1 1 o Notes and Gleanings. 



The Alton Horticultural is a lively society, holding its meetings from 

 house to house every month. A feast of reason is always provided in the shape 

 of a paper or report upon some topic of interest. At the December meeting, 

 they had a report upon the apple-tree bark-louse, which is yet rare in that part 

 of Illinois ; and then the following paper on winter-pruning : — 



" Pruning, according to Dr. Warder and others, is done in summer for fruit, 

 in winter for wood. Summer-pruning, it is stated, promotes fruitfulness, because 

 it threatens life. Hence, however advantageous in one respect, it is injurious in 

 another, and vital in point.. Hence we may conclude that all pruning whose 

 design is to shape the tree should be done during the winter, or rather during 

 the season of rest included between the fall of the leaf in autumn and the 

 starting of the sap in spring. 



" The doctors disagree on this subject exceedingly. Lindley, speaking for 

 England, says the best time for pruning is usually winter or midsummer. Kenrick 

 would do heavy pruning between the coming-out of frost in spring and the open- 

 ing of the leaf, moderate pruning in June or July. Downing thinks, that, prac- 

 tically, ' a fortnight before midsummer is by far the best season, on the whole, 

 for pruning in the Northern or Southern States.' Cole gives preference to 

 June, July, and August, for moderate pruning, and considers the spring as the 

 worst season. Barry says, that, in Western New York, they prune apples and 

 other hardy fruits as soon as the severe frosts are over, at the end of February 

 and beginning of March. Thomas, in the new edition of his 'American Fruit 

 Culturist,' takes almost unqualified ground in favor of winter-pruning. 



"Judging from my own experience and observation, as v;ell as from the argu- 

 ments adduced by these gentlemen, I would say, — 



" I. The best time for pruning, looking to the health and vigor of the tree, is 

 during the season of rest ; i.e., in late autumn, winter, or early spring. 



" 2. The colder the climate, and the more tender the tree, the later should prun- 

 ing be done. In this climate, and in ordinary years, we may prune the apple, 

 and perhaps the pear and quince, during any part of the season of rest ; guard- 

 ing, however, against being so late as to excite 'bleeding,' or the oozing-out of 

 the thin new sap from the wounds. The peach, and probably the other stone- 

 fruits, should not be pruned until late winter or early spring. The wound caused 

 by cutting off a limb seems to affect unfavorably, for the time being, the hardi- 

 hood of a tree ; a case analogous, jjossibly, to the amputation of the limb of an 

 animal. 



"3. Summer-pruning may be done advantageously to check luxuriance of 

 growth, and promote fruitfulness ; and also from the fact that wounds made in 

 early summer heal more readily. But it should be distinctly understood that 

 ^s is done at the expense of the vitality and future usefulness of the tree ; and 

 that the economical question is, whether we prefer an early, abundant, and brief 

 supply of fruit, or a later, more moderate, and more lasting one. 



" 4. As to the mode of winter-pruning, there is nothing, perhaps, peculiar, com- 

 pared with ])runing generally ; a subject upon whicli I do not now consider my- 

 self at liberty to enter. It may be said, however, that large limbs can be cut off 



