The Canadian Horticulturist. 



paration which will exclude the air. For this purpose various preparations ha\ e 

 been recommended, as a coating of thick paint, or of coal tar of such a con. 

 sistency that it may be applied with a brush. Mr. Downing recommends the 

 following composition, viz. : Take a quart of alcohol and dissolve in it as much 

 green shellac as will make a liquid of the consistency of paint- Apply with 

 brush. Keep it in a well corked bottle, sufficiently wide-mouthed to admit the 

 brush, and it will always be ready for use. 



Neither do we believe in removing the large limbs 

 in the centre of the tree to let in the sunlight. The 

 right and the wrong ideal of the form the pruner should 

 have in mind when at his work are well shown in Figs. 

 933 and 934, in the first of which the limbs have been 

 removed according to the reckless butchery so often 

 performed upon our helpless apple orchards, and which 

 is one cause of the decrepit, half-dead appearance such 

 orchards usually present. 



The second represents a tree which has been al- 

 lowed to grow according to its natural inclination, and 

 the oruning has been simply an annual thinning of such 

 small branches as threaten to cross others, or thicken 

 the head too closely, and in this way the removal of 

 large limbs is altogether avoided. Such a tree will live 

 in health and vigor to almost twice ihe age of the former. The pruner should 

 study the natural growth of the tree and prune to favor that ; thus the Spy and 

 the Rambo are upright growers, and with them one leading branch should be 

 encouraged in the centre, and side branches at suitable intervals. The Green- 

 ing and the Roxbury Russet have spreading heads, and hence should have 

 several main branches so trained as not to interfere with each other. 



E 



Fig. 932. 



Fig. 933. Fio. 934, 



But of all barbarisms, that of cutting out the leading branches in the centre 

 of a tree, should be avoided, for numerous sprouts will spring up, decay will 

 ensue from the large wound, and, worse than all, the tree will in time be apt to 

 split apart when heavily laden with fruit 



