18S2.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



i85 



lisli language, and we have been excusable for 

 onr ignorance of the subject. Tlie Germans 

 and IheFieiich arc in advance of us in other 

 departments of forestry, and also in this. 

 The advantages of pruning forest trees, as 

 promoting an increase of tim'.)er, was recog- 

 nized in (ierraany Ivvo hundred and (if ly years 

 ago. But the practice of pruning fell into 

 disuse after a time, until it was revived during 

 the present century by the writings of De 

 Courval and Des Cars, who recommend a 

 system of pruning based on the fundamental 

 law of vegetable [thysiology, and which is now 

 adopted in all the continental forests. The 

 work of Des Cars, entitled, "A Treatise on 

 Pruning Forests and Ornamental Trees," has 

 recently been translated from the French of 

 the seventh edition, by Professor Sargent, of 

 Harvard Univeisity, and published by the 

 Massachusetts Society for the promotion of 

 Agriculture. It is essentially a reproduction 

 of a larger treatise of De Courval in a brief 

 and more popular form, it being a duodecimo 

 volume of less than one hundred pages. 



The system of these writers is based on the 

 fact that "as wood is alone formed by de- 

 scending, elaborated sap, a wound made on a 

 tree can only be recovered with healthy, new 

 wood, where Its entire circumference is 

 brought into direct connnunication with the 

 leaves by means of the layei- of young and 

 growing cells formed between the wood and 

 the Itark. To make this connection it is ne- 

 cessary to prune in such a manner that no 

 portion of an ami)utated or dead Itraneh shall 

 be left on the trunk. The cut should always 

 be made close to and perfectly even with the 

 outline of the trunk, without regard to the 

 size of the wound thus made. This is the es- 

 sential rule in all pruning, and on its observ- 

 ance the success of the operation depends. 

 "A tree left entirely to itself," says Des Cars, 

 "generally develops in one of two directions. 

 It does not grow ujiwards, but assumes the 

 low round form common to the apple-tree ; 

 the lower branches grow disproportionately 

 large and absorb too much sap to the detri- 

 ment of the top of the tree ; and these long, 

 heavy branches are often broken by the wind, 

 or by snow and ice, leaving hideous stumps. 

 Trees of this form are very common ; they 

 generally decay at the top before reaching 

 maturity, and have little commercial value. 



On the other hand, many vigorous trees 

 grow disproportionately at the top, the lower 

 branches die from insufficient nourishment, 

 fall off, and leave, when large, bare decayed 

 spots, which gradually penetrate to the heart 

 of the tree, and ruin also its commercial 

 value. Wonnds caused by the breaking off 

 of large branches by wind or snow produce 

 the same results. There is no remedy for the 

 dangerous effects of such accidents except 

 pruning ; it is a simple question of surgery. 

 Without pruning, the tree must sooner or 

 later decay; with pruning, its value may 

 be preserved. The secret of obtaining a com- 

 plete cure in all operations requiring the re- 

 moval of a branch, either living or dead, con- 

 sists in cutting close to and perfectly even 

 with the trunk. And it matters not liow 

 large the cut may be. This is a universal rule 

 of action ; and it is ba^ed on the fact that 

 new wood and bark are formed by the de- 

 scending sap, which passes down between the 



old wood and the bark and cannot deposit 

 the new woody substance ujion the scar of the 

 pruned branch if it is left projecting at all 

 from thelineofthesap-vessclsinthetruuk; but 

 where the cut is made even with the trunk it is 

 soon covered with new woody fibre and bark, 

 and the tree grows on to maturity with unim- 

 paired vigor and soundness. If the limb am- 

 putated is large the wound will not heal over 

 completely in a single season. The new wood 

 will form first around the top and the sides of 

 the wound, which will soon be completely 

 surrounded by the new irrowth. Meantime, 

 to prevent decay taking hold of any i)ortion 

 of the woinid, it has been found well to coyer 

 the wound with somelhing which will protect 

 it. For this purpose coal-tar, a waste product 

 of gas-works, has been found superior to the 

 many other preparations which have been 

 used. It has remarkable preservative prop- 

 erties, and may be u.sed with equal advan- 

 tage on living and dead wood. A sin- 

 gle application forms an impervious coat- 

 ing to the wood-celLs. It produces a sort 

 of instantaneous stoppage of decay, which 

 would otherwise be the case, thus adding to 

 their value) as timber, while more room for 

 a rennmerativc undergrowth of coppice is 

 thus given, and the total product of the forest 

 greatly increased. In the practical applica- 

 tion of the system it is held that the class of 

 young forest trees, that is, those less than 

 forty years old, should be so pruned of their 

 lower branches that the trunk will equal one- 

 third of the entire height of the tree, and the 

 head should be elongated ovoid in form, the 

 lower branches left being more or less short- 

 ened in for this purpo.se. Middle-aged trees, 

 or those between forty and eighty years 

 of age, should have thin trunks, equal 

 to about two-fifths of the total height, and 

 the head should be made to assume a some- 

 what rounder form than that given to the 

 younger trees. In the old trees, eightj' years 

 and npwards, the trunk should be nearly 

 equal to one-half the total height, and the 

 head be still more rounded, and at all times 

 decaying and dead branches should be care- 

 fully removed. 



