264 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jvs^ 



four or five feet from the body. All the suckers ! possible. It is difficult to make scions live when 

 wore then carefully cut off, and kept off through j the limb has been exposed to the scorching rays 



the season. The graft grows well during th 

 first summer, for the layer of sap wood, (albur- 

 num,) made the season previous, conveys an 

 abundance of sap to it. Its leaves elaborate this 

 sap into new sap wood and send it down to form 

 a new layer or sheath for the limb, through 

 which the next year's sap may come up, but 



of the sun. I lost three trees by employing a 

 man to graft, who cut off all the branche8,under 

 the mistaken impression that the sap would be 

 forced into the scions. Instead of this, conges- 

 tion of the sap took place, and fermentation and 

 death was the result. 



In regard to the time of pruning I have done 



does not form enough of it. The graft starts: most of it in the months of February and March, 



again next spring perhaps vigorously, for the old 

 sap wood still conveys sap to it, but by fliU it 

 begins to falter, and during the next season it 

 dies. This has been the case with some old limbs 

 in our own orchard, that had been grafted and 

 so managed, and on cutting off the limbs and 

 stripping the bark off, we found that the suc- 

 cessive layers of new sap wood, (alburnum,) did 

 not cover or sheath over the limb, and hence, 

 probably, the death of the whole. 



For the Nctv England Farmer. 



PRUNING AND GRAFTING FRUIT 

 TREES. 



Mr. Editor : — As there is the widest diversity 

 of opinion on the subject of pruning, I beg leave, 

 after some pretty severe experience, to state, that 

 I do not think it of so much consequence when it 

 is done, as how it is done. 



That the growth of young trees will be checked 

 for the season, if they be pruned in the month of 

 June, no one who who has had any experience, 

 will deny. I am not speaking particularly of 

 the apple tree. Aside from this, I can perceive 

 no marked difference in the effects, pi-ovided they 

 be subsequently treated as they should. The man 

 who will go into an orchard with his axe and 

 saw, and use them freely without any further 

 care will dearly pay the penalty. 



I purchased an old orchard seven years ago, of 

 seventy trees of pretty large size, but which had 

 never been grafted and had been much neglected, 

 for want of pruning, or had been barbarously 

 mangled with an axe, or badly injured by the 

 borer. A few trees had been grafted two years 

 previous, but had received no subsequent atten- 

 tion. Under these unpromising circumstances, I 

 commenced grafting and pruning, and think I 

 can sum up mj experience and opinion in a few 

 words, and with some degree of confidence. 



I found that I could graft with best success in 

 March, and the early part of April, provided I 

 could find a day sufficiently warm to cause the 

 wax to adhere to the wood, which will not take 

 place, if it is cold or wet. Special pains should 

 be taken to press the wax close up to the wood 

 and around the scion ; wax is much better made 

 of hog's lard or linseed oil than of tallow, as the 

 latter is more apt to crack and peel off. I use it 

 softer than most grafters. If a tree is inclined 

 to decay, gi-aft in some vigorous wood, such as 

 the Baldwin. Do not graft 'the Roxbury Russet 

 and Rhode Island Greening into very tall trees. 

 In an old tree, if a large limb be unsuitable for 

 grafting, let a shoot spring up perpendicularly 

 and wait a fcAv years, till it be ready to graft. 

 Prune as little as possible the first year of graft- 

 ing ; very sparingly the second, and then in such 

 a way as to have the limbs shaded as much as 



when I could walk in among the trees on the 

 snow-drifts, which are usually high enough here 

 for that purpose. The waxing I have put off till 

 the latter part of April or May. I prefer to trim 

 on the northern side of the tree first, and leave 

 the southern branches for a shade as long as pos- 

 sible. There is nothing so tempting as a desire to 

 trim out a tree when first grafted. 



In cutting off large branches, which sometimes 

 is necessary, be careful to have the lower side, at 

 least, cut close to the tree as possible. It will 

 heal all the better and quicker. Have a plenty 

 of grafting wax made quite soft and always on 

 hand, and when the weather is warm, be sure 

 and cover every wound on the tree, however small 

 it may be. Here is where many .an orchard is 

 ruined by allowing the sap to flow down the bark 

 and kill the tree. It would do you good to see 

 two of my trees healing up which were split 

 down several years ago. A very little attention 

 at the right time every year is all that is necessa- 

 ry on this point. Wax over all the old grafts 

 and wounds in the spring, that have not healed 

 up, and occasionally visit the scions of the pres- 

 ent year, and press up the wax to the wound 

 where it cracks open. If shoots spring up near 

 a large wound, do not be in a hurry about cut- 

 ting them off. If they be in the way of the sci- 

 ons, head them in. I am not sure, but am in- 

 clined to think, that the borer will die if his hole 

 be stopped up with grafting-wax. I shoulder all 

 my scions in cleft grafting, knowing that they fit 

 to the stock much better. For a splitting knife, 

 a common shoe-knife ground out in the middle is 

 best. Do not throw away a tree because it is 

 hollow-hearted. Put in the Baldwin, and it may 

 live and be productive as long as you may need 

 it. If a scion ba.rely lives the first year, better 

 regraft. 



As the result of my experience, many of my 

 trees which I did not consider worth grafting, 

 arc now provided with handsome tops, and begin- 

 ning to bear abundantly, and the whole orchard 

 will not sufier in comparison with ony one in this 

 vicinity. I bury up around them waste ley, bones, 

 leached ashes, liquid excrements, chip and coarse 

 manure, taking care to keep the ground mellow, 

 and free from grass and weeds around the trunk. 

 It is now rare to find a borer in the trees, or a 

 worm in the apples. 



One word about the black knot in plum trees. 

 I have never seen it in this vicinity. How is it 

 in the mountainous regions of Vermont and New 

 Ilaaipshire? N. T. T. 



JDcthel, Me., April 20, 1855. 



I 



Remarks. — The reader will observe that it is 

 "dead winter" when "N. T. T." trims his trees. 

 We think it would be much better done in Octo- 

 ber. 



