1851. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



71 



W: 



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inrtindtimil Df|inrframt. 



EDITED BY P. BARRY. 



A FEW HINTS ON PRUNING AND MANAGING 

 ORCHARDS. 



There is so much said about our clear and dry at- 

 mosphere, and bright sun, obviating the necessity of 

 pruning ; and so much said, too, about pruning being 

 an "unnatural" operation, that a great many people 

 have actually settled down in the belief that on the 

 whole it is as well to let trees grow in their own 

 natural way. The orchards of Western New York 

 are not much worse managed than those of other 

 sections ; in some respects, perhaps, they are better ; 

 but we can safely say that there is not one in 20 of 

 them but may be doubled in value in one year, by a 

 judicious pruning of the branches, and a dressing 

 of compost at the roots. Our young apple orchards 

 produce fruit of the finest quality — large, smooth, 

 brightly colored, and beautiful ; and it has not to be 

 hawked about the streets to find a purchaser. In all 

 states of the market there are buyers enough, and at 

 high prices, for such fine specimens ; $1 per bushel, 

 $3 and even $)4 per barrel, are ordinary prices for ex- 

 tra fine lots of Northern Spy, Red Canadian, Spitzen- 

 burgh, Svvaar, k,c., while the average market price 

 of these is about 60c. per bushel, or !$1,50 to $2 per 

 barrel. 



The cause of the superiority of the fruit from a 

 young tree, is that, the head has not yet become 

 filled up with ad ense mass of small twigs, is open, 

 the sun reaches all its parts, the wood is stout and 

 mature, the foliage is large and healthy, the soil too 

 is unexhausted, the roots spreading rapidly in conse- 

 quence of the vigorous condition of the head, find 

 abundant nutriment ; and the result is large, bright, 

 and beautiful fruit. As the trees become old, being 

 left unpruned, the heads graiiually fill up with a pro- 

 fusion of weak twiggy shoots, growth among the 

 branches b?comes less vigorous, and consequently the 

 roots push feebly too. An immense number of fruit 

 buds are produced ; indeed, every part of the head be- 

 comes crowded with them ; consequently the fruit is 

 small, three-fourths of it is shut out from the sun, or 

 rather the sun is shut out from it, and therefore it has 

 neither flavor nor color. Hence we frequently see 

 Spitzenburglis, Northern wSpys, Baldwins, &.c., that 

 ought to be as red as blood, present a blanched and 

 sickly appearance, that completely disguises them; and 

 no man who knows what a good apple is, or ought 

 to be, will buy them to put upon his table. We 

 have a barrel of Spitzenburghs and Northern Spys 

 in our cellar at this moment, and the two put togeth- 



er are not worth a dollar. They were sent us too 

 by a gentleman who ought to have known better ; 

 but he probably had not seen them. Occasionally 

 they have a red spot or streak on them ; but as a 

 general thing, they have a pale greenish hue, and 

 are totally void of richness or flavor, and they keep 

 badly ; their juice is watery and immature. They 

 explain the cause themselves — they were grown on 

 the lower side of branches, or in the interior of trees, 

 where they had no sun. 



When the public, we mean the consumers of fruit, 

 in our towns and villages become more familiar with 

 the peculiar characters and qualities of fruit, it will 

 bo more difficult to dispose of these green, insipid 

 productions ; and we would now caution every oao 

 against buying such things as pea-green Northern 

 Spys, Baldwins, or Spitzenburghs, because they are 

 destitute of flavor, and will not keep. Yellow apples 

 sufller just as much from shade, but do not show it 

 so strongly. They have a cold, bluish tinge, that 

 indicate their imperfect character, and their juice is 

 like water. Those grown in a sunny aspect have a 

 deep warm color, and the juice sparkles like wine— 

 a peck of these is worth a bushel of the others. 



We would have cultivators and orchadists, think 

 of their own interests, and turn to, now, and thin out 

 with the saw and the pruning knife the weak super- 

 fluous branches that fill up the spaces that ought to 

 exist between the bearing branches, to admit the 

 sun to all the fruit. Do it freely but carefully. An 

 active man, who knows how to handle a saw and a 

 knife, can soon go through an orchard of considera- 

 ble extent. In connection with the pruning, a libe- 

 ral dressing of compost should be given ; stable ma- 

 nure well decomposed, ashes, and muck, well mixed 

 together, will do very well ; lime, too, is generally 

 good : and in light, sandy soils, clay may be added : 

 but in all cases the well rotted stable manure should 

 be the basis. Peach trees should be pruned, but not 

 till the hard frosts are over and the buds are swelling 

 slightly, so that fruit buds will be easily discerned. — 

 We are glad to find that this subject begins to re- 

 ceive more attention. Some of the best orchadists 

 about our city begin to prune regularly, but not one 

 of them do it thoroughly. They allov^r their trees 

 to bear twice or three times as many fruit as can be 

 matured with safety to the tree, and they let the low- 

 er parts become gradually denuded ; they confine 

 their pruning too much to the outside of the tree ; 

 there only they remove the points of the shoots : but 

 this is not the way to do it well. The pruner should 

 have a pair of pruning shears, with which he could 

 cut faster than a person can count ; and taking one 

 branch of the tree after another, shorten all last 

 year's shoots on it so much that half the fruit buds 

 will be taken away and new shoots for next season's 

 bearing produced towards the base of the present 

 shoots, to keep up a supply of young wood on all 

 parts. This is the only way in which a peach tree 

 can be maintained healthy and fruitful. Pjvery 

 branch, large and small, should be furnished with 

 bearing wood on all its parts. Some people who 

 have never given such attention to their trees, will 

 look upon this as a prodigious labor altogether too 

 great to be undertaken ; but we only ask them to 

 try it on one tree, and note the results. It is no ex- 

 cuse for a man to say, " it takes us so long, because 

 we are not accustomed." Those who are engaged 

 in peach orcharding should learn to handle their 

 knife and shears, or hire some one to do it ; for thev 



