206 
December, 1891. 
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/ ORCHRRDfcpt 
Pruning. 
Winter pruning invigorates wood-growth. 
When a portion of the branches of a tree is 
removed after t lie fall of the leaves, the 
balance of growth is destroyed and the roots 
have the preponderance; the remaining 
buds will now sh >ot forth with increased 
vigor — an important consideration with 
trees or vines that have become weakened 
from overbearing or any other cause, im- 
parting new vigor to w eak and sickly plants. 
The time for winter pruning may be reg- 
ulated by the condition of the plant; if 
pruned immediately after the leaves fall or 
ripen, the shoots will be stronger the suc- 
ceeding season than they would be if the 
operation had been delayed until spring. 
This arises from the fact that during winter 
the plant still contim es to absorb food by its 
roots, which is distributed over the branches: 
and as the principal flow of sap is always 
directed to the extreme points of shoots, the 
highest buds are most fully developed. If, 
therefor , pruning is delayed till spring, 
this accumulation is cut and thrown away, 
and to that extent the plant is weakened. 
Early winter pruning is eminently advanta- 
geous to native grapes. As the retained 
buds become charged \\ ith sap during win- 
ter. they start and advance rapidly — a mat- 
ter of much moment where the summers 
are rather short for ripening the fruit and 
wood of these plants. 
There is an tendency in many varieties of 
trees to form strong central growths at the 
expense of the side branches, more especial- 
ly while the plants are young. Pruning 
these strong shoots in winter only increases 
the evil, unless summer pruning is attended 
to by pinching out the ends of every shoot 
before it gains sufficient headway to injure 
the growth of the lower branches. Strong 
growths should be pruned in summer and 
weak ones in winter. In the management 
of hedges, where uniformity of growth is 
all important, this rule should constantly 
be kept in view. 
When the size of a tree is the only object 
sought, summer pruning should not be 
practiced. But it may be said that pruning 
of anv kind is a negative operation, and 
probably it is within the limits of possibility 
that trees may' be trained to any form and 
maintained in a fruitful condition without 
any instrumental pruning whatever, unless 
to remedy disease and casualties. It is 
much easier, for instance, to rub off a bud 
in May than it is to cut out a branc h in De- 
cember; and if a judicious system of dis- 
budding and pinching was strictly followed 
there would be no occasion for winter 
pruning; or. were it possible to place a tree 
in such a soil, and under such conditions 
that it would only make a moderate growth 
of w ell-matured wood, little, if any, priming 
would be required. But as all of these con- 
ditions are difficult to realize in happy com- 
bination, we have to resort to pruning, and 
a knowledge of the principles involved will 
materially assist the operator. — Wm. Saun- 
ders. ^ 
Slck-Hdadaobe? bkkcham's. Pills’ will relieve. 
Native Plum Culture. 
The dearth of hardy fruits in the north- 
west is naturally directing attention to the 
native plum, declares Prof. E. S. Goff, of 
the University of Wisconsin, in article on 
this subject in Garden and Forest. In the 
m it hern species of this fruit, the Primus 
Americana, is found a tree that, w hen prop- 
erly grown, ueeds not fear frozen mercury 
or the brightest summer or winter suns, 
and that suffers comparatively little from 
fungal diseases. The pioneers if ihe north- 
western states, in common wi'h those of 
the east, generally regarded the native 
plum as of too little value for culture. But 
when sad experience at length demonstrat- 
ed that the finer European plums are un- 
able to endure the severe climatic condi- 
tions of these states, the better native plums 
were found far preferable to none, and the 
thickets \' here this fruit still abounded be- 
gan to receive protection. 
What can be said of the quality of the 
best native plums? This question involves 
some difficulty, since doubts have been 
raised regarding t he parentage of some of 
the finer varieties. If the Ghenev, Gaylord 
and Roll ligstone plums are pure natives, 
the gulf between our finest native varieties 
and the Green Gage < r Jefferson is not so 
great that we need to despair of filling it. 
