34 FIELD NOTES ON APPLE CULTURE. 



fact that so many leaves and so mucli young wood is 

 destroyed, but I have yet to see any confirmation of 

 this notion in i)ractice. Pruning in February and March 

 has its advantages, the most important of which is the 

 greater leisure at that time. The fact that there is such 

 a balance of opinion as to the relative advantages of 

 early spring or late spring pruning, is proof that the 

 advantages of either are mostly unimportant. From the 

 facts that wounds heal sooner, that the work is pleasanter 

 and that the brush handles easier, I have a preference for 

 pruning Just after the leaves appear. 



There is a conspicuous shoulder or enlargement at the 

 base of most limbs. It is just at the 

 outer border of this shoulder that the 

 limb should be severed. Cut at about 

 right angles to the limb which 

 you sever, and not to the trunk from 

 which the limb springs. If cut at a 

 right angle to the trunk the surface of 

 the wound will be larger. This is 

 illustrated in figure 2. The line a h 



Fig. 2.— SHOULDER T 4-- -« 4. 



OF A WMB. represents the proper direction oi cut, 

 the line c ^ an improper direction. 



I have used many kinds of pruning tools, but for all 

 purposes nothing is so good as a small saw in the hands 

 of a nimble operator. A saw Avith a curved blade, with 

 reflexed teeth for a draw cut on the concave edge and 

 ordinary teeth on the convex edge, is handiest. Long- 

 handled pruning contrivances are unfit for continuous 

 work, as the constant looking up is very tiresome. For 

 small twigs m the top of the tree nothing is so good as 



