48 THE HOME ACRE. 



Reason and observation soon guide his hand in 

 summer or his knife in March, the season when 

 trees are usually trimmed. 



Beyond shortening in leading branches and 

 cutting out crossing and interfering boughs, so 

 as to keep the head symmetrical and open to light 

 and air, the cherry does not need very much 

 pruning. If with the lapse of years it becomes 

 necessary to take off large limbs from any fruit- 

 tree, the authorities recommend early June as the 

 best season for the operation. 



It will soon be discovered quite likely during 

 the first summer that fruit-trees have enemies, 

 that they need not only cultivation and feeding, 

 but also protection. The pear, apple, and quince 

 are liable to one mysterious disease which it is 

 almost impossible to guard against or cure, the 

 fire-blight. Of course there have been innumerable 

 preventives and cures recommended, just as we 

 see a dozen certain remedies for consumption 

 advertised in any popular journal; but the dis- 

 ease still remains a disheartening mystery, and is 

 more fatal to the pear than to its kindred fruits. 

 I have had thrifty young trees, just coming into 

 bearing, suddenly turn black in both wood and 

 foliage, appearing in the distance as if scorched by 

 a blast from a furnace. In another instance a large 

 mature tree was attacked, losing in a summer half 



