370 



NEW EXGLAOT) FAR:MER. 



Aug. 



ON PBUNINQ. 



HE best season for pruning ap- 

 ple trees is now near at hand. 

 Trees which have been prop- 

 erly managed during their whole 

 growth, will never need the cutting 

 away of large limbs, unless they 

 have been injured by teams, or bro- 

 ken by snow or wind. 



What are called "suckers," may be thrown 

 out, more or less, every year ; they are often 

 cut out when the sap is in full motion, and 

 where they have stood thickly, the branches 

 from whence they were taken have become 

 black and diseased. It is better to take away 

 even these small shoots at a proper season. 



All fruit trees growing as common standards, 

 should be allowed to assume their natural form, 

 the pruner going no further than to take out 

 all weak and crowded branches. 



Some persons go into the centre of a tree 

 and cut away quite large limbs, when the de- 

 sired object could be much better gained by 

 thinning out their extremities. It is always 

 better not to cut a large branch, unless it is 

 actually endangering the tree considerably. 

 Taking off large limbs tends to throwing out 

 suckers the following summer. All these 

 should be rubbed off when they first appear. 



When priming, — Mr. Downing says, — is not 

 required to renovate the vigor of an enfeebled 

 tree, or to regulate its shape, it may be con- 

 sidered worse than useless. Bearing in mind 

 that growth is always corresponding to the ac- 

 tion of the leaves and branches, if these are 

 in due proportion, and in perfect health, the 

 knife will always be found rather detrimental 

 than beneficial. 



But the injury arising from pruning apple 

 trees, is infinitely greater from doing work at 

 the wrong time of the year, than from injudi- 

 cious cutting. Our object is now, mainly, to 

 present some authorities on this point. 



Frof. Lindley says, "If well directed, prun- 

 ing is one of the most useful, and, if ill- 

 directed, it is one of the most mischievous, op- 

 erations that can take place upon a plant. 

 The season for pruning is usually midwinter, 

 or at midsummer. It is, however, the prac- 

 tice to perform what is called the winter prun- 

 ing early in the autumn.'''' 



Mr. Downing. "We should especially avoid 

 pruning at that period in spring when the buds 



are swelling, and the sap is in full flow, as the 

 loss of sap by bleeding is very injurious to 

 most trees, and in some, brings on a serious 

 and incurable canker in the limbs. * * * 

 Our experience has led us to believe that, 

 practically, a fortnight before midsummer is 

 by far the best season, on the whole, for prun- 

 ing in the Northern and Middle States. 

 Wounds made at this season heal over freely 

 and rapidly." 



"The best time for a general pruning is at 

 the close of the first growth of summer, 15th 

 of June to 15th of July." — Am. Agriculturist. 



"In the spring, the tree in all its parts, is 

 filled with sap, and the wood at the wound 

 cannot season. Hence it readily decays. Any 

 person who should cut timber at this season, 

 and expect it would season with the bark on, 

 would be considered out of his senses." — M. 

 B. Sears, in Maine Farmer. 



"Ju7ie is the time to prune fruit trees. 

 Limbs taken off at this season, will begin 

 immediately to send out a ring of new wood, 

 just where it is needed, and will thereby pro- 

 tect itself in the soonest possible period from 

 external harm." So states E. D. Wight, in the 

 Genesee Farmer. 



A writer in The Culturist, says from the 

 middle of June to the first of September is 

 claimed to be the proper time in which to per- 

 form this important operation: 



We do not know who claims this, but are 

 quite confident that it is postponing the proper 

 time too long. Avoid pruning when the sap 

 is in full flow, and the tree will not be injured 

 when the work is properly done. 



Most persons have observed that trees show, 

 in August and the early part of September, 

 what is called a new growth. On this growth 

 the color of the foliage is a lighter green, and 

 has, every way, the appearance of being more 

 recent than that of the rest of the tree. And 

 so it is. 



By the time that midsummer comes, most of 

 the sap that flowed up in the spring has gone 

 to the branches and aided in expanding buds 

 and blossoms, and in sending out new leaves and 

 extending the twigs. When the tree has done 

 this, the superabundant sap returns down the 

 tree through the bark and increases its diam- 

 eter. 



The tree has now a season of rest. The 

 sap vessels are comparatively empty, so that if 



