144 NUT GROWING 



ings when taking a stroll through the orchard with 

 nothing else to do. As a matter of fact, I found 

 that with this in hand on Sunday morning there was 

 so much to be done that I couldn't get back to the 

 house on time for church. 



Pruning of nut trees for shaping purposes is not 

 required to such an extent as it is for other fruit 

 trees which have been for a longer time subjected 

 to the conditions of cultivation and have acquired 

 bad habits. The branches of nut trees are for the 

 most part arranged by Nature for the best securing 

 of light and support of weight. Whatever pruning 

 of live limbs really needs to be done had best be 

 done a month or two before the buds start. A good 

 deal of active chemistry suitable for repair work 

 is going on in a tree as soon as the frost is out of 

 the ground. The tree begins to look toward the 

 dawn of a new season when peep frogs send their 

 merry jingles from the marsh, and the newly ar- 

 rived crows sag along through the soft morning 

 mists. The reddening of dogwood branches and the 

 goldening of willows indicate that all trees are 

 awakening a long time before they would risk put- 

 ting out buds. Then is the best time for pruning 

 if we wish to get the best repair. When limbs are 

 cut in the summer time a host of spores of fungi 

 are active and alert for opportunity to attack a tree 

 wound. In the winter the tree, half asleep, may not 

 callus a cut sufficiently. It is a fact that a covering 

 of all tree wounds with melted paraffin or other 

 good protective agent will guard against microbic 