It must he confessed that the average wild 
plum, with its diminutive size and tough 
acerb skin, would not make a creditable 
showing by the side of its more cultivated 
European cousins, but in the Gaylord and 
Cheney we have size that eclipses the Green 
Gage, a ihin and fairly tender skin, with 
but the merest trace of acerbity, and with 
a flesh that for luscious jirciness would 
suffer little in comparison witli the finest 
European sorts. In the Rollingstene we 
have a plum of a size equaling the Green 
Gage, of delicious quality, with a skin 
which, though rather thick and tough, is 
without acerbity, and parts readilv from 
the pulp. The fruit has been shipped from 
Minnesota City to St. Louis and to New 
Jersey, arriving in excellent condition. The 
tree is very hardy and productive, and at 
Minnesota Citv i« said to have missed but 
two crops in thirty-five years. Some of the 
finer varieties tend to rot under culture 
more than in their native state, though, 
perhaps the tendency to this trouble is not 
greater among the native than the Euro- 
p an sorts. 
Professor Budd suspects that most of the 
larger so-eallcd native plums that have re- 
cently been brought to notice in Iowa and 
Minnesota may be hybrids between Prunus 
Americana and P. augustijulia, resulting 
from pits of the latter species having been 
brought *>y the Indians from the south or 
south-westward. If this is true, it would 
seem that we have discovered a key to the 
improvement of the former species, for 
these hybrids, if hybrids they are, manifest 
a very satisfactory degree of hardiness. 
The varieties derived from P. augustifolia 
have not thus far proved hardy in Minne- 
sota or Wisconsin. 
The soil requirements of the native plum 
appear to vary much with different sorts. 
Varieties that succeed well on a sandy soil 
may prove worthless on clay, and vice 
versa. This often explains the discordant 
and contradictory reports so often read 
regarding the value of certain varieties. 
The susceptibility of the native plum to 
injury from the plum curculiohas been the 
subject of some uispute. It may be safely 
said that the native plums possess no im- 
munity from attack by this destructive in- 
sect. II appears, however, that the propor- 
tion of larvae that develop is much smaller 
in most native varieties than in the va- 
rieties of the European plum. How far 
this is due to the thicker skin of the native 
species it is difficult to say. The idea that 
the native plum requires no protection 
against the curculio is erroneous. The 
proportion of fruit that is destroyed by this 
insect, even on nearly worthless wild varif 
eties, is often very large. 
It is generally conceded that productive- 
ness in the native plums is promoted by the 
intermingling rf the trees of different vari- 
eties. Certain varieties appear nearly in- 
cai able of fertilizing their own flowers, 
while others, as the De Soto, seem specially 
adapted to serve as fertilizers. It is possi- 
ble that much is ypt to be learned upon this 
point, and that the < om plaint of unproduc- 
tiveness in the native plum mav often arise 
from an unfortunate combination of varie- 
ties. 
Some difficulty is experienced in propa- 
gating the native plum under north-west- 
ern c mditions. The stocks used for the 
European plum are not satisfactory, and, 
so far as fully tested, only the native plum 
itself is best adapted for its own s.ock. The 
seedlings of pure natives are rather difficult 
to obtain, the demand for them at present 
exceeding the supply. The pits are not a 
commercial commodity, and must he pick- 
ed up, usually in small lots, and they art -s 
not very reliable for germination. Bud- 
ding in our hot summers is a precarious 
operation, and the keeping of cions and 
root-grafts is attended with some difficulty 
by those who have not yet learned the se- 
cret. Even top-grafting in our tickle spring 
weather is somewhat uncertain. But these 
difficulties will doubtless disappear before 
the knowledge developed by careful ex- 
periments. 
Japan Golden Russet Pear. 
Your interesting note in Orchard & Gar- 
den for October on this fruit attracted my 
attention, as two or three weeks previous I 
saw on the grounds of the Iowa Agricultu- 
ral College what seemed to me to he the 
same thing under the name of “Strong’s 
Japan.” The descriptions of tree and 
foliage coincide exactly, the strong upright 
habit and large shiny leaves being very- 
marked. Whether the same or not, both any 
evidently forms of the Chinese sand pear 
( Pyrus sinensis.} A specimen of Strong’s 
Japan before in*’ now although consider 
ably shrivelled retains the gritty character- 
