No.l. 



True Philosophy. — Orchard Pruning. 



29 



True Philosophy. 



Let those that will, repine at fate, 



And drop their heads with sorrow; 

 I laugh, when cares upon me wait— 



I know they'll leave to-morrow. 

 My purse is light, but what of that? 



My heart is light to match it ; 

 And if I tear my only coat, 



I laugh the while I patch it. 

 I 've seen some elves, who called themselves 



My friends in summer weather, 

 Blown far away in sorrow's day, 



As winds would blow a feather. 

 I never grieved to see them go, 



(The flatterers who would heed em?) 

 For what 's the use of having friends, 



If false, when most you need 'em ? 

 I've seen some rich in worldly gear. 



Eternally repining, 

 Their hearts a prey to every fear — 



With gladness never shining. 

 I would not change my lightsome heart, 



For all their sold and sorrow ; 

 For that 's a thing that all their wealth 



Can neither buy nor borrow. 

 And still, as sorrows come to me, 



(As sorrow sometimes will come,) 

 I find the way to make them flee, 



Is bidding them right welcome. 

 They cannot brook a cheerful look — 



They're used to sobs and sighing; 

 And he that meets them with a smile. 



Is sure to set them flying. 



Even. Jour. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Orchard Pruning. 



Mr. Editor, — I have found that the busi- 

 ness of pruning might be done early in the 

 autumn with decided advantage, for it gives 

 the wounds of the tree time to dry and harden 

 before the frosts set in; and if the horizontal 

 branches are permitted to remain, and those 

 which have taken an upright direction be 

 judiciously shortened, the bearing of the tree 

 will be much encouraged and the shape of it 

 improved. A few strong upright shoots have 

 often been found to carry with them the 

 strength and fruitfulness of the tree, and in 

 the end to quite spoil its symmetry and pro- 

 portions ; they generally become naked and 

 even devoid of foliage for the greater portion 

 of their length, and are liable to be affected 

 by every blighting wind that blows, particu- 

 larly at the time of blossoming and at the 

 period of the setting of the fruit ; indeed it is 

 seldom, comparatively, that such strong up- 

 right shoots are either useful or ornamental. 

 The common method of pruning-, namely, to 

 induce the tree to cast its branches high and 

 perpendicular, with the view to increase its 

 fruitfulness by throwing the bearing wood 

 into the sun and air, is certainly wrong, and 

 so also is the custom of thinning out the 

 branches inordinately, with the same object; 

 there is a medium which it is necessary to 

 observe, and I have long been convinced that 

 more evil is done to an orchard by over- 

 pruning, than allowing it to remain in its na- 

 tural state. I could point to hundreds of trees 



which were once good bearers in the hands 

 of a man who was proverbial for letting 

 things take their course, but which are now, 

 and have been for several past years quite 

 barren, in consequence of the present proprie- 

 tor being, what is called, fond of the knife, 

 and who boasts that it has not cost him a 

 cent for firing for so long a time, the pruning 

 of his orchard having furnished the house 

 with wood in the greatest abundance, and of 

 which he can see no end. 



Now, I am an enemy to this mode of wood- 

 chopping, for I can see that it is ruinous in 

 the extreme ; it encourages the trees to send 

 forth perpendicular and barren wood, and 

 draws the substance of the tree towards the 

 top, quite reversing the order of its nature. 

 But there is as certainly a judicious mode of 

 doing things, and I know of none that re- 

 quires more the judgment and taste of a man, 

 titan that of pruning, simple as that opera- 

 tion appears to those who are least acquainted 

 with the science, which requires study as 

 well as practice. If persons would be con- 

 tent to perform the operation partially, and 

 by degrees remove the large branches of a 

 tree which has long been neglected, they 

 would not see so commonly, that the head of 

 it has shot up into one mass of fire-wood, 

 quite without the possibility of affording even 

 space for bearing, the blossoms of which, if 

 ever they attempt to make their appearance, 

 being weak and of an unhealthy appearance 

 and shape. This mode of pruning is alone 

 sufficient to throw a tree out of bearing; and 

 although it might be said to create new wood, 

 it is of a kind that will produce no fruit ; 

 generally speaking, it is the horizontal branch 

 of a tree which is the bearing wood, and that 

 which ought to be preserved ; one of these 

 often producing more fruit than half a hun- 

 dred of those which shoot perpendicularly. 

 On cutting off the limb of a tree, there is 

 always an escape of a portion of the juice — 

 this in time becomes putrid, and in this will 

 insects deposit their eggs — or, as many be- 

 lieve, this exuded putrid juice will, of itself, 

 produce them : it is, therefore, highly proper 

 to have ready-prepared a quantity of the me- 

 dicated tar mentioned in your last number, 

 with which to anoint the wounds made at 

 the time of pruning ; this will be found to 

 dry up the juice and stop the bleeding, as 

 also to protect the wound from the attacks of 

 the insect tribe. Malum. 



July 19, 1842. 



Root Pruning. — 'The last Magazine of 

 Horticulture has a valuable article upon the 

 root pruning of trees, by which they are 

 made more prolific and kept in a smaller 

 compass than if suffered to grow naturally. 



