STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 53 



mediately sear or close up, thus preserving the bark as near the 

 edge of the wound as possible, and also cauterizing the pores of 

 the wood thus exposed as well. Be sure to prune jadiciously once 

 a year. If two limbs touch or cross each other, or form very 

 sharp or acute angles, o?ie should be taken out; and every limb 

 that points inward as well. We should not be so unwise as many 

 are, who, after neglecting to trim their trees for a decade of years 

 or more, at last wake up to the fact that their trees need pruning, 

 and almost kill them in the act with axe and saw. 



Dormant buds, that start and rob the trees in June, should be 

 rubbed out, and thus save much expense in pruning. If every tree 

 in a young orchard is looked over once in a year with careful 

 pruning, looking to the future and seeing in the infant trees the 

 sturdy trunks and well-developed branches of the full-grown tree, 

 then will the sound of the saw cease to be heard in our orchards, 

 and will have become a thing of the past. 



Root Pruning, 

 Men often say to me : " Would you sever the tap roots of trees 

 in planting in orchard form ? " Now the truth is that all high 

 land trees, and nursery trees as well, grown on high land or in the 

 deep soils of the West, do instinctively make or grow with a tap 

 root or roots, that run down to draw water in case of severe 

 drought, and must have them, and if removed will form more roots 

 for the same purpose ; otherwise they would dry up. But trees 

 grown on low or flat land having a thin surface soil and a retentive 

 sub-soil, do not produce tap roots ; they do not require them, and 

 in planting on such land they may be removed, at the same time 

 cutting back the tops, thus subserving two purposes — first, con- 

 venience in planting ; also in enabling the tree to form callus, from 

 which will spring fibrous roots to assist in supporting it. Second, 

 they will fruit sooner, as all judicious root pruning and cutting 

 back the top tends to retard the propensity to run to wood. Thus, 

 by artificial culture we can change the habits of fruit trees, ren- 

 dering them subservient to our wishes, and fixing in them the 

 habit of bearing much fruit, which is more desirable and profitable 

 than growing large, awkward trees to bear fruit for our heirs. 

 There is an old adage that " lie who plants pears, plants for his 

 heirs." But this saying is disproved by the fact that pears are 

 made to fruit sooner, or as soon, as the apple, by the art of root 

 and top pruning. Fruit is always at the expense of growth in 



