CHAPTER V 



PRUNING 



" they shall beat their swords into plow shares and 



their spears into pruning hooks." — Micah IV :3. 



This quotation might form the basis for two 

 entirely different dissertations. In the first 

 place it shows that the idea of disarmament 

 was considerably ancient before President 

 Wilson made his justly famous journey to 

 Paris. In the second place it indicates that 

 pruning as a horticultural practice must have 

 been common in Bible days — and that was a 

 long time ago. There is nothing in the Bible 

 (that I can find at least), about spraying fruit 

 trees, but pruning was evidently a regular part 

 of the fruit-grower's job even in that early day. 



It has continued to hold an important place, 

 but, though one of the most ancient arts of the 

 husbandman, it is still a subject for dispute and 

 argument between fruit-growers. There have 

 been volumes written on the subject to prove 

 contending sides in a controversy and verbal 

 combats have been legion. To add to the con- 

 80 



