440 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Wrongly directed, a man with saw or axe can do a tre- 

 mendous amount of injuiy to trees in a week's work. He 

 may do such injury even when apparently following the 

 most aj^proved methods. He may amputate large limbs 

 carefully from an old tree and treat the wounds in the most 

 approved manner, only to find that the tree soon dies, 

 apparently as a result of the operation. 



Realizing the possible injury that might be done in this 

 work, and desh-ing that the best pruning practice should be 

 follo>ved by the agents of the Board, both on public domain 

 and on the lands of private owners, the dk-ectors of the 

 work ordered a series of experiments to be carried out upon 

 fruit and shade trees of diftcrcnt species. The work of each 

 gano- of men in the field dm'ing the pruning season furnished 

 unlimited opportunity for investigating this subject ; and it 

 Avas not until 1895 that the questions still unsolved seemed 

 to warrant the detailing of a man to make a series of exper- 

 iments and observations, with a view to settling fully some 

 of the questions then unanswered. These experiments were 

 carried on until 1900, when the work on the gypsy moth 

 was given up. These experiments have been supplemented 

 by my own observations during ten years, and also b}^ notes 

 made in the spring of the present year (1902) in the dis- 

 trict infested l)y the gyps}^ moth. 



It is not intended to write here an extended and general 

 treatise on tree pruning, for others better qualified for such 

 a task have written on the subject since our investig-ations 

 were begun.* The province of this paper is to deal mainly 

 with the answers to queries indicated above, as furnished by 

 our investigations, adding thereto such incidental informa- 

 tion as may seem pertinent or useful. 



No records of the number of trees pruned were kept prior 

 to 1893. In that year 1.90(! were trimmed, and the number 

 increased year by year, until, in 1898, 175,(329 trees were 

 operated upon. From 1893 to 1899 inclusive more than 



* See "The pruning liook," L. H. Bailey, 1899. Professor Bailey began his 

 experiments to deterniine the best season for making wounds and the best dress- 

 ing for covering them in 1891, at about the same time the writer began experi- 

 menting for the same purpose. lie has given the results in the excellent work 

 noted above. 



