592 Transactions of the American Institute. 



' Plaster is as useful as lime, but it acts in a different way, aud with 

 less regularity. A top-dressing of plaster on clover in the spring, when 

 it is three or four inches liigh, has, on thousands of farms, been found a 

 great help. If it does not benefit the Blair county lands, there must 

 be some peculiarity about them. But the use and profit of sowing 

 plaster is a question that each farmer must settle for himself by trial. 



Mr. Ilicks also asks tlie folloM'ing : 



When is the proper time to prune apple trees, and is the scraping 

 of the bark intended only to scrape olf the rough that gathers on it, 

 or are 3'ou to go deeper ] "We have some apple trees that are about 

 twenty-four or twenty-five years old, and can get them to do no good 

 for us. Would jou recommend tliem to be cut down, or can they be 

 made healthy and vigorous again ? Tliey are all situated on good 

 limestone land, in a protected jjlace, and the ground is covered with 

 a good sod. 



Can you give us a plan or remedy to make plum trees fruitful ? For 

 the past few years no plums of any account have been raised in this 

 part of Pennsylvania. A black knot, or something like a knot forms 

 on the tree, and spreads over it until the tree dies ; sometimes the 

 tree blossoms nicely, but before the plums ripen they all fall off; the 

 knots are most generally found on the limbs of the tree. A few 

 years back we had plums in abundance, and now we cannot get them 

 at all. I hope you will continue on in your good work. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman. — The best time to prune apple trees is in the 

 latter part of the winter and in March. Old apple trees, on a tough 

 pasture sod, that have been unproductive for years, and have a good 

 many dead limbs on them, are good for stove wood. Yet a great' 

 many such orchards have been brought out and made productive by 

 the following treatment : Saw off the dead limbs and some of the 

 others, but not enough to shock the constitution of the tree. Do not 

 put the saw to a vigorous branch that is over two inches through. 

 Plow up the orchard ; fertilize with yard manure, plaster and ashes. 

 If the trees are too thick, cut away some of them. Let the hogs and 

 all the poultry range freely through the orchard till the apples are 

 nearly ripe. If a great many little apples drop in July, have them 

 buried or eaten up by hogs. Early in the spring is the best time to 

 get rid of the worm nests. 



For black knot on plums we recommend a pretty bold use of the 

 knife, cultivation of the surface, M'ood ashes, and in March, at the 

 time of the last snow, scatter under each plum tree two quarts of 



