1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



245 



them such attentions and hospitality as will make 

 their visit agreeable. 



Notice of the time and place of the trial Mill be 

 hereafter given by a committee appointed to su- 

 perintend the business of the occasion. The plan 

 seems to us to be a good one, and cannot fail to 

 establish some important questions -which are now 

 unsettled. We hope to see persons at the trial 

 from various sections of the State. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 SAVE YOUB TREES! 



Friend Brown: — I see by the papers that 

 great damage has been done the past winter to 

 fruit trees by the mice ; now, if taken in season, 

 the most of these can be saved. Take a sucker 

 from the same, or any other tree of the same kind, 

 and flatten the ends on one side, and insert one 

 end under the bark above, and the other below, 

 where the bark is eaten off, the same as in side 

 grafting, that will make a bridge to carry the sap 

 over the wounded part ; bind the ends tight with 

 a strong string, then cover with grafting wax or 

 day ; now cover the whole with earth, if near 

 enough the ground ; if not, bind up with clay, to 

 protect the wounded part from the sun. It is a 

 good plan to put in a number of these suckers, to 

 to be sure of one or two, and if they all live, so 

 much the better. "Wlien these have grown sufB- 

 ciently strong to support the tree the old body can 

 be cut out if desired, and the others will soon 

 close up. If this is carefully done every tree can 

 be saved. I have some trees that were done in 

 this way a number of years ago ; one of which, 

 whose bark was eaten otf clean for four feet, two 

 years ago bore four barrels of apples. 



Andrew Wellington. 



Winchester, April, 1862. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent is a gentleman 

 of experience in orcharding, and we are glad he 

 confirms the remarks we made last week upon this 

 subject. Since writing that article, we find that 

 the destruction to fi-uit trees in this State is much 

 more extensive than we then supposed. Scarcely 

 a young orchard has escaped. We find Jiff tj trees 

 on our own grounds, many of them six inches in 

 diameter, girdled entirely. Others have a strip 

 of bark left an inch in width, or two or three, in 

 some cases. All these trees were visited late last 

 fall, and every spear of grass taken away from 

 them. The ground where most of them stand 

 was plowed last fall, but the plow was followed 

 with the spade, and every inch of the grass left 

 by tho plow was turned under by the spade. 



We suggest, — in addition to what has been 

 said, — that the scion to be inserted should have a 

 Bcarf on the upper side two-thirds as long as that 

 cm the lower side. Let the upper side run under 

 the bark until it reaches the end of the scarf. 

 Another suggestion is, that scions be used, not 

 '^suckers." 



For the JNeto England Farmer. 

 TIME FOB PRUNING. 



Mr. Editor: — In noticing some remarks of 

 yours, and of your correspondent "W.," in the last 

 Farmer, I will venture to give some reasons why 

 I consider June pruning preferable to spring — say 

 March or April. It is generally supposed that 

 after the leaves are off in the fall, trees remain 

 idle until they leave out in the spring. It seems 

 to me that is not the case, especially Avhen the 

 ground is not frozen, and it seldom freezes to such 

 a depth that the extreme ends of the roots are not 

 at work in accumulating sap for the next season's 

 operations, and by March or April, if the tree is in 

 healthy condition, the body is full. Now the tree 

 needs the whole of this supply to throw out its 

 next crop of leaves and blossoms, and if a limb 

 is cut off in the spring, some part of the sap will 

 be pretty sure to escape, and thereby injure the 

 tree. 



In making the leaves and blossoms, and setting 

 the fruit, this extra supply seems to be exhausted, 

 and the next operation is the making a growth of 

 wood ; now prune your trees, and the fruit and 

 growth together with the leaves, will take care of 

 the sap. Still, sometimes, a diseased tree will 

 leak ; when that is the case, it is a sure indication 

 of trouble somewhere. 



The foregoing, I contend, is the true economy 

 and process of nature in the growth of trees, and 

 to my mind is a good reason why trees to be 

 transplanted should be taken up in the fall and 

 put in cellars, or heeled in, rather than stand in the 

 nursery until April or May, when they are nearly 

 ready to leaf out. The check they receive in 

 transplanting, at such a period, is hardly overcome 

 through the whole season, and the growth is hard- 

 ly perceptible, if any. 



What kind of progress would a nursery man 

 make in digging trees in this country, at this time, 

 when the snow is from 3 to 6 feet deep ? Still, 

 there is no frost in the ground, and nature is stead- 

 ily performing her silent work. 



Another good reason why trees should be taken 

 up in the fall and put in the cellar, is, they are 

 safe from being winter-killed, at least for one sea- 

 son. 



I suppose pruning is, or ought to be done, in 

 reference to the tree, instead of the surrounding 

 crops, and there is a best time to do it, as there is 

 a best time to hoe corn or dig potatoes, and the 

 man who insists in hoeing his corn after haj'ing, 

 or digging his potatoes after Thanksgiving, would 

 be considered out of order, to say the least, and 

 any excuse, such as leisure, convenience, or crops, 

 is no offset to the damage that may be done by 

 doing it at the wrong time. 



Wm. B. Hazelton. 



South Strafford, Vt., April 7, 1862. 



Remarks. — Please write on the subject you 

 speak of in a private note. 



Depth of Quiet People. — Some men dawn 

 upon you like the Alps. They impress you vague- 

 ly at first, just as do the hundred faces you meet 

 in your daily walks. They come across your hor- 

 izon like floating clouds, and you have to watch a 

 while before you see that they are mountains. 



