258 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



For the New Eriffiand Farmer. 

 PRUNING APPIjE TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have just been reading the 

 remarks of Mr. Putnam, and the editorial on 

 this subject. I have given considerable attention 

 to it, and differ somewhat from yourself in the 

 time of pruning, as a matter of convenience. I 

 think there are weighty objections against prun- 

 ing in June or July. AVhile the fruit and foliage 

 are on the trees, it would make tearing work to 

 pull out a limb after it was cut off ; I think it 

 would damage the young fruit it must necessari- 

 ly touch. Another difficulty would be in drop- 

 ping the branches upon the grass or vegetables 

 that may be under the trees ; and still another in 

 going around with a cart to collect the brush. 

 Then, again, in June and July we are too fully 

 employed in keeping down the weeds, or picking 

 the early fruits, and in haying, to spare the time. 

 Such has been my experience in a long course of 

 extensive farming operations, and are sufficient 

 reasons to deter me, and I think most people, 

 from pruning at that time. 



I have come to the conclusion that the winter 

 is the best time, and we usually have comforta- 

 bly weather enough between the falling of the 

 leaves in autumn, and the first of March, to ac- 

 complish this work. Is not this the season for 

 trimming grape vines ? I sometimes prune after 

 the first of March, in which case I would recom- 

 mend that all limbs above one and a half inches 

 in diameter be cut, say one foot from the trunk ; 

 then in June go round with a sharp saw and cut 

 the stubs very smooth, and pare the edges with 

 a sharp knife, and perhaps paint a little ; but I 

 do not like oil on trees. Otis Withington. 



BrooJdine, Mass., March, 1859. 



Remarks. — An orchard that has been proper- 

 ly tended, requires no operation that will injuie 

 the fruit, tree, crops under it, or ox teams to car- 

 ry off the lim.bs ; and an orchard that needs a se- 

 vere pruning of large limbs, certainly ought to 

 have it done at the proper season of the year, 

 even at the expense of inconvenience, and all the 

 other objections urged. November pruning will 

 answer very well, but June is better. Where a 

 person raises an orchard himself, he ought to be 

 able to do all the pruning in it necessary ivitJi, a 

 common pocket knife, except in cases of accident 

 to the tree by wind or otherwise. 



CROCODILES. 



After burying the eggs in the soil, there to bfi 

 matured by the sun, the female visits, from time 

 to time, the place in which they are secreted, and 

 just as the period of hatching is completed, ex- 

 hibits her eagerness for her offspring in the anxie 

 ty with which she comes and goes, walks around 

 the nest of her hopes, scratches the fractured 

 shell, and, by signs which resemble the bark of a 

 dog, excites the half-extricated young to struggle 

 forth into life. When she has beheld, with this 

 sort of joy, fear and anxiety, the last of her off- 

 spring quit its broken casement, she leads them 

 forth into the plashy pools away from the river 



and among the thick underwood, to avoid the 

 predantory visits of the father, whose palate de- 

 lights in nothing more than the flavor of his own 

 young, which he eats remorselessly on every op- 

 portunity. In this season of care and watchful- 

 ness over them, she is ferocious, daring, and mo- 

 rose, guarding with inquietude her young, when- 

 ever they wander. She turns when they turn, 

 and by whining and grunting, shows a peculiar 

 solicitude to keep them in such pools only as are 

 much too shallow for the resort of the full-grown 

 reptile. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



PRUNING AND TAP ROOT. 



I have read the remarks of "J. M. I.," on the 

 trimming of trees, the circulation of sap, and the 

 agency of leaves, &c. &c., but have failed to learn 

 from him, with any precision, the proper time 

 and manner to trim the limbs from apple trees; 

 if ever this should be done. I am free to confess 

 that I have little faith in the trimming process, 

 as ordinarily performed. The handsomest and 

 most productive apple trees I have ever seen, 

 have grown up among the roclss, with very little 

 modification from the hand of man. I should-as 

 soon think of pricking the veins of a child, when 

 in full health, to make him grow, as to cut off the 

 limbs of a tree to promote its growth. Any 

 wounds to either are unnatural, and cause an ex- 

 traordinary effort in nature to counteract them ; 

 therefore, I disapprove entirely the cutting of 

 the tap root of young trees, when setting them in 

 a nursery, in order that the roots may spread 

 more extensively on the surface, and be the more 

 readily taken up, when wanted for the orchard. 

 Nature, in starting the tap root down below the 

 surface, designed it for the support of the tree, 

 and whoever would have his orchard perfect, 

 should be cautious about interfering with its nat- 

 ural supports. *. 



March 21, 1859. _ 



AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE. 



I have recently been perusing the "Transac- 

 tions of the Massachusetts Society for Promot- 

 ing Agriculture," and I find that from its foun- 

 dation it was zealous in getting agricultural 

 knowledge in some form before the people ; they 

 resorted to such expedients as were available, 

 which were widely different from the manner of 

 disseminating such matter now. If that interest 

 were taken in the difl'usion of agricultural knowl- 

 edge at the present time, that there was former- 

 ly, would it not materially change the aspect of 

 many rural homes ? 



It may be said, we have a large number of va- 

 rious agricultural works and newspapers ; this is 

 all very well, but it does not suffice. We want 

 a system by which the community may be drawn 

 together to have a talk or hear occasionally a 

 lecture on agriculture. Such gatherings and dis- 

 cussions would produce the most beneficial re- 

 sults. J. 



Winchester, 1859. 



PORTABLE IRON GRIST MILL. 

 Subscriber, Orwell, \t., will find who sells this 

 mill by looking at the advertising columns of 

 the weekly Farmer. 



