28 MASSACHUSETTS HOETICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Saturday, January 20, 1894. 

 A Meeting for Discussion was holden today at eleven o'clock, 

 the President, Nathaniel T. Kidder, in the chair. The follow- 

 ing paper was read by the author : 



Pruning. 



By Edwin Hoyt, New Canaan, Conn. 



How shall I trim these trees? is a question often asked by 

 customers who come to the nursery for trees. It is very seldom 

 that a customer knows just how and where to prune, important 

 yet simple as it is. We notice as we ride through the country 

 that a large part of the young trees set out are planted just as 

 they were received from the nursery — not a branch cut and in all 

 probability not a jammed or broken root trimmed. Now I will 

 not say that trees thus set out will not grow, for many of them do, 

 but I do say that from this cause very many of them die, and a 

 large proportion of those which do live make a feeble growth, 

 and, unless the season is very favorable, will succumb to the 

 elements and die in a few years, or prove very unsatisfactory to 

 the planter. It is surprising, however, to see how much vitg-l 

 force there is in a well-grown tree, and how every particle of that 

 force will be used to sustain the tree when taken up and reset. 



Nature is true to herself, but her laws cannot be violated with- 

 out loss in some way. It is, therefore, necessary to study and 

 assist her when we can. If her laws are properly obeyed and 

 assistance added she will never be found lacking. It is almost 

 impossible to remove a nursery tree and reset it so as to keep a 

 perfect balance between the roots and top. When a tree is 

 removed we must study how to assist Nature in her work of 

 restoring the equilibrium lost by taking up the tree and resetting 

 it into other soil. 



This can be done by judicious cutting of the top to meet the 

 loss of root, by cutting all broken or spade-cut roots smoothly, 

 thus assisting Nature in callousing the roots, and also by putting 

 proper plant-food wliere the roots as they start out can readily 

 appropriate it to make new growth. It is wonderful to see how 

 luxuriantly Nature will respond, in all vegetable life when proper 



