364 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Dr. Waterbury remarked, that from the appearance of the trees 

 in the public grounds, he should judge that the operators had 

 what they took off for fire-wood. He supposed that there was 

 usually no necessity for taking off large limbs. He inquired how 

 large limbs ought to be removed. 



The President would never take off a limb larger than his 

 wrist. He would only curtail an orchard wher'e the limbs cross 

 each other. A tree should be trimmed in June ; for then the 

 power of recuperation is so great that the wound will heal over 

 in two years. If trimmed in the winter, it will take from three 

 to five years, by which time incipient decay has commenced, and 

 the tree will be found rotten at the core. 



Dr. Waterbury said that he should have supposed that a limb 

 as large as the thumb was large enough to take off. 



Mr. Carpenter. — By going over the orchard once a year there 

 will be no necessity for taking off limbs larger than the thumb. 

 He would cultivate an orchard with the spade, covering the 

 ground, except round the trees, with grass, and spading as far 

 out as the limbs extend. His plan had been to spade the ground 

 in the spring, and to mulch with coarse barn-yard manure. In 

 August he would go over it again and dig that in. One man 

 could go over from 50 to 100 trees in a day. 



Dr. Weaver inquired what would be the effect, if we should 

 cut off the whole top of a tree to insert grafts. 



The l^resident. — It will kill the tree immediately. Nine trees 

 out of ten would be killed by it. 



Mr. Pardee. — Not so many as that. 



Mr. Lawton had had 94 wild trees grafted in this way some 

 20 years ago ; and none of them came to anything. A pear tree 

 will bear a greater amount of pruning than any other. 



The President said that the better way would be to graft one- 

 half the first year, and leave the other half to carry the sap from 

 the roots. In grafting, three or four limbs should always be left 

 for this purpose. 



Mr. Robinson had 40 or 50 old apple trees, which were trimmed 

 very heavily, and 1,122 grafts put in last spring, and 1,110 of 

 them lived all summer. But all of the limbs were not cut off. 



Mr. Carpenter said that in about one-half the instances where, 

 in grafting, no limbs was left to carry off the sap, the tree would 

 die. He would recommend grafting one-third of the tree each 

 year, commencing at the top. In grafting he would not allow 



