PRACTICAL FARMER. 



11 



[From the Genesee Farmer. j 

 PRVKING FOREST AND FRUIT TRKES. 



The operation of pruning, like every other 

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

 tem, and conducted with a definite and well 

 understood object, a course very different from 

 the haphazard manner in which it is too frequent- 

 ly performed. The desired shape and tbrm of the 

 tree — the kind of tree to be pruned, whether 

 fruit or forest tree, should be 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 ihu 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 sliould 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 thrs 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- 

 cluded from light 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 upright stems, as we fre- 

 quently witness in fruit orchards, should ft-om the 

 first be carefully avoided, and 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 have 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 firndy supported by the intertwining of 

 their fibres with those of the main stem, that they 

 rarely fail, while divided upright stems never 

 firmly unite, and are therefore always in danger. 

 In addition to the difficulty of giving a proper 

 shape to trees when pruning 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, and 

 thus perpetuate the mischief To prevent the 

 evil, most of our respectable farmers and orchard- 

 ists make a practice of covering such places when 

 the wounds are first made, with some pre|!aration 

 which will exclude air and moisture, such as the 

 wax used for grafting — with paint laid on with 

 a brush — with tar tliickened with brick dust — 

 or, what in the situution of some is better than 

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

 sure, and taken from the axles of wagons, carts 

 &c. 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, 

 tiiid by ilie t^AclusJoii of air, sornewliat assists the 

 formation of new wood and bark. 



As to the proper time of pruning, various, and 

 in effect, contradictory opinions have been ad- 

 vanced, almost every season of the year having 

 been alternately proposed. Mr McMahon, in his 

 American Gardener, says, " as early in this month 

 (March) as possible, finish pruning your cherries 

 and plums — also before the end thereof, your 

 apple and pear trees. Peaches, nectarines, apri- 

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

 early in the month, if not done 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 prune 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 |)runing " from the beginning of 

 February to the middle of July, but carries it on 

 during every other season of the year." The 

 time recommended by Judge Duel for summer 

 pruning, " is between the first and second growth, 

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

 assigns for summer 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 : — 

 " May is the proper month for pruning in this 

 latitude." 



•David Thomas, one of the best authorities, says 

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

 rather partial to the winter, or indeed to any time 

 when tho sap does not flow. The stump being 



