153 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aprii, 



ti38, in March or April, when the owner, having 

 completed his winter's work, has time to do it. 

 As Avarm weather approaches, a poisonous sap 

 runs from the wounds, blackening and killing the 

 bark, when a few years ends their miserable ex- 

 istence. 



This may look like a fancy sketch, but I ask any 

 intelligent cultivator, looking at cmise and effect, 

 if it is not the true cause why so many orchards 

 in New England are worthless at fifty years of age, 

 instead of being healthy and fruitful at two hun- 

 dred years old, as they would be with proper treat- 

 ment. 



A tree left to itself needs little or no pruning. 

 Look at our fields, where we find owners of taste, 

 we find a liberal supply of shade-trees where Dame 

 Nature planted the seeds and has taken all the 

 care of them. Does she not dispose of all the 

 small twigs and leaves on the bodies as soon as she 

 has no further use for them? And, as a whole, 

 does she not form as good or even better, more 

 healthy and graceful tops, than we find generally 

 in orchards that have been liberally aided with 

 the jack-kni^e and hand-saw? Certainly from 

 such a teacher we ought to be able to take some 

 practical lessons. I do not say that pruning is 

 never necessary, but do say that, in the culture of 

 treSs, nature should be studied and aided, never 

 thicarted. 



When one procures trees for orchard planting, 

 his inquiry should be, not how tall ? but what is 

 their diameter at the base ? — are they on entire 

 roots 1 — at what distance have they grown from 

 each other in the nursery? — what has been their 

 exposure to winds ? — have they been once or twice 

 transplanted and cultivated so as to be well filled 

 witli fibrous roots ? — and have they been grown in 

 ordinary soil, or have they a forced growth by 

 stimulating manures? I will not insult the com- 

 mon sense of any man by saying what answer 

 should be given to these questions. No tree re- 

 quiring a stake should be planted in an orchard. 

 If not rooted and grown enough to stand alone 

 against all winds without, throw it aside as use- 



Trees properly planted require attention during 

 the first few years to form a well balanced top, 

 taking out some and shortening othfcr limbs. After 

 this the pruning required is very trifling — in most 

 trees none during the ordinary life of man. But 

 in this wicked world we must take things as they 

 are and not as they should be, or would have been, 

 with proper early attention and culture, and as 

 far as practicable, remedy evils already existing. 



The most common error in pruning is thinning 

 out the whole interior or central portion of a tree 

 to "let in the sun," thus destroying one-half of 

 the l)earing branches, leaving long, naked limbs 

 producing fruit only at the ends beyond the reach 

 of anything larger than a raccoon, without the 

 aid of long ladders, lessening the quantity of fruit 

 and injuring the quality. Apples protected by 

 leaves are much better, larger and fairer, (being 

 grown as Nature designed,) than when grown on 

 the ends of long branches, exposed to the sun in 

 July and August. In the cool, moist and cloudy 

 atmosphere of England , this course is not only pro- 

 per but necessary, some of our American apples 

 even requiring the trees to be trained to a wall to 

 ripen their fruit, but the course practiced and 

 taught by the best English cultivators is for their 



climate, not for ours. A tree properly trained foe 

 them in a few years may be ruined by the hot 

 suns and cold winters of New England. 



Trees require different training, depending on 

 varieties. A course proper to perfect the North- 

 ern Spy or Newtown Pippin is wrong for the 

 Rhode Island Greening and northern varieties gen- 

 erally. 



When old trees are grafted, a very different 

 course of thinning out is necessary, and generally 

 during the first few years it is necessary to cut out 

 many of the grafts. It is of little use to prune 

 old trees standing on worn out Soils (as is the 

 case with most of our old orchards) without first 

 cultivating, manuring and supplying alkalies, of 

 which the soil has become exhausted ; but as this 

 article is already quite too long, I shall say noth- 

 ing of cultivation. 



When a tree throws out sprouts on its branches 

 it is a sure indication of disease, and the natural 

 remedy is to leave the best to form new limbs and 

 gradually remove the old branches. If this is done 

 with the ^r5i sprouts, it will be necessary to leave 

 very few, and cut out old branches accordingly. 

 Old decayed trees which have been entirely neg- 

 lected, when filled with vigorous shoots, can in a 

 few years have entire new tops by reserving the 

 strongest in proper places and cutting out all the 

 old limbs. These, every man understands, should 

 be cut close to the growing limbs, and so as to heal 

 well, and covered with some composition. The 

 best I have ever tried is composed of tar thickened 

 with brick dust, and applied when warm with a 

 brush. Grafting wax or Gum Shellac dissolved in 

 Alcohol is liable to peel off on large limbs. 



The time for general pruning in New England 

 is in June or early in July, "after the first growth. 

 The sap is then rapidly formed, and descends from 

 the leaves so that all fresh cuts commence closing 

 immediately. Large dead and dying limbs may 

 be cut through the summer, September and Oc- 

 tober, if covered with composition. All winter 

 pruning is bad. February, March and April are 

 the worst three months in the year for pruning 

 any trees. Sap soon after ascends, flows from the 

 fresh wounds made by cutting large limbs, poison- 

 ing and killing the bark, and, if a general pruning 

 is then done, it is very destructive. 



I am aware that winter or early spring pruning 

 is advocated by many very intelligent men, but in 

 a country where every winter the themometcr falls 

 from 10'^ to SC^ below zero it is far better to let 

 trees alone. If any one will notice an orchard so 

 treated (and it is often done) — see it again in August 

 with the black and dead bark on limbs and bodies 

 caused by flow of sap, and mark its progress a few 

 years, he must be satisfied it may be as well to cut 

 a tree at the root and i-emove it entii-e, as to cut 

 off one-fourth of its top in the winter or early 



apnng. 



Burlington, 



C. Goodrich. 



Vt., March, 1854. 



Remarks. — We bespeak for this article more 

 than the ordinary attention of the reader. 



li^ Many who find the day too long, think life 

 too short ; but short as life is, some find it long 

 enough to outlive their characters, their constitu- 

 tions, and their estates. 



