82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



is in favor of early spring, while the sap is dormant, before 

 the sugar and starch become liquified, or of midsummer, 

 immediately after the first growth. In the latter case the sap 

 has again become thick by elaboration and the tree will not 

 bleed. Care should, however, be taken not to enfeeble the 

 tree by the removal of large branches at this time of year. At 

 whatever time pruning is done, all limbs of inch or more in 

 diameter should be covered with grafting wax, liquid shellac, 

 clay, or some substance to protect the wound from the weather. 

 The true policy is to commence with trees while they are young, 

 watch them carefully, and prune them judiciously until they 

 come into bearing, after which they will require but little 

 pruning, except the removal of water shoots and suckers. 

 Pruning should always be refrained from unless a good reason 

 can be given for the removal of each individual limb. 



Intimately connected with the science of pruning, is the 

 necessity of a proper thinning' of the crop. This branch of 

 pomology has received comparatively but little attention. 

 There is a limit to the capabilities of all created things. If yoii 

 tax the energies of an animal too severely for a long time, the 

 result will be premature age and decay. If you permit a tree 

 to bear beyond its strength, you injure its fruit, retard its 

 growth, and shorten its life. All have observed that super- 

 fecundity one year produces barrenness the next. Hence we 

 hear among our farmers and gardeners of what they term the 

 bearing year. They invariably designate the Baldwin apple as a 

 tree that bears on alternate years. The cause of this alternation 

 is found in the fact, that the abundant crop of the bearing year 

 exhausts the energies of the tree, and absorbs the pabulum so as 

 not to leave sufficient aliment for the formation of fruit spurs 

 for the succeeding year ? Many varieties have a tendency to 

 overbearing, especially those which produce their fruit in clus- 

 ters. Nature herself teaches us the remedy for this evil, and a 

 superal)undance of blossom is generally followed by a profuse 

 falling of the embryo fruit. When and where this dropping is 

 not sufficient to prevent overbearing, we should resort to the 

 process of relieving the tree of a portion of its fruit. 



The organism which carries on healthful development, in 

 order to repeat its cycle of functions from year to year, cannot 

 be overworked without time for recuperation. Whatever of 



