TALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 67 



di than long arguments would have conveyed. I am also glad 

 to learn that Mr. T. S. Gold intends to illustrate his lectures 

 on sheep-breeding, by placing before us a well-shaped and a 

 badly-shaped live sheep. Could, any thing be more admirable? 



Standard apple trees in orchards require very little pruning. 

 If the head is formed at a proper distance from the ground, 

 say four or five feet, and the main branches to form the frame 

 work of the head are started in the right direction, as nearly 

 as possible equally distant, inclining upward and outward, the 

 subsequent pruning will consist in removing branches where 

 they are likely to become crowded or to cross each other. 

 The natural growth of varieties differing, our pruning should 

 be modified to suit each special case. Apple-trees not pruned 

 generally bear a heavy crop of fruit one season, and none the 

 next, and so heavy is the crop that a good part of it is worth 

 less. Judicious pruning enables us to have a moderate crop 

 of fine fruit each year, besides promoting the general health 

 and prosperity of the trees. A few days of a man over an 

 apple orchard when the fruit is half or a third grown, will be 

 well spent in removing misshapen and wormy fruit, and thin 

 ning out clusters that are crowded together. Fools cut away 

 branches indiscriminately, until their trees are but skeletons, 

 with a few bearing branches at the extremities only. The force 

 of the tree is then expended in producing a crop of rank, wa 

 tery shoots in the interior, to be again cut away to make room 

 for a second crop. Trees should never be suffered to bear 

 fruit until they have got strength and vigor. A pruner should 

 know the difference between fruit-buds and wood-buds, and at 

 least the rough outlines of the principles of tree growth. This 

 knowledge may be acquired by an intelligent man in a brief 

 time. There are many other points of equal interest in Mr. 

 Barry's lecture of which I should like to speak, but cannot. 



Doctor GRANT lectured first this afternoon, speaking without 

 notes, and, like Mr. Barry, exemplifying the doctrines of prun 

 ing and vine-setting, on specimens brought for the purpose. 



