FRUIT CULTURE. 749 



those that attain a crooked growth. The top of the tree should not be left so dense in 

 branches that when in full leaf the sunlight cannot enter to ripen the fruit. Fruit that grows 

 in the shade is never as fine flavored or beautifully colored as that which is exposed freely to 

 the sunlight. To go to the opposite extreme, and cut out the branches too much, leaving them 

 too open, there will not be sufficient protection to the bark from the cold winter winds, and 

 the burning heat of summer. Good judgment and an intelligent understanding of the busi 

 ness are essential to the most successful use of the pruning knife. 



Mr. Downing says: &quot;A judicious pruning, to modify the form of our standard trees, 

 is nearly all that is required in ordinary practice. Every fruit tree, grown in the open 

 orchard or garden as a common standard, should be allowed to take its natural form, the 

 whole effort of the pruner going no further than to take out all weak and crowded branches; 

 those which are filling uselessly the interior of the tree, where their leaves cannot be duly 

 exposed to the light and sun, or those which interfere with the growth of others. All prun 

 ing of large branches in healthy trees should be avoided, by examining them every 

 season and taking out superfluous shoots while small. Mr. Coxe, the best American author 

 on fruit trees, remarks very truly: When orchard trees are pruned, they are apt to throw 

 out numerous (superfluous) suckers from the boughs in the following summer; these should 

 be rubbed off when they first appear, or they may easily be broken off while young and 

 brittle cutting is apt to increase their number. 



&quot;Where pruning is not required to renovate the vigor of an enfeebled tree, or to regulate 

 its shape, in other words, in case of a healthy tree which we wish to retain in a state of the 

 greatest luxuriance, health, and vigor, it may be considered worse than useless. Bearing 

 in mind that growth is always corresponding to the action of the leaves and branches, if 

 these are in due proportion and in perfect health, the knife will always be found rather detri 

 mental to luxuriance and constitutional vigor than beneficial. 



Ignorant cultivators frequently weaken the energies of young trees, and cause them to 

 grow up with lean and slender stems, by injudiciously trimming off the young side shoots 

 and leaves in the growing season. By taking off these shoots the stem is deprived of all the 

 leaves which attract and elaborate the sap, thus preparing nourishment for the growth 

 of the stem; and the trunk of the tree does not increase in size half so fast as when the side 

 branches are allowed to remain for a time, pruning them away gradually. It is better, in 

 the case of these young trees, to stop the side branches, when of moderate length, by pinching 

 out the terminal bud.&quot; 



We have seen trees so pruned that their form was shorn of all beauty and grace, and 

 instead of being an ornament to the landscape, and a pleasure to the eye, as they should be, 

 were really a blemish to the locality in which they were placed, and an offence to good taste 

 and judgment. A sharp pocket-knife will be all the tool essential for pruning young trees 

 for some time; but after attaining a larger growth, pruning shears and saw will be necessary. 

 In pruning old trees that have been long neglected, it may be necessary to cut away consider 

 able from the top in order to bring them into good form and thin out the branches sufficiently 

 to admit the sunlight, and also to remove the decaying limbs. 



Wash for Wounds made in Pruning. In pruning large limbs, the wounds should 

 always be covered with some kind of a wash or composition that will keep out the air, prevent 

 the wood from cracking, and maintain it in a healthy, sound condition until a new layer of 

 bark covers it. The following composition is the best we know for this purpose, as it soon 

 becomes hard, adheres closely to the wood, is not affected by the weather, while at the same 

 time it does not prevent the new bark from gradually closing over the wound, and covering 

 it: Dissolve as much gum-shellac in a quart of pure alcohol, as will make a liquid of the con 

 sistence of paint, and apply it to the wood with a brush, being careful to have the surface 



