ORCHARDS. 149 



long since, and probably growing out of the man- 

 agement of espaliers, first suggested the practice of 

 bending straight branches by artificial means. The 

 effect entirely justified the theory ; these straight and 

 barren branches, bent into nearly half a circle,* 

 changed their character with their shape, and be- 

 came very productive. But there is a time for this 

 as for all other things, and, unless the experiment be 

 began about the first of July and continued to Sep- 

 tember, it will fail, because it is only within that 

 period that fruit buds are formed. f 



As your trees advance in age, they will require 

 vruning. Suckers must be removed, and dead and 

 dying limbs taken off. For this purpose a hand- 

 saw, a chissel, a mallet, and a gardener's knife, are 

 the instruments to be used : all others must be pro- 

 scribed, and particularly the axe, which, in the hands 

 of folly and ignorance, has been so mischievous to 

 fruit-trees. Wounds, if large, should always be 

 covered from drying winds, from moisture, and even 

 from air. In gummy trees, as the peach or the cher- 

 ry, this precaution is indispensable, and the neglect 

 of it a disgrace, since the best covering is that com- 

 posed of cow-dung and clay ; materials costing no- 

 thing, and always at hand. 



On this subject we have but one other rule to 

 give, and that is, to open the ground about the roots 

 of your trees in the fall, to the influences of the air, 

 rain, and frost. The last of these, besides promo- 

 ting vegetation, destroys many insects in the chrys- 

 alis state, which, if left undisturbed, would in the 

 spring be very injurious. Another part of the same 

 rule is to cover with straw, in the spring, the ground 

 you make bare in the fall ; the object of which is to 

 prevent evaporation by intercepting the rays of the 



< * More than half a circle will obstruct the circulation of sap 

 and destroy the limb. 



t The circulation of the sap is then slowest. See Art. Cour- 

 bure, Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture, vol. iv. 

 N3 



