94 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



April 



I 



luirtiniltural IOr|inrtnifnt. 



EDITED BY P. BARRY. 



A FEW HINTS ON THE PRtTNING OF TREES AT 

 THE TIME OF TRANSPLANTING. 



About this season of the year tlicre is not a day, nor 

 scarcely an hour, that we do not hear the questions 

 asked — " Do trees require to be pruned before plant- 

 ing ?" — "How much should I prune trees before 

 planting ?" — and so on. The truth is, that although 

 almost everybody is planting trees, very few are 

 aware of the importance of pruning, or understand 

 clearly the objects it is intended to attain, or the 

 proper mode of doing it. A great majority are satis- 

 fied with digging a hole and putting the roots of the 

 tree into it, and leaving it there just as it came from 

 the inirsery. Hence it is that so many trees utterly 

 perish after planting, and go many more grow feebly, 

 and slowly, and ill-shaped. 



Pruning at the time of transplanting is performed 

 with two objects in view — one of which is to restore 

 the equilibrium between the roots and branches, which 

 the removal of the tree had injured by the ur.avoiilable 

 mutilation of the roots : and the other is to mould the 

 tree into such a form as 

 taste or the circumstan- 

 ces of its position may 

 dictate. To accomplish 

 either or both of these 

 ends, we must resort to 

 pruning ; and first, lei 

 us consider it with ref- 

 erence to restoring equi- 

 librium between the 

 roots and branches. 



We take, for illustra- 

 tion, a peach tree of one 

 year's growth from the 

 bud, (fig. 1,) four to five 

 feet in height, and fur- 

 nished with vigorous 

 branches, nearly from 

 top to bottom. Our 

 rougli sketcli is made 

 from a specimen which 

 has the general appear- 

 ance of some thousands 

 in nursery rows, and this 

 — ^-^^==5^ ^yg presume to bo the 

 Peach trte one !,earf,o'nlmd. ordinary character of 

 yearling peach trees, when grown on good 8oil, 

 with clean culture, and no summer pruning or 



shortening of the side branches. Now it seems 

 to us that it must appear very evident to any 

 one who will reflect on the matter for a moment, 

 that after this tree has been taken from the ground, 

 with its large roots necessarily shortened, and, if 

 long out of ground, nearly all the fibrous roots dead, 

 it will be impossible for it to sustain such a large 

 surface of top. If left entire, the demand that so 

 many buds, such a large growing surface, would 

 make upon the roots, could not possibly be supplied 

 — a great many will consequently perish, and prob- 

 ably the whole tree. This is the actual history of 

 thousands of peach trees every year. A few days 

 ago we looked into a gentleman's little city garden, 

 and saw a dozen peach trees that had been planted 

 last fall. Tliey had precisely the appearance indi- 

 cated by fig. 1. We asked him if he did not intend 

 to prune them. He replied that he was not aware 

 that it was necessary. But so necessary is it, that 

 unless he prunes them, he will find that in the month 

 of June or July next they will be "as good as dead." 

 Such a tree we would prune in this way for a tow 

 standard, (which is the best for both garden and 

 orchard in this country.) We want a clean stem of 

 at least three feet : but it will not do to strip the 

 branches off at once. We remove entirely the longer 

 ones only, and shorten all the smaller ones to two or 

 three eyes. When a peach tree is pruned too heavily 

 or closely at one time, it is very likely to gum and 

 canker — the sap not being absorbed by new leaves or 

 branches, becomes stagnant and bursts the bark. 

 Severe pruning, on any of the stone fruits particularly, 

 will result in disease. On each side of the leading 

 shoot we see a strong branch that has outgrown and 

 weakened it. If we wanted to continue the tree 

 farther in a vertical direction, with a leading shoot, 

 we would choose the strongest of these two side 

 branches for a leader, and cut back the other and the 

 original leader to two buds ; but, as we wish to form 

 the head of the tree, we simply cut the original leader 

 out to a bud or two, and top 

 the other two strong side 

 shoots to make them branch 

 out. The small shoots left 

 shortened along the trunk are 

 cut oi? clean next season, or 

 in the summer as soon as the \ 

 tree is in a condition to spare - 

 them. In all cases the cut is 

 made at a good, plump bud ; 

 and if the shoot is wanted to 

 take a vertical direction, the 

 bud must be on the upper 

 side of tho branch ; if a hor- 

 izontal direction, on the low- 

 er side. 



In trees where the side 

 branches have been kept 

 down by summer pinching, 

 or by having been closely 

 planted, the trees will have 

 two to two and a half feet of 

 a clear stem, with a branch- 

 ing head ; and in this case 

 the pruning will be similar 

 to the ])runing of the ordinary ' 

 nursery standard trees, such, ^"•'"Jaril chmy tree, /too 

 for instance, as a two year yemso 



old cherrv, figure 2. The branches have merely to 

 bo shortened, as shown by the cross lines. In all 



