458 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



an oval cell or pod, of fragments of wood, strong- 

 ly cemented with a kind of glue ; it goes through 

 its transformation within the cell, and comes forth 

 in the heetle form in the month of July." 



ABOUT APPLE TREES. 



The season of Autumn, in New England, has 

 come to be highly favorable to the operations of 

 husbandry. Most of the three autumnal months 

 affoi'd delightful weather for plowing and reclaim- 

 ing, for building stone walls, ditching and trans- 

 planting ; the month of November, even, affording 

 weather suitable f )r hauling manure and prepar 

 ing the earth for most of the crops of the coming 

 year. The spring time for preparing the soil and 

 getting in the various crops, on the other hand, 

 has come to be usually inclement and short — 

 April being too wet and cold, frequently, either 

 to plow, sow, or plant. It is, therefore, well to 

 accomjjlish as much of the form work as possible 

 in the fall, leaving more tim~ In the spring to per- 

 form the important labors then before us, more 

 considerately and thoroughly. 



We know of tio substantial reason why apple 

 trees should not be .transplanted in the fall, and 

 there are several reasons which, to our mind 

 make it the prop;r time. The first we have al- 

 ready adduced — tliere is a less demand upon our 

 time by other things waiting to be done. We can 

 visit the nurseries and make a more thorough ex- 

 amination of trees in the pleasant autumn days, 

 than through the snows or mud of March and 

 April. Another reason is, that trees well set in 

 October, after having cast their leaves, "will gain 

 fibres enough to support them before winter, and 

 will shoot well the next spring, and better than 

 those planted in the spring."' But in fall trans 

 planting, care must be taken that no water re- 

 mains standing al^out the tree through the win- 

 ter ; and Bradley says — in his Treatise on Hus- 

 bandry and Gardening — "we must never fail to 

 plant the same side towards the south which stood 

 80 before." The tree being set, it is a good plan 

 to tlirow the soil about it to the height of a foot 

 or more, which will steady it through the winEer 

 and keep its roots in place ; ia the spring it 

 should be levelled. 



Having the tree now set and finely growing, it 

 will not do to let nature sport with it in her 

 freest moods, nor on the other hand to be perpet- 

 ually at work upon it with the pruning-knife. 

 Continual pruning makes the tree shoot into false 

 wood and miscarry of its buds designed for fruit ; 

 and the reason of it is this — the root had filled it 

 self with juices proportionable to the nourishment 

 its standing branches required, and when these 

 ai-e taken .'uvay, the effort that nature makes is 

 to supply new shoots to receive the sap which the 

 root has stored up. This will be made evident to 

 any one who will observe the great number of 



suckers or new shoots onan old apple tree after it 

 has been severely trimmed for grafting in the 

 spring — the root had laid up the sap, and there 

 not being sufficient outlet for it, it had to supply 

 such outlet by making new wood. 



It is often said that the shaping of trees and the 

 training of vines is entirely a matter of taste ; but 

 we cannot think the opinion a correct one, any 

 more than it would be applied to the ox, th« 

 horse, or the cow. Symmetry in shape in the lat- 

 ter pleases the eye and at the same time gives 

 large muscles and a corresponding strength and 

 weight, and thus utility is combined with good 

 taste. So it is of the tree and the vine. We be- 

 lieve that as much good taste is yet to be manifest- 

 ed in the management of trees, as there has al- 

 ready been in the improvement of our animals, 

 and that the development of this good taste will 

 also increase the profit of the fruit crops. A great 

 many of the apple, peach, apricot and plum trees 

 in New England, are neither in a state of nature, 

 nor managed according to the rules of art. They 

 are budded or grafted trees, and are thus not ac- 

 cording to nature ; then they are hacked with 

 axes, lacerated with dull saws and gouged with 

 hob-nailed boots. A limb is smote off here which 

 ought to have remained, and another left there 

 which outrages every rule of proportion. In form- 

 ing the young tree we would start the limbs about 

 five feet from the ground, and should allow no 

 centre perpendicular stem above them. Three or 

 four branches coming out at opposite sides of the 

 stem will give a round full head, in shape some- 

 what like an umbrella reversed, and as the tree 

 increases,will throw out numerous lateral branch- 

 es, which will fill up and form a head of beautiful 

 symmetry, and one which is, we think, the best 

 calculated to produce the greatest money value of 

 fruit. Perhaps not the largest quantity buf of the 

 most value. None of these lateral limbs should 

 be allowed to cross the tree — that is, to start from 

 one side and grow across the inside of the tree. 

 When shaped in this form, a person may walk 

 pretty much over the top of an apple tree which 

 has been growing twenty years; the light and air 

 is freely admitted, the limbs do not obstruct and 

 chafe each other, and room is left below for the 

 comfortable cultivation of the land. Trees once 

 formed in this manner will scarcely need the knife 

 or saw for years in succession, unless in cases of 

 accidents, provided the cultivator uses his thumb 

 and finger judiciously when the shoots are young 

 and tender. 



Apple trees, however, producing diflferent kinds 

 of fruit have different habits of growth. Some 

 inclining to shoot upward in a prim and slender 

 form, others into compact, thick heads, with 

 strong, lateral branches, while others, again, as- 

 sume a pendent form. Most of the sweet apple 

 trees have long, slender, whiplash-like branches ; 



