104 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1899. 



when in full blossom :ind roll down firmly to conserve moisture. 

 Do not cultivate after Aug. 1st, so the young growth will ripen 

 up in early fall Now in our old apple orchards when the trees 

 have attained their full size, we seed down to clover and blue 

 grass, and pasture sheep or pigs up to harvesting of crop, then 

 apply the annual dressing as above. If wc stock heavily with 

 sheep or pigs and feed them with heavy grain rations this stock 

 will supply nearly sufficient fertility for the trees. 



PRUNING. 



We call your attention to a few of the principles in plant 

 physiology, upon which the practice of pruning depends. In 

 the general structure of trees and woody plants, practically 

 there are four general groups of tissues in the trunks and 

 branches, viz. : 



1. Bark: forming the outer coverings. 



2. Cambium; is the thin slimy layer or sapwood between 

 bark and sound wood. 



3. Wood; that forms the greater portions of the stem, 

 trunk or branches. 



4. Heart or Pith; which makes up the center of the trees. 

 The experienced grower has learned by observation to adapt 



his system of pruning to the above fundamental principles of 

 plant growth. Of the above tissues, the cambium is the most 

 important, as this is the vehicle of carrying the life sap from 

 root to branch ; it is also the method of adding growth to the 

 tree or plant ; it is the most delicate substance of the tree fibre, 

 for it is almost cellular tissue. Pruning is the most valuable 

 method of directing and controllina: the energies of trees and 

 plants. In all pruning the fact should be ever kept in mind 

 that the leaves make nearly all the food used by the living cells 

 of a tree, for if the foliage is removed the cells must undergo 

 a process of starvation until new leaves are formed. In the 

 natural shedding of leaves or twigs, which is nature's pruning, 

 a layer of corklike cells is formed, so when the leaves fall the 

 j)rocess of healing is very soon completed, but in the death and 

 decay of branches they nmst F)c removed at once before rot 



