75 



severe shock, which must necessarily retard its growth, but 

 if it must be done, the wound should be immediately covered' 

 with a mixture of cow manure and clay. This helps to heal tht) 

 wound, and is a protection from the weather. To do away 

 with this butchering entirel3% permit no surplus wood to 

 grow, or in other words pinch off all surplus young shoots 

 when about five inches long, heading down, especially thrifty 

 trees, by cutting off two-thirds of the last year's growth witl 

 a sharp knife, and make a smooth cut slanting upwards on : 

 level with the point of the bud. In soft-wooded, pith^ 

 trees, half an inch ought to be left above the bud ; the posi- 

 tion of the bud cut to, is also of much importance in chang- 

 ing the form of the tree, that is, if you wish a shoot to grow 

 upright, prune to a bud on the inside of shoot ; and to spread, 

 prune to a bud on the outside, for if you cut every year to a 

 bud on the same side, in two or three seasons it will show an 

 inclination to that side, a great injury to the symmetry of the 

 tree. It is essential to head down cnce a year, in order that 

 ever}' limb should grow strong enough to stand up under its 

 burden when it fruits. 



llcgarding blight — I had a very thrifty Standard Seckel 

 tree in my orchard, which had about six inches of every 

 branch on it blighted in the winter of 1871-72, and, singular 

 to relate, it was not the last growth but the growth of the 

 year previous that got blighted, while the growth above it, 

 and all below it, remained sound, you could see at a distance 

 a black line about six inches long. On discovering this, early 

 in spring, I cut off with my shears every branch six inches 

 below the blighted part, so as to stop its spreading any fur- 

 ther, and now I ani glad to say that the tree is thrifty and 

 healthy, and last year I exhibited at the County Fair, at Law- 

 rence, a dozen of its pears that I thought would bring the 

 first premium. 



The most profitable trees to set out, for permanency and 

 profit, by all means Standards, because they grow larger, are 

 more thrifty, live longer, and produce more fruit, the 



