New Invention for Pruning Trees, 347 



\y for those favorably disposed to the trec-trimniing doctrine, they 

 are deterred from the indulg-ence of their progressive propensity 

 by the unwarranted prejudices of illiterate " croakers," who, for- 

 sooth, being* born in the vicinity of a dung-hill, must neiids be 

 veritable expounders of that which constitutes rural skill. One 

 man, assuming a wiseacre-ish expression of countenance, remarks, 

 " Cut off that branch of your apple tree, and the maimed stump 

 will immediately commence decaying, and will continue doing so 

 until it reaches some vital point and death ensues." Another upon 

 whose features gravity and self-complacence become resigned, as- 

 sures your novice that pruning will positively produce canker. 

 A third, perfectly innocent of any knowledge of a fruit tree, 

 other than that acquired by a few trees over whose fates he has 

 presided for a quarter of a centurj', and which have furnished nought 

 but apples of contention for twelve leather-tongued urchins, declares 

 that nature knows her own business, and will therefore, if needed, 

 perform her own pruning. The grafted tree not being a product 

 as originally designed, is, by man's interference, an artificial ac- 

 quirement, and as such demands artificial treatment. A forest 

 under ordinary circumstances, may not need trimming. A fruit 

 tree, au contraire, imperatively solicits the pruning knife to aid na- 

 ture in forming a beautiful and healthful tree. Possibly a tree 

 may be injured by cutting off" a branch five or six inches in diam- 

 eter, and leaving the wound exposed to the weather. Where 

 pruning is commenced when a tree is small, there will be no ne- 

 cessity of cutting a limb over two inches thick ; this system pur- 

 sued annually will eflFectually obviate cause for injury, as wounds 

 will quickly receive a granulated protection of new wood, especi- 

 ally if the cutting is performed during tlie early summer months, 

 while the growth is most rapid. Trimming trees either large or 

 small, should never be performed during the autumn or winter 

 months — where the wood to be taken out exceeds an inch in thick- 

 ness. The proper season for trimming is just as the leaves ap- 

 pear in spring, or at a subsequent period when rapid growth is 

 going on. This advice, of course, will be understood to apply 

 specially to fruit and ornamental trees of the larger class ; shrub, 

 bcry, vines, etc., should only be pruned in autumn and winter, as 

 the opportunity is more favorable for giving symmetry and de- 

 sirable proportion. 



