STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 85 



orchard something will depend upon location, upon the variet}- and 

 habit of growth and whether the orchard is to be pastured to sheep 

 or kept in tillage and mowing. In sheltered positions the trees can 

 be trained very much lower than in exposed places where the wind 

 has full power, as on the top of a hill. When sheep are kept in an 

 orchard the trees will have to be trained higher than they otherwise 

 would be on account of their propensity to browse and to pull out 

 young scions ; but even in orchards where no sheep have been kept 

 I have learned that some varieties must be trained higher than what 

 we w^ould suppose when the trees are young. This is especially the 

 case with the Yellow Bellflower and R. I. Greening. When these 

 varieties are young and low- headed you will think it nice to train 

 them so aud it will be grand fun to stand on the ground and gather 

 nearly all the fruit, but when they are older and the lower branches 

 have extended far out and grown out of proportion to the head and 

 the upper branches, when these same branches are heavily laden with 

 fruit, and a large proportion of the fruit lies upon the ground and 

 mildews, then you will not think it so nice. 



PRUNING, 



In regard to pruning an orchard, the best principle to be observed 

 is to prune early, often and moderately. Some persons say that all 

 the pruning which is necessar}^ for a young aud growing tree may be 

 done with the thumb and forefinger. This is certainly a mistake. 

 It might do in a garden plot or with but few trees, but with a thou- 

 sand or more such a course is utterly out of the question. When buds 

 will form shoots and grow from three to five feet in one season, they 

 will need pretty constant and sharp watching in order to be removed 

 with the thumb and finger. Moreover, as you cannot tell, always, 

 the ultimate direction of a bud, it is necessary to leave it for a while 

 and ere you know it, it has become a branch too strong for the thumb 

 process and it will require the knife and saw. I used to think that 

 June' was the best month to prune young trees, but of late years I 

 have changed my mind, having learned by experience that early 

 spring — say the last of March and first of April — is the ver}' best 

 time. It is before the sap begins to flow much ; there are no leaves 

 to obstruct the sight ; in a few da^'s the cut will harden a little and 

 when the sap does begin to flow, new wood will begin to form almost 

 immediately and the wound will heal over quicker and better than at 

 any other time of the year. This was the practice and experience 



