306 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



the same ground, but still the pernicious prac- 

 tice is continued by some persons. 



A perfeotly safe rule to be followed, is to 

 prune when the "saw will gum up," as it is 

 called. This takes place when the sap has 

 visited the branches, passed through their 

 laboratory, and is returning down the tree 

 between the bark and the sap-wood, in a con- 

 dition entirely dilTerent from what it was when 

 it ascended to the tree. It comes down thick- 

 ened, and of a sticky nature, which causes 

 it to adhere to the saw so strongly as to make 

 it necessary to wash it occasionally while 

 using it. 



By the middle of June, the sap in this form 

 commences coming down and increases the 

 diameter of the branches and trunk of the 

 tree. It is safe, therefore, to prune from the 

 middle of June to the middle of July. At 

 the end of this time, a second growth com- 

 mences, and pruning should be suspended 

 until the leaves have fallen ; after which it 

 may be resumed, and continued through Oc- 

 tober and November with safety. This sec- 

 ond growth may be distinctly seen all through 

 the autumn, as the color of the leaves is a 

 much lighter green than that of the first 

 growth. 



. Where crops cover the ground, they may 

 be injured by the falling limbs from the trees 

 and the necessary walking about under them. 

 Immediately after the falling of the leaf, 

 therefore, is, upon the whole, the best time to 

 prune. There is usually less hurry than in 

 June, the weather is favorable, and no crops 

 are liable to be injured by the work. The 

 wounds contract and harden, so that the sap 

 will not pass through them when it flows in 

 the spring, and the wound is in a favorable 

 condition for the healing process to be carried 

 on by the descending, elaborated sap. The 

 heahng process is more rapid in June pruning, 

 because the thickened sap returns so much 

 sooner than it does after fall pruning. All 

 wounds should be covered. Any paint will 

 do, applied only to the wound, but gun shellac 

 dissolved in alcohol is best. 



For the Ntio England Farmer, 

 SANDW^ICH ISLAND FAKMING. 

 Waih Ku, Maui, Haw. Isles, April 11, 1871. 

 IIow many years I have been a sub- 

 scriber fortlie Nkw Engi.anu Faioieu I can- 

 not now say. It brings a home-feeling to me 



as few things do in this far-off corner of the 

 world, where I have been ever since April, 

 18;57, with the exception of a short visit home 

 and one short stay in San Francisco. 



It has sometimes occurred to me that possi- 

 bly I might state a fact or two which would 

 be useful to the readers of the Farmeh, inas- 

 much as I was bred a farmer on the soil of the 

 good old Bay State, and have all my life felt 

 an interest in agriculture. But then I reflect 

 that there have been immeasurable advances 

 in agriculture, as well as other tilings, since I 

 left the country ; and here I have been cut off 

 from those influences which give such a stim- 

 ulus to mental effort — in a debilitating climate 

 where our brains get roasted and our bile far 

 too much developed. 



Then again, tropical culture is so unlike 

 that of temperate zones that it seems to have 

 notliing in common with it except main prin- 

 ciples; which are everywhere the same. These 

 considerations have hitherto prevented my 

 writing altogether. But if we cannot have 

 much in common with you, we still have a 

 chance for observing some of the operations 

 of nature which you, in your northern latitude, 

 cannot enjoy. And although the main princi- 

 ples are as familiar to you as a, b, c, I crave 

 pardon for giving an illustration or two of 

 those principles which our stand-point enables 

 us to observe. 



Most of your readers are doubtless aware 

 that the windward or northeast side of the 

 Islands are rainy and can grow crops without 

 irrigation. So also at two or three thousand 

 feet elevation on the leeward sides. But near 

 the shore of the southwest sides, and other 

 places imder their influence, plants are de- 

 pendent almost entirely on the mountain 

 streams for water ; and where these streams 

 are wanting, as for instance on Hawaii, there 

 is no chance for crops near the lee shore, ex- 

 cept occasional winter rains may bring them 

 forward. It follows that irrigation is a main 

 dependence in such situations where streams 

 exist, and that water privileges are as valuable 

 as land. 



Long use has made us as familiar with irri- 

 gation as hoeing is to you ; though we may 

 not have learned all that may be learned 

 about it. Some crops are much heavier where 

 irrigated than where they depend on the rains. 

 One reason undoubtedly is that they have 

 both sun and water at the same time, while in 

 rainy districts the sun is covered and the 

 growth is stopped while the water is applied — 

 one of the grand compensations which we 

 often see in nature. I am aware that my 

 good friends in the rainy districts may wince a 

 little at this — if they see it — but while four or 

 five tons of sugar per acre is a common yield 

 with us at Wailuku and vicinity, we do not 

 fear comparisons, and must maintain our 

 point. But we will admit that the cost of 

 irrigation very much increases the outgo on a 

 crop. The first thing to be done is to cut a 



