126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



that all the borers, and other injurious insects, 

 with plowing and browsing cattle, did less harm 

 to a tree than pruning it at the wrong season. 

 If the tree is pruned in the spring, when it is in 

 full activity, and all the pores of the sapwood 

 filled with limpid juices on their way to the twigs, 

 buds and leaves, there to be elaborated into the 

 food that goes to form fruit and wood, the sap 

 wiU in most cases stream copiously from the 

 wound and keep the pores permanently open. This 

 continues to exhaust the vitality of the tree, while 

 the sap, upon exposure to the air, undergoes an 

 important change by becoming sour, bitter and 

 poisonous, runs down the bark, turning it black, 

 and finally peneti-ating to the wood itself, and in 

 the end destroying the tree. But if the pruning 

 is omitted until the middle of June, the sap by 

 that time has mainly left what is called the sap- 

 wood, has been transformed from its limpid state 

 to a thicker, gummy-like substance, and is pass- 

 ing slowly down between the inner side of the 

 bark and the wood to make up the annual growth 

 of the tree. If the tree is cut now, no sap follows, 

 the surface of the wound contracts and closes the 

 pores, and the wound readily heals over. Because 

 our ancestors had not much to do in the last of 

 February and March and the early part of April, 

 they formed the habit of pruning their apple trees ; 

 and as a habit once formed sticks to our people a 

 little tighter than the shirt of Nessus, they have 

 persevered in the old way until there is scarcely 

 an orchard thirty years of ago in Ncav England 

 that does not bear unmistakeable evidences of 

 this unnatural and untimely pruning. 



Mr. Fay, of Lynn, corroborated what Messrs. 

 Stone and Brown had said in relation to pruning, 

 from his own experience on forest trees, but he 

 considered that the Augustan age in farming had 

 arrived, when a farmer could offer you a good 

 mug of cider. This he considered was peculiarly 

 the beverage of New England, and if a farmer 

 was allowed to drink his mug of cider he thought 

 he would make a better farmer and a better man ; 

 yet the law said it was unfashionable, and so it 

 was not done. He made a strong argument in fa- 

 vor of excluding- cider from the list prohibited in 

 the liquor law, and said he had never seen so 

 much intemperance in New Eagland as he had 

 within sight of the Pyrenees. He believed we 

 could not grow the grape to satisfy the demand, 

 and we must therefore turn to cider. Mr. Fay 

 explained that the grape for fruit and the grape 

 for wine were different, the latter only growing 

 well on lands of volcanic origin, which gave the 

 rich vinous flavor, and he considered that Cali- 

 fornia on this account was the only wine-produc- 

 ing country on the North American continent. 



Mr. Atwater, of Springfield, asked what was 

 the best soil in which to plant the apple, and 



spoke of some lands in his section of the State 

 where the water settles, at certain seasons, to a 

 level 20 to 2'j feet below the surfiice. 



Mr. Allen, of New York, explained this, and 

 spoke of similar instances in Western New York 

 and Ohio, expressing the opinion that these were 

 not favorable sites for fruit raising. 



Mr. Clark, ofWaltham, asked whether the 

 Catawba grape had been cultivated enough in our 

 State to ascertain whether it would succeed. 



Mr. Wilder said that the Catawba was found 

 too late, and the Isabella had been found to ripen 

 only occasionally so as to make good wine. 



Mr. BUCKMINSTER, spoke for the young folks, 

 and thought that attention should be directed to 

 other fruits that woiild begin the first year to pay, 

 and he alluded to blackberries as returning a large 

 profit. He urged on the fai'iners the importance 

 of teaching their sons and daughters more in re- 

 lation to fruit raising, as being one of the great- 

 est profits of a farm. 



Mr. Simon Brown offered the following resolu- 

 tion, which was unanimously adopted : — 



Resolved, That it is tlie opinion of this meeting that the sci- 

 ence of pomology has nh-eady conferred signal blessings upon 

 mankind, and that, among the fruits introduced and propagated, 

 the £aldui7i apple, as siii article of substantial food as well as 

 commerce, has taken a high and well-deserved stand. We, 

 therefore, approve the suggestions made in the Setter which has 

 been read from Mr. James F. Baldwin, and recommend that the 

 spot where the first Biilihrui. apple tree stand, be designatecl 

 upon the State map, and that the Chairman of tliis meeting be 

 authorized to call upon the proper authorities and pirocure it to 

 be done. 



The Chairman then annoimced that the siibject 

 for discussion at the next meeting would be "T/je 

 culture of flax in the Northern States^, and its 

 probable substitution for cotton in the mamifac- 

 ture of cheap fabrics." Hon. Judge BiSHOP, of 

 Lenox, is expected to j^reside. 



Mr, Brown, on bohalf of the Executive Com- 

 mittee, said it was expected that a gentleman who 

 had given much study to the subject for consider- 

 ation would be present and address the meeting, 

 producing samples of cloth made from flax and 

 from flax and cotton, as also maclunery for break- 

 ing the flax, and the committee earnestly urged 

 ladies to attend this ro.eeting of the society. 



The meeting then adjom-ned. 



Unhealthiness of Artificial Manures. — 

 Attention is called to this subject by a corresjjon- 

 dent of the Mark Lane Exjiress. He thinks that 

 this is one cause of disease so prevalent this yeai- 

 in England, among turnips. He cites the expressed 

 opinions of several practical fanners of the inju- 

 rious effects on sheep and cattle of roots cultiva- 

 ted by the use of artificial manures. A laudable 

 desire, he remarlvs, to increase the pixiductions of 

 the earth has led to the introduction of powerful 

 manures, without sufficiently studying the laws of 

 physiology. 



