Notes and Glca7iings. 1 79 



Western Orchards. — In travelling East, my attention was directed to tlie 

 striking difference in orchard-management, as practised there, from that which 

 we practise in the West. What seemed strange was the impunity with which 

 people could cut and slash in the tops of orchard-trees, — trees severely pruned. 

 tops regrafted, — with apparently none of the serious results that would follow 

 a similar practice in the West. Speak with the proprietor in reference to his 

 orchard, his first remark would be some form of apology for not keeping his 

 trees better pruned. Our first inquiry would be, " At what season do you prune ?" 

 The reply most likely, " Oh ! any time along in the spring ; " accompanied by a 

 blank expression of countenance, from which it was manifest that little impor- 

 tance was attached to the question concerning the best season to prune. But 

 with us in Northern Illinois this is an important question. Now, the inquiry 

 arises, Why is this a more important question with us than it is in Western New 

 York? 



The solution of this question lies in difference of climate. The East scarce- 

 ly gets a breath of the soft, enervating winds that almost continually sweep 

 up the Valley of the Mississippi during summer and autumn. These winds 

 may be called the South- American monsoons, originating in the fact that what 

 is our summer period is the winter period of South America. Thus our sum- 

 iners and autumns, being fanned by these mild southern breezes, are such as to 

 favor a free growth, but not always such as to insure well-ripened wood, and 

 toughness of fibre. Hence it is that our trees are not always prepared for the 

 fitful changes of winter. It is not that our winters are more severe, but that the 

 growing wood of our trees is less prepared for the cold. Every nursery-man in 

 Northern Illinois and Iowa has learned the importance of having all his scions 

 cut, and safely put away for winter-grafting, befpre cold weather sets in. It is 

 for this reason, also, that the quality of hardiness becomes with us in the West 

 such an important consideration. 



From this, also, we learn why it is that we cannot cut and saw in the tops of 

 our trees with impunity "anytime along in the spring." If the sapwood is 

 affected by winter, it is better to prune last of February, or in March, so that 

 the wound will have full time to season before circulation commences : other- 

 wise a blackened, diseased condition is the result. If pruning cannot be done 

 then, it had better be omitted until after midsummer, — after the upward circula- 

 tion becomes sluggish. 



We also find in this peculiarity of our climate the reason why top-grafting 

 in old orchards is generally less successful in the West. If the previous winter 

 has been favorable, the grafts will probably do well the first summer. But prob- 

 ably this young succulent wood of the first summer will be more or less injured 

 by the succeeding winter. The next spring, the old branches are mostly cut 

 away to give the grafts a chance. The result is sprouts in abundance, while the 

 grafts show little tendency to start with a healthy growth. 



During the growing period, our prevailing winds being from the south, and our 

 rain-storms from the south-west, our orchard-trees almost invariably acquire a lean 

 towards the north-east. It is mainly from this circumstance that the bodies of 

 trees are injured by winter. Leaning to the north-east, the body of the tree re- 



