APPLES 283 
lated to produce a great number of leaves 
which assimilate sap. This elaborated 
food passes back through the inner bark 
near the newly made cut and the wound 
quickly callouses and heals because it 
thus has access to an abundant supply of 
food. 
The notion prevails that a wound of 
any size will heal, but the ~ major- 
ity of wounds over three inches in diam- 
eter do not heal—decay sets in, followed 
by wood-destroying fungi, and these, with 
the action of the weather, are followed 
by rotten wood, a hollow branch and a 
diseased tree. The Geneva station is now 
digging out an apple orchard in which 
the centers of the trees were removed 
some 15 or 18 years ago. The trees 
might have borne crops for two or three 
decades longer but practically all are 
worthless from the results of the cutting 
out of large limbs. The life of a tree 
is endangered whenever a large branch 
is removed, and such an amputation 
should be made only under dire neces- 
sity. Tree lovers shudder at the ghastly 
wounds and mutilated trees in the aver- 
age orchard. The professional “hewers 
of wood’ who call. themselves “tree 
pruners” are responsible for much of the 
dreadful slaughter seen in orchards. 
It is presumed that every fruit-grower 
has learned from observation or experi- 
ence that one of the secrets of the heal- 
ing of large wounds is to cut close to 
the trunk, and no matter how large a 
wound may be it is better than leaving 
a projecting stub. The chances for heal- 
ing with a large wound are materially 
increased by a coating of thick lead paint 
to protect the cut surface from evapora- 
tion and moisture.: It is a waste of time 
to treat wounds less than two inches in 
diameter. 
U. P. HeEprick, 
Geneva, N. Y. 
One Spring and Two Summer Prunings 
The accompanying photographs _illus- 
trate a method of pruning employed by 
an orchard company near North Yakima, 
Washington. 
The method consists of pruning young 
trees once before the buds put out in the 
spring, once about the last of May or 
Fig. 1. Tree One and One-Half Years After Re- 
moving from the Nursery. The photograph 
was taken about the first of September, the 
second year of growth in the orchard. ‘The 
tree was pruned early in March, early in 
June, and was photographed just before prun- 
ing early in September of the same year. 
The Same Tree After the Second Sum- 
mer Pruning, September 1st. 
Fig. 2. 
