1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



265 



TRAINING ANJ) PRUNING. 



Much has been written and said upon this sub- 

 ject—enough, one would think, to satisfy all who 

 have the work to do, to perform it properly. But 

 such is not the fact, as persons of observation may 

 see in every ride they take in the country. It is a, 

 severe loss to the farmer to purchase fifty or a hun-| 

 dred trees, plow and manure his ground, plant the 

 trees and tend them with care for a dozen years,] 

 and then ruin them, or reduce their lives one-half; 

 poor, mutilated, dying things, before they have ar- 

 rived at the common age of maturity. 



There is such a veneration for old customs, that 

 men insist upon pruning in the months of March, 

 April and May, and continue in the practice, though 

 they constantly complain that their orchard "does 

 not do well, and that something is the matter." 



Two trees have grown up under our eye, stand- 

 ing within thirty feet of each other, both crooked, 

 low-limbed, mis-shapen trees to begin with. Now, 

 at the age of ten years, one of them, judiciously 

 tended, is 



stand at nearly five feet, yet there is no wound to 

 be seen where the first set were taken off. We 

 have no doubt that apple trees bear more fruit, and 

 are less liable to be broken, where they are trained 

 ! with short stems. But if cultivation is important, 

 they must be carried higher. 



The tree represented below, was, to begin with, 

 as handsome as the other ; it has been cultivated 

 and tended the same, but has been trained more in 

 accordance with the old notions of pruning. It is 

 evidently 



A WELL-SHAPED TREE. 



The tree itself appears far better than the idea 

 given of it in this engraving. Its trunk is straight, 

 all the limbs having plenty of room, and large and 

 vigorous, while the top is compact, with a symme- 

 try and grace which at once attract the beholder. 

 When such a tree is full grown, its top may be trav- 

 elled over with ease to gather the fruit, and with 

 little danger to the person or to the tree itself. The 

 main branches coming out as they do at nearly 

 right angles with the stem, may drop their extrem- 

 ities to the ground without being injured, and are 

 rarely broken by the ^rind. When this tree was 

 purchased from the nursery, the first limbs came 

 out three feet from the crown of the root — they now 



A TEEE ^^^THOUT GRACE OR SYMMETRY. 



These trees were sketched by one of the best ar- 

 tists in this city, and give a fair but not exact rep- 

 resentation. The first one does not appear so well 

 as the tree itself, and the second is slightly carica- 

 tured. 



We have often given our ideas of pruning, and 

 cannot do more than to give merely an outline now. 

 Never cut ofi" a limb of more than half an inch in 

 diameter in the months of March, April or May ; 

 but cut in June, October or November, and always 

 cover the wound, even of small limbs, with gum 

 shellac dissolved in alcohol. Cut out where limbs 

 cross, or where they incline too many of them to 

 the inside of the tree. Do not cut off the young 

 side shoots and leaves in the growing season, as 

 they are placed there to elaborate the sap, and will 

 increase the growth of the tree. 



As a general thing, too much pruning is done to 

 young trees. If started judiciously, they need but 

 little, very little trimming, annually, so that if the 

 owner of a young orchard has an uncontrollable de- 

 sire to use his knife, he had better supply his pock- 

 ets with several pieces of soft pine wood, before he 

 takes a stroll through his orclaard. Prevention is 

 better than cure. 



