GENERAL NOTES ON PRUNING. 33 



the trunk, especially if the trees stand a good distance 

 apart, and this should be done every three years at least. 

 To summarize : As a rule, cultivate for ten years 

 after planting and as long thereafter as possible. Short 

 rotations of grass are not injurious when the ground has 

 been enriched by tillage and manure and the trees are 

 tlirifty. When seeding is advisable or necessary, pasture 

 closely with hogs or sheep and apply liberal mulching 

 and top dressing. 



CHAPTER IX. 

 GENERAL NOTES ON PRUNING.— FORMS OF TREES. 



Most people make too hard work of pruning. In this, 

 as in other farm operations, the chief requisite to success 

 is good judgment. It requires no science to enable one 

 to prune an apple tree. The orchardist must at once 

 and forever renounce the notion that he must trim his 

 trees, that he must dress them up into symmetrical and 

 formal shapes. He must prune. He must decide how 

 long he will have the trunk and then, each year, cut out 

 superfluous branches. It is necessary that the trees 

 should, if possible, be kept straight and evenly balanced, 

 but it is not necessary or desirable to trim into regular 

 forms. 



I have always pruned in May or early June. Wounds 

 made at this time heal more rapidly than those made 

 in early spring. It is commonly asserted that the re- 

 ir.oval of growing brunches weakens the tree from the 



