382 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL. 37, 1836, 



[Krom the Genesee : armor. j 

 PRUKINO FOREST ABfD FRUIT TREES. 



Tlie oppiation of pruning, like every other 

 business of the farm, shoulil be the result of sys- 

 tem, anti conducted with a definite and well 

 understood olijoct, a course very different from 

 the haphazard manner in which it is too frequent- 

 ly performed. The desired shape and form of the 

 tree — the kind of tree to be prune<I, whether 

 fruit or forest tree, should he considered, and 

 every branch should be cut off with reference to 

 these things. It is evident at sight, that a tree to 

 produce fruit in perfection, should be subjected to 

 a very different treatment from one intended for 

 forest growth, or timber alone. In the first a 

 large open top or crown is required — in the last, 

 the great effort should be to keep the top from 

 spreading, and the leading stem upright and free. 

 In order to keep a tree perfectly under com- 

 mand, and the direction of its branches under 

 control, pruning should be commenced when the 

 tree is small, and continued yearly, or as often as 

 the operation is required. Yet in riding about 

 the country, the stunted, scrubby trees, and infe- 

 rior fruit, that are so frequently presented, proves 

 that this important business of the farm is mostly 



overlooked, or very imperfectly attended to 



Fruit trees should be so pruned as to bring every 

 part as much into the sun and air as possible. 

 Some kinds, such as the apple, produce fruit in 

 all parts of the top, and if that is left thick and 

 •compressed, the apples in the interior being >ex- 

 cjluded from liglit and air will be small, and of a 

 very inferior quality. Care should, therefore, be 

 taken to leave such branches as have a proper 

 inclination and spread, so as to afford the greatest 

 possible exposed surface to the sun. 



The training of two U])right stems, as we fre- 

 quently witness in fruit orchards, should from the 

 first be carefully avoided, aiul where they have 

 been permitted to exist, no time should be lost in 

 removing one of them from the tree. When 

 young, such a stem may be cut off without injury, 

 but when they liave become large they cause a 

 large wound ; still it is better to run the risk of 

 this, than to have them, when heavily laden with 

 fruit, split down, as they most assuredly will, and 

 thus destroy the tree. Peach and plum trees are 

 peculiarly liable to this result, nor indeed are any 

 trees entirely exempt. The horizontal branches 

 are so firmly supported by the intertwining cif 

 their fibres with those of the main stem, that they 

 rarely fail, while divided upright stems nevei- 

 firmly unite, and are therefore always in danger. 

 In addition to the difiiculty of giving a pro|)er 

 shape to trees when ])iuning has been long ne- 

 glected, another serious evil must be encountered 

 in the decayed places so apt to occur where large 

 branches are cut off, in which worms and insects 

 find a harbor, and where blue birds and wood- 

 peckers not unfrequently make a lodgment, an<l 

 thus perpetuate the mischief To prevent this 

 evil, most of our respectable farmers and ore hard - 

 ists make a practice of covering such places when 

 the wounds are first made, with some preparation 

 which will exclude air and moisture, such as the 

 wax used for grafting — with paint laid on with 



a brush — with tar thickened with brick dust 



or, what in the situution of some is better than 

 any of these, with tar Imrdtned by use and expo- 

 sure, and taken from the axles of wagons, carls, 

 &.O. Any of these may be useful, and the more 

 so in proportion to their durability, as such cover- 



ing preserves the dry wood from decomposition, 

 and by the exclusion of air, somewhat assists the 

 formation of new wood and bark. 



As to the ]iroper time of |iruning, various, and 

 in effect, contradictory opinions have been ad- 

 vanced, almost every season of the year having 

 been alternately proposed. Mr WcMahon, in his 

 American Gardener, says, "as early in this month 

 (March) as possible, finish pruning your cherries 

 and |)lums — also before the end thereof, your 

 apple and pear trees. Peaches, nectarines, apri- 

 cots, almonds, quinces, &c. should also be pruned 

 eaily in the monlli, if not dune before. The pru- 

 ning of all kinds of fruit trees should be finished 

 before the buds begin to swell or push." 



Judge Buel's directions for pruning are: "Be- 

 gin to prun'e when the tree is young; cut close 

 and smooth to the bole or limb; cut, when small, 

 all the branches which will require to be removed 

 at a more advanced period of growth ; do not 

 trim to excess ; do not prune when the tree bleeds ; 

 and prune in the summer." To justify the inno- 

 vation of summer pruning, he refers to Pontey 

 and Sang, foreign writers of merit, the first of 

 whom says: "As a general rule, summer is pre- 

 ferable to winter pruning" — and the latter of 

 whom suspends pruning " from the beginning of 

 February to the middle of July, but carries it on 

 during every other season of the year." The 

 tiine recommended by Judge Buel for summer 

 pruning, " is between the first and second growth, 

 late in June or early in July." The reasons he 

 assigns for suumiep pruning are, " 1st. It causes 

 no loss of sap ; 2d. The wounds are readily 

 healed by the aid of the already descending elab- 

 orated sap; and 3d. That shoots seldom grow 

 from the edges of wounds made in summer pru- 

 ning." 



