190 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Arc. 



I 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT- 



BY P. BARRY. 



Management of Fniit Trees. 



Mr. Editor : — It is not my design to give you 

 a labored discussion on this subject, but merely 

 to state the results of my own experience, togeth- 

 er with a few remarks thereon. 



1. Transplant ing. — I am well aware that a 

 diversity of opinion exists in regard to the time 

 of transplanting ; some preferring the fall of the 

 year, others the spring. My own pi'eference 

 would be this: If I could have my trees taken 

 up with the roots uninjured, I would prefer the 

 former season ; otherwise, the latter. My rea- 

 son is this : If the roots be much injured, the tree 

 will sutler by evaporation before the growing 

 season commences. In regard to the roots, I 

 consider it important, that all those that are bro- 

 ken and torn be cut smoothly off, that the wounds 

 may heal readily. I believe that the neglect of 

 this is one cause of the premature decay of some 

 trees under circumstances that often seem diffi- 

 cult of explanation. At any rate, a shattered 

 root will necessarily rot and injure the tree. I 

 have seen trees that did not appear to thrive well 

 after having been transplanted a few years, and 

 upon examining the roots, have found them bi'o- 

 ken and decayed. Having removed the entire 

 decayed portion and replaced them in the earth 

 they have afterwards done well. 



Pruning should also be attended to at the time 

 of transplanting. Many, perhaps most, people 

 retain all, or nearly all, the head, or top. On 

 the other hand I cut off all, or nearly all. I rea- 

 son thus : The root, even at the best, has been 

 considerably injured, having lost many of the 

 small branches. The top, or head, at the time 

 of taking up the tree, was as large as the root 

 uninjured was capable of supporting. Unless. 

 therefore, a considerable portion of the top be 

 removed, the root will not be able to support it, 

 and the tree will not thrive. If the top be cut 

 away, the root will make as much top as it is able 

 to support. Hence I cut off all, or nearly all, 

 the top at the time of transplanting ; i. e., I trim 

 the tree, if small, up to a single stem ; if lai-ge, 

 in proportion Whether my philosophy be cor- 

 rect or not, I not only seldom lose a tree, if it 

 has even a tolerable root, but generally find my 

 trees to grow almost as thriftily as if they had 

 not been removed. Besides, I have frequently 

 restored an apparently dying tree to health and 

 vigor, by cutting off nearly all the top, even in 

 mid-summer. The reason is plain : if the evap- 

 oration from the leaves exceeds the supply of 

 unappropriated moisture taken in by the roots, 

 the tree will die, or at least suffer, from mere 

 exhaustion. Hence restrain the evaporation ; 

 j. e., cut off the top, and the tree may be saved. 



2. Annual Pruning. — On this subject, I am 



in favor of pruning in the spring or summer, 

 rather than in the fall or winter, especially for 

 the peach and the pear. My reason is this : I 

 have observed, that wherever a limb has been 

 cut away in the latter season, it does not heal 

 over readily. The bark turns black and dies 

 around the wound, leaving a dead spot two or 

 three times the diameter of the original wound* 

 I do not know that this is always the case, but I 

 believe it is generally. I have observed this ef- 

 fect only on the peach and the pear. 



In regard to the manner in which the pruning 

 should be performed, every lirfib, or branch, that 

 is removed should be cut close to the bilge or 

 swell at its base, and be cut smoothly off. The 

 murderous practice of some, of chopping off the 

 branches with an axe, either mangling the body 

 of a tree, or leaving a stump several inches long, 

 split perhaps, and haggled, to rot and injure the 

 tree, cannot be too severely reprehended. I 

 have now in my orchard a valuable apple-tree, 

 which had been trimmed in this manner before 

 it came into my possession, every wound of 

 which might have been healed by this time, had 

 the pruning been properly performed. It will 

 now require several years to complete the pro- 

 cess, and what is worse, one of the mangled stems 

 has decayed down into the body of the tree, and 

 still continues to decay, and also bleeds consider- 

 ably. (How can I prevent the bleeding and fur- 

 ther decay ?) 



While on the subject of pruning, allow me to 

 say a few words on the management of trees that 

 have been newly grafted or budded. It is well 

 known that when a branch, or the whole head, of 

 a tree has been cut off, and a graft inserted, a 

 number of young shoots start out on the sides of 

 the stem. This is caused by an excess of sap in 

 the stock, which the graft, even if it grows, is 

 unable to appropriate. I have been asked wheth- 

 er it is proper to remove these shoots as fast as 

 they appear ; I answer, by no means, especially 

 if much of the head of the tree was cut away at 

 the time of grafting, or budding. It may per- 

 haps be safe to remove a few of them, but in 

 general it is far better to let them remain till the 

 tree shall have done growing for the season, or 

 till the season for pruning, when they may be 

 removed. The leaves of a tree serve for the 

 purpose of absorption, digestion, and respiration. 

 They absorb nourishment from the atmosphere ; 

 hence, if the foliage be taken away, the tree will 

 starve for want of sustenance. Further, if the 

 food derived from the atmosphere, as well as the 

 sap derived from the root, be not properly digest- 

 ed, (as they cannot be, if the necessary amount 

 of foliage be not present,) the tree will sicken, 

 and perhaps die. Hence these young and appa- 

 rently superfluous shoots should be left, or but 

 sparingly removed, during the season of growth, 

 and be cut away afterwards. This lesson I 

 learned by experience, having lost a valuable 



