14th January, A. D. 1906. 



LECTURE, ILLUSTRATED BY 

 STEREOPTICON, 



BY 



F. A. WAUGH, Professor of Horticulture, Massachl^- 

 SETTS Agricultural College. 



Subject: — The Results of some Experiments in Pruning. 



The subject of pruning is an old one and has often been dis- 

 cussed by horticulturists. ATe used to think that it was of 

 prime importance — that the orchard was largely dependent upon 

 prunmg. It is remarkable to see how this subject has fallen into 

 neglect in recent years. So much has been said about spraying 

 that pruning has sometimes been overlooked. I have been in- 

 terested to note what has been said here as to what must be 

 done to giow a fine orchard and that we must know how to sort 

 and pack the fruit in order to succeed in fruit growing. 



Pruning is of no less consequence than it used to be and if 

 we have a good system of orchard management all these depart- 

 ments will be brought up to a high level. It seems to me that 

 we should pay special attention to the subject of pruning fruit 

 trees. There is one point of view from which our systems of 

 pruning are open to criticism and that is that they are not suffi- 

 ciently fore sighted. 



The best growers will show you what to do and you will find 

 they are simply telling you how to correct mistakes. And so 

 the whole business of pruning is a correction of mistakes. It 

 is an afterthought, a taking care after instead of before. 



I will just refer to the way that fruit trees are taken care of 



