132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



we prune the old trees. At the various stages in the particular 

 life of any particular kind of tree we must suit the method of 

 pruning to that stage of the development of the tree. In our 

 standard fruit trees which we use in a commercial way, we are 

 obliged to adopt different methods in the first two or three years 

 than we adopt in the next six or eight years, and in the next stage 

 another method, and at old age still another method, when the 

 tree has reached say thirty years and has grown into the old stage. 

 Each particular stage in the development of trees calls for a dif- 

 ferent kind of treatment. A very famous horticulturist once said 

 that pruning was a succession of judgments, and that is the best 

 definition of pruning I ever heard. 



The operation of pruning consists in removing certain amounts 

 of the wood. We have several tools with which we work. The 

 simplest one, and the most effective one of all, is a knife. We can 

 use a great many different forms and shapes, but one of the cheapest 

 and most effective forms of knives for pruning is the one I hold in 

 my hand, which is one with a hook blade, not too thick. It is 

 made of excellent steel and cuts very nicely. On all branches 

 that can be cut readily with a knife, that is the best tool, for 

 we can get a perfect cut, and it is the most effective tool in a 

 small plantation. We have tools which work more rapidly, but 

 we do not have a tool that makes such a good cut. The most 

 effective tool for rapid work, and that is the kind of work we 

 must do in large plantations and on large trees, is the pruning 

 shears. There are many forms and types of these, but the best of 

 them is not any too good. Anyone but a good workman, in prun- 

 ing, is almost certain to try to use them on branches a little too 

 large. A man's hand is a little stronger when you have a purchase 

 that you can get on the end of the handles on the branch, than the 

 shears are usually made to withstand, and therefore it is desirable 

 to get the very best shears that are made. I like the particular 

 kind that I have here, which is called the French wheel pruning 

 shear, the best thing I have happened to run across myself. This 

 particular pair is the 10-inch size, the largest size ordinarily sold 

 in this country. I like the largest size again because they are 

 stronger than the smaller sized shears, and therefore stand the work 

 and racket better than the others. In using these you cannot make 