Such, without undertaking to go into the 

 minute details of operation, is the system of 

 De Courval and Des Cars. It commends 

 itself at once as a rational .system, and ample 

 experience in Europe proves its great value. 

 It is simple and intelligible, and may be put 

 in practice successfully by any one. The Mas- 

 sachusetts society has made a very important 

 contribution to practical forestry in securing 

 the translation and publication of Des Cars' 

 treatise. — Mr. N. H. Eijla^lon, WiUiamxtown, 

 Mass. 



LETTER FROM THE MOTHER OF BAY- 

 ARD TAYLOR TO PROF. E. V. RILEY. 

 KeNXETT SliUAHE, Nov. G, 1SS2. 



Pnor. Rn>EY — Dear Sir: I send a few silk 

 worm eggs, by Mr. Davis. In 1S80, a friend 

 brought some eggs from California from two 

 or three of his friends. I got about 100. I 

 enjoyed feeding and taking care of them very 

 much. I am crippled with the rheumatism, 

 and can neither sew nor knit, but could feed 

 and tend the worms when the leaves were 

 brought to me. When they were done spin- 

 ning I missed them so much that I thought of 



trying to raise a second crop, and not know- 

 ing anything about their nature, Ijeyond feed- 

 inir and keeping them clean, I kept some of 

 the eggs that had just been laid, in hoiie that 

 they would hatch, but after w^alching them 

 for about four weeks, was told that they were 

 annuals, and would not hatch until the next 

 snnnner. In issl I gave many eggs to all 

 who wished to have them. One little girl let 

 some of hors lay eggs, and p\it them in the 

 garret, thinking it was the coldest place in 

 the house. They were all right, for the win- 

 ter, but in the spring they commenced hatcli- 

 ing before the mulberry put out, and she fed 

 them on lettuce leaves, and kept them alive 

 until the mulberry came ; conse(iuently they 

 were much earlier than any others. The 

 little girl got tired of feeding them, as she 

 had to go quite a distance foi' the leaves, 

 and wanted to sell them. I bought a few. 

 They spun in due time, and as I knew 

 they were the same as my own, was not 

 in a hurry to put them in a cool place, never 

 dreaming they would hatch ; but to my utter 

 surprise, in about four or five weeks they com- 

 menced hatching, and I had to hurry them off 

 into the vault. I took particular pains with 

 them, and they grew and seemed healthy ; 

 but they were not. There did not appesir to 

 be any particular disease among them, but 

 every few days one or two would look wilted, 

 and get soft and die in a few hours. There 

 were about 100 hatched, and only :jO lived to 

 spin. The cocoons were not so large as the - 

 others I had, but still of a fair size. 



I have been intending to write for some 

 time and ask if you could explain why annuals 

 can produce two-crop worms. I hope you 

 will pardon me for troubling you with it, but 

 hearing that you were very much interested 

 in the silk culture, I thought perhaps you 

 would excuse the liberty taken by an old 

 woman in her 84th year, and who is very 

 much interested in the same, but unable to do 

 much. 



The Japanese eggs didn't hatch well. They 

 were gummed so tight to the card that the 

 poor little worms had a hard struggle to make 

 their way out of the shells.— iff'jfcca Taiilor. 



SOILING CATTLE. 



The necessities of the time demand a modi- 

 fication in methods of husbandry in the older 

 settled parts of the country. The most 

 prominent and obvious of these at the present 

 is that relating to the subsistence of stock. It 

 is necessary that more be kept than formerly, 

 and, to do this, new methods of sustaining 

 the animals must be adopted. The people 

 are ready for a new departure, and, in a few 

 short papers, it will be the aim of the writer 

 to discuss this subject under the general head 

 of soiling cattle. The careful attention of 

 the farmers is invited to the points presented, 

 because they are in full sympathy with the 

 recognized needs of intelligent husbandmen. 



This subject is often referred to in a general 

 way, but, so far as the writer knows, no sys- 

 tematic discussion of it has ajipeared in our 

 local press. Eefereuces to soiling, when made, 

 convey no well-defined ideas of what is actu- 

 ally meant by the system ; nor have directions 

 or processes by which the method is or can 

 be applied in practice, been stated. Many 

 farmers cultivate fodder-corn for their cows. 



