1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



33 



PBirNXKrG APPLE TREES. 



I perceive that you and the Editor of the Manchester 

 Mirror do not agree as to the best time for pruning ap- 

 ple trees. Will you please publish your reasons for pre- 

 ferring the autumu to the spring for that purpose, and 

 oblige yours truly. JONA. K. SMITH. 



Dublin, N. H., Nov., 1866. 



Remakks. — Certainly, and with pleasure, al- 

 though it will be an "oft-told tale." The 

 opinions we shall give are based, _^rsi, upon a 

 long and careM study of the physiology of 

 trees, — that is, a study of their organs and 

 lunctions. Secondly, the corroborative evi- 

 dence of the highest authorities on the subject, 

 in this and other countries. And thirdly, a 

 practice which has been continued nearly twenty 

 years, in pruning trees at all seasons, carefully 

 watching the effect of the operation upon them, 

 and making a record of the facts. 



When we graft an apple tree we change its 

 habit. It then becomes, in a considerable de- 

 gree, a thing of art, and must be treated after- 

 ward in an artificial manner. It assumes new 

 forms in its growth, has smooth and more deli- 

 cate branches, loses its sharp spikes or thorns, 

 has a larger and finer foliage, and is less able 

 to bear injuries or extreme temperature. Con- 

 sequently the tree requires a more delicate 

 handling. 



There is now frequent complaint that the or- 

 chards of New England are rapidly failing. 

 It is no doubt true that they are failmg, alto- 

 gether too fast. One leading cause of this is 

 cropping tiiem too heavily with grass and other 

 crops, and another, pruning them miskilfully 

 and at a wroiig season of the year. We will 

 say nothing of damage done by insects, at 

 present. 



Nearly all the orchards of New England 

 that are twenty-five years old and upwards, 

 present the clearest evidence of premature de- 

 cay. Our fathers probably pruned apple trees 

 in March and April, because they found it a 

 comparatively leisure season. Most of it was 

 done in March . But in this age of progress their 

 sons ought to know better than to begin the 

 destruction of their orchards just as they are 

 coming to maturity. There is just as much a 

 pi-oper time to prune apple trees as to prune 

 grape vines. Who ever heard of pruning the 

 latter in March or April ? And yet the princi- 

 ple involved is the same. Nature works alike 

 in each, so far as the circulation of the sap is 

 concerned. 



The true rule for pruning is a simple one. 



Prune when there is the least sap in the sap 



vessels, or sap wood, as it is called. That oc- 

 curs about midsummer, when the thin watery 

 sap, having visited the most remote twigs and 

 leaves, has become elaborated into a substance 

 entirely imlike that which so recently passed 

 up, and is going down directly under the outer 

 bark of the branches and trunk of the tree, 

 and plainly increasing their diameter. This is 

 the favorable time to prune, because there is 

 comparatively little sap left in the vessels to 

 run out if they are cut off. This period occurs 

 not only about midsummer, but in the autumn 

 after the leaves have fallen, and will continue 

 until warm and genial days intervene, when the 

 sap will sensibly feel their invigorating power, 

 and especially so if the ground at the time is 

 not frozen. If a succession of warm and sun- 

 ny days occur in February, the sap will start 

 where trees stand in sheltered places, but open 

 to the south. 



A bright sun has a wonderful power upon 

 trees. It makes the sap active at once, but it 

 seems to become dull again on the approach of 

 cold, — acting, in this respect, much as animals 

 do in sudden changes of temperature. When 

 set in motion by a proper degree of warmth, 

 the tree goes directly about its work, roots and 

 branches co-operating with each other. A thin, 

 watery fluid is collected by the fine roots, and 

 by some wonderful agency carried along through 

 inniunerable tubes, or sap-vessels, as they are 

 called, which are in the wood that lies next to 

 the albm-num, or that white, soft substance be- 

 tween the outer bark and the hard wood. First 

 comes the outer bark, then alburnmn or sap- 

 wood, and lastly the heart of the tree where no 

 sap-vessels can be found. 



As we have said above, the roots begin to 

 fill these sap-vessels upon the approach of clear 

 suns and warm weather, and the sap is carried 

 by them to the remotest branch and smallest 

 twig of the tree. Buds were formed the pre- 

 ceding year, and are ready to receive and use 

 the sap as it comes along to them. K they are 

 blossom buds the sap expands the blossom, if 

 leaf buds it establishes the leaf, and then the 

 tree is ready to go to work to increase its 

 length and size in diameter. 



The bright days in March usually excite the 

 tree to decided action, and this continues until 

 near mid-summer, or until the leaves have 

 nearly attained their full size. Of course, ev- 



