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 
thrifty. 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- 
moval of growing branches weakens the tree from the 
f 
