1890.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 21 



as the trees grow excessively, make long limbs and a great 

 many of them, it is necessary to thin them out. It will 

 never do harm to cut out the dead wood or a crossing limb. 

 It is not necessary to prune apple trees much, although 

 occasionally some is required. It is better in all pruning to 

 do it early. It is better to prevent the growth that you do 

 not want, than it is to wait till the wood is made and then cut 

 it out. The time of pruning is not very important, although 

 perhaps it is better to prune in the fall than in the spring. 

 If you have a large limb to cut out, it should be done very 

 carefully, leaving a stump a foot long, more or less, and 

 then wait until June and cut out the stump ; paint the scar, 

 and you will never have trouble from it. But, if you 

 cut out a large limb in April, the chances are that there will 

 be an oozing of sap, which turns black, runs down the tree, 

 and it commences to decay. That you can always avoid by 

 leaving a stump, and cutting it off some time in June. You 

 may ask, " Then why not prune in June?" It is very bad 

 to take out much foliage after it has developed ; it checks 

 the tree amazingly. That is one way of getting a tree into 

 bearing, when it grows all the time and makes wood largely. 



If you put grass about your trees in a wet year, like this 

 one, the grass decays and becomes mould, and then there 

 is no trouble from mice ; but when you mulch your trees in 

 a dry year, the grass dries and becomes hay, and it will be 

 filled with mice. The simplest protection that I know of is 

 to surround each tree with tarred paper, tie it together to 

 hold it in place, and mice will never touch the tree. It will 

 not cost a tenth of a cent to protect a tree against the 

 ravages of mice or rabbits all winter. 



In regard to the roots coming up to the surface, that is just 

 the thing that we want. I would like to get the roots of 

 my fruit trees up to within an inch of the surface, if I could. 

 The trouble with ploughing is, that you do not allow them 

 to come within less than six or eight inches of the surface ; 

 you keep them down out of the way of the influence of the 

 sun. I mulch to get the roots up as near the surface as I 

 can. I think my trees do better for it. The ground is 

 always moist under the mulch, and when the sun comes out 

 the roots never decay in consequence. 



