202 Remarks on pruning Apple Trees. 



boughs may be removed. If they gall others, the am- 

 putation cannot be avoided, but healing plaster, and 

 good covering should be applied to the wounds. 



Many persons are so stupid as to mangle regular 

 and healthy trees, on the pretence of making them bet- 

 ter by thinning; lopping off branches thicker than 

 their own arms and legs, moreover, lacerating the 

 parts ; and leaving them exposed to all the injuries 

 from heat, cold, wet, and insects, and thus a certain 

 prey to gangrene. Saving the stumps will not avail, 

 because they convey moisture and frost to the stem, 

 even before they rot. In a few years, large holes ap- 

 pear in the body of the tree, the remaining branches 

 become sickly, and produce bad fruit, and a prema- 

 ture death is generally certain. Often have I, with in- 

 dignation, seen waggon loads of the finest branches, 

 full of bloom-buds, in the spring, brought from the 

 orchards by such senseless wood-choppers ! 



A regular position of the branches round the stem, 

 will give to the inner parts ventilation, and admit sun- 

 shine, without much thinning. It will also by a balance 

 of weight, keep the tree upright, and enable the seve- 

 ral parts to resist violent winds, and to support loads 

 of fruit. Clusters of limbs on one side must incline 

 the tree more and more, so as to be easily torn up by 

 the root, and also weaken the hold of these branches 

 to the stem. Indiscreet pruning of the inner parts will 

 accumulate the fruit on the outward, and thus make 

 the weight more powerful, as on a lever. 



The importance of good prui ::ing is additional in this 

 country, from the frequency of westerly winds, which 