The Genesee Farmer, vol. 3, page 11, says : 



" ?.lay is the proper month for pruning in this 

 latitude." 



David Thomas, one of the best authorities, says 

 — " In regard to the season for trimming, I am 

 rather partial to the winter, or indeed to any time 

 when the sap does not flow. The stumi) lieing 

 comparatively dry, especially if we defer the coat- 

 ing for a few days, I have believed it in a better 

 condition to receive the paint, than when the buds 

 are just opening into leaf The argument that 

 the new wood in summer pruning immediately 

 begins to cover up the wound, I think possesses 

 but little weight." • 



Mr Kenrick, in the New American Orchard ist, 

 says — "The most suitable time for pruning is that 

 interval between the time the frost is out of the 

 ground in the spring, alid the opening of the 

 leaf" 



The result of these conflicting opinions in our 

 mind has been, not that pruning was not useful 

 and indispensable, hut that it makes but little dif- 

 ference at what season of the year the operation 

 is performed, with the exception, perhaps, of a 

 month or two in the spring, while the sap is 

 ascending most rapidly, and in consequence the 

 tree is most liable to suffer injury from bleedin"'. 

 If, as Judge Buel slates, one of the results of sum- 

 mer pruning is to prevent the formation of sprouts 

 or shoots from the wound, a great point has been 

 gained ; hut we do not recollect any experiments 

 that go to sustain this opinion, agreeable as it cer- 

 tainly is to the correct theory of vegetation. It 

 is to be wished that farmers and orchardists 



would, by fair and thorough experiment, settle th( 

 question of pruning, ami by publishing the results 

 enlighten the great body of their brethren on thi- 

 topic. Till this is done, let farmers prune thei 

 orchards when most convenient, (with the excep. 

 tion made above,) and a great increase of fruit 

 both in quality and quantity, will, we are confi. 

 dent, be the result. w. G. 



Rice Flour. — Through the polite and friendly 

 attention of Col. Vanderhost, we have been favored 

 not only with a gpecimen of a very superioi 

 article prepared under bis own direction, but with 

 the proper manner of making use of it. We do 

 not know that we can do a better service to our 

 southern friends than by giving the various modes 

 of its preparation, in order to overcome a difiiculty 

 in the use of it, arising entirely from a genera! 

 ignorance of the article in its present form. Oui 

 readers will observe that we do not arrogate tt 

 ourselves the framing of these valuable prepara- 

 tions. We never boiled rice in our lives ; though 

 we have some little credit for ability in encoun- 

 tering it in a difterent way. But the ladies to 

 whom we are specially indebted on more occa- 

 sions than one, have graciously informed us where 

 we are in fault. 



For the making of rice bread, then, you are 

 required to boil a pint of rice soft, and a pint of 



leaven, then three quarts of the flour pgt it to 



rise in a tin or earthen vessel, until it has risea 



sufiiciently — divide it into three parts then 



bake it as other bread, and you will have three 

 large loaves. 



To make Journey or Johnny Cake. — To three 

 spoonsful of soft boiled rice, and a small tea cup 

 of water or milk — then add six spoonsful of the 

 flour, which will make a large journey cake six 

 wafles. 



To make Rice Cakes — Take a pint of soft boil- 

 ed rice, a half pint of milk or water, to which add 

 twelve spoonsful of the flour, divide it into small 

 cakes, and bake them in a brisk oven. 



To ma/ce Wafers. — Take a pint of warm water, 

 a tea spoonful of salt — add a pint of the flour, 

 and it will give you two dozen wafers. 



To make Rice Puffs. — To a pint of the flour, 

 add a tea spoonful of salt, a pint of boiling water, 

 beat up four eggs — stir them well together — 

 put from two to three spoonsful of fat in a pan ; 

 make it boiling hot, and drop a spoonful of the 

 mixture into the fat as you do in making common 

 flitters. 



To make Pap-Pudding. — To a ijuart of milk 



add a pint of the flour — boil them to a paj) 



beat up six eggs, to which add six spoonsful of 

 Havana sugar and a spoonful of butter, which, 

 wheH well beaten together, add them to the milk 

 and flour — grease the pan in which it is to be 

 made, grate nutmeg over the mixture and bake it. 



After all tiiis is done, the sooner they are eaten 

 the better. W. Thorneurn, 



347 North ftlarket St., New York. 



N. B — The above will be found on trial to be 

 a seasonable article for family use, during the 

 warm season. 



Two centuries after the worship of the gods of 

 mythology was questioned at Athens, Cicero first 

 ventured at Rome, in a philosophic way, to break 

 up their altars in the " Eternal City." . 



