PRUNING AXJJ TRAINING. 125 



Another reputed authority says: "The best time for a 

 general pruning is at the close of the first growth of sum- 

 mer, 15th of June to 15th of July." Another pomologist 

 says : " June is the time to prune fruit-trees. Limbs taken 

 off at this season will begin immediately to send out a 

 ring of new wood just where it is needed, and will thereby 

 protect itself in the soonest possible period from external 

 harm." Still another writer whether he ever pruned a 

 tree or not, does not appear says : " From the middle of 

 June to the first of September is claimed to be the proper 

 time in which to perform this important operation. Most 

 persons have observed that trees show in August and the 

 early part of September what is called a new growth. On 

 this growth the color of the foliage is a lighter green, and 

 has every way the appearance of being more recent than that 

 of the rest of the tree. And so it is. By the time that mid- 

 summer comes, most of the sap that flowed up in the spring 

 has gone to the branches, and aided in expanding buds and 

 blossoms, and in sending out new leaves and extending the 

 twigs. When the tree has done this, the superabundant 

 sap returns down the tree through the bark, and increases 

 its diameter. The tree has now a season of rest. The sap- 

 vessels are comparatively empty, so that if its branches are 

 cut the wound will rarely bleed. The returning sap, we 

 suppose, soon forms a green, healthy ring about the cut in 

 the bark, and the remainder of the cut dries and shrinks 

 before the sap is again in motion. This season of rest, then, 

 of three or more weeks, is the best time to prune. It has 

 its inconveniences, we are aware, but they are of less con- 

 sequence than the injury of the tree. No harm comes to 

 the tree, we believe, if pruned in the autumn, soon after the 

 leaves have fallen. The tree is then also in a comparative 

 state of rest, and may be cut judiciously without injuring it." 

 Still another assumed authority proclaims: "Always prune 



