166 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



strength of liquids was used on the bushes 

 in another two weeks, or just before the 

 leaves put out. When the currants set 

 on I left out the lime and added one pint 

 of flour to the ten gallons of spraying mix- 

 ture, using the finest spray nozzle on the 

 bushes and the coarsest in applying the 

 solution to the trees. Again, when the 

 currants were almost grown I sprayed 

 with Paris green and flour leaving out the 

 copper sulphate. The results were most 

 astonishing, the stems being healthy, the 

 foliage luxuriant and the fruits better 

 than ever were seen on the bushes. There 

 was not a blighted cane, spider web, or 

 leaf mite to be found anywhere. The cur- 

 rant bushes were planted for Fay's Pro- 

 lific, but never gave indications of being 

 genuine until thus treated. I had no 

 blight, worms or mildew on the Downing 

 gooseberries that had not furnished a crop 

 for several years on account of insects, 

 fungus and disease. The fruit trees took 

 a new lease on life and yielded enor- 

 mously. JOEL SHOMAKER. 



PRUNING. 



Qne of the most common questions 

 asked by the farmer regarding tree farm- 

 ing, is ''When is ths best season to prune?" 

 A question that, as yet, has not been satis- 

 factorily answered. While pruning is es- 

 pecially necessary in the east, it is well to 

 resort to it in the western states. The 

 Nebraska experiment station devoted con- 

 siderable attention to this matter in 1895, 

 the experiments covering a whole year. 

 Trees were pruned at the beg'nning of 

 each month during the year with the view 

 of determining which season was the best 

 for pruning, but though results led them 

 to believe that from early spring to late 

 autumn was a better time than winter, as 

 the wounds made had a chance to heal 

 rapidly, this conclusion was not defin- 

 itely established and has one great draw- 

 back from the fact that the branches cut 

 off may contain fruit not fully developed 

 and that other fruit may be torn down in 

 the process. So the question is not much 



nearer a definite answer than heretofore. 

 ID attempting to determine which method 

 of pruning was best, the smooth method 

 by using a knife or chisel, or by leaving 

 the rough surface made by a pruning saw, 

 the experimenters met with better success, 

 as they demonstrated that smoothing off 

 the wounded surface was time wasted as 

 the rough one healed just as quickly. In 

 fact, if there was any difference at all it 

 was in favor of the rough surface. 



As to what treatment was best in order 

 to have the wound heal quickly and pre- 

 vent checking, it was found that to leave 

 the wound uncovered was almost certain 

 to cause checking, while common lead 

 paint was the best thing discovered for 

 covering the wound to prevent checking, 

 and next in favor was grafting wax. The 

 checks readily serve as starting places 

 for decay. Shellac and pine tar both are 

 apt to soon crack and drop off, thus leav- 

 ing the wound exposed. In removing a 

 limb be careful to saw it off at the proper 

 place. Where the limb joins the main 

 trunk it broadens out into a shoulder or 

 flange, and if the limb is cut at that point 

 there is a large wound surface to heal, 

 while if the limb is cut any distance from 

 -this, there is an awkward stub left. The 

 best plan, then, is to take it off just at the 

 point where it begins to swell, thus avoid- 

 ing the large wound and also the long stub. 

 Another thing of great importance in 

 pruning is to see that your tree does not 

 form a sharp fork at the top, as in that 

 case it is almost certain to slip apart when 

 the tree is loaded with fruit. 



BROAD VS. NARROW TIRES. 



The question of the width of wagon tires 

 has been much discussed recently, and is 

 of such general interest that a number of 

 the agricultural stations have been trying 

 experiments to determine which of the 

 two, the narrow or broad tires, is the best. 



The Agricultural Station at Columbia, 

 Mo., have experimented quite extensively 

 in this line during the past two years and 



