness to keep down all shoots which are not permanently 

 wanted on the tree; by this means the tree can be trained into almost any form desired. We 

 do not, however, approve of interfering much with the natural form of the tree, but to 

 prune sufficient to eliminate such buds and shoots as shall appear in those places where it is 

 not desired that they should grow, and to prevent a too heavy growth of limbs. Many buds 

 *may be rubbed or pinched off in summer, thus avoiding a waste of a season s growth in 

 deferring pruning until the following spring. 



The effort of the pruner should be directed towards removing all weak branches, and 

 those that by crowding interfere with the growth of other branches. Such branches as are 

 not allowed sufficient room for natural growth should never be left to attain a large size, thus 

 taking that amount from the vigor and life of the tree before being removed, but should be 

 taken early in their growth. It is easy to perceive that by taking off a limb two or three 

 inches, or even an inch in diameter, is involving a needless waste of the vital forces of the 

 tree ; for if it had been removed when a tender shoot, the material used in forming such a 

 branch could have been supplied to the permanent branches, and thus the forces all economized 

 in increasing the vigor, size, and productiveness of the tree. Besides, the cutting off of a 

 large limb causes a wound that will not readily heal, and frequently results in premature 

 decay of the trunk. 



In pruning, all the sprouts that do not seem strong and vigorous should be removed, or 



