Agriculture is the most healthy, the most useful, and the most 
noble employment of Man.-- Washington. 
Vol. I« New-York, June, 1842. No. 3. 
A. B. Allen, and R. L. Allen, Editors. Geo. A. Peters, Publisher, 36 Park-Row. 
“THE AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST” 
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Pruning and Care of Fruit Trees. 
The proper season for pruning fruit trees is 
*£till a disputed question. Some of high autho¬ 
rity, contend it should be done in mid winter, or 
at any time when vegetation is not in progress. 
Others claim that the only proper season is when 
the sap begins to flow freely in the spring, and 
before the buds have become fully developed. 
A third class, among whom we must rank our¬ 
selves, insist that it should be done after that pe¬ 
riod when the excessive flow of thin and wa¬ 
tery sap has subsided, and the leaves have fully 
matured, which happens in this latitude, from 
the 20th June to 15th July. For this last opin¬ 
ion, there are two important advantages: 1st. 
There are no obtrusive young shoots pushing 
themselves forward where the branches are 
lopped off, as at other times: and 2d, the wounds 
made in pruning are immediately covered with 
a thick gummy sap, which, by effectually shut- 
dng up the pores of the wounded limb, secure 
a rapid healing of the part, and a re-covering 
by the extension of the bark from every side till 
it meets and is effectually joined in the centre. I 
These reasons are conclusive with us, and we 
think should be so with our readers, until they 
can show some better for the contrary practice. 
The cause assigned, for the effectual protec¬ 
tion and speedy recovery of the maimed part, 
by some, who have supposed they were speak¬ 
ing philosophically on the subject, is altogether 
a mistaken one. They assume two distinct pe¬ 
riods during the existence of the summev foliage, 
one the ascent, or upward flow of the sap; the 
other its downward course, or descent to the roots. 
Let us correct this misapprehension here. The 
sap circulates throughout the entire length and 
breadth of the tree, from the minutest spongioles 
of the root, invisible to the naked eye, up to the 
farthest point of the topmost leaflet; just as the 
blood courses through the animal system. In the 
tree, the leaves are the lungs, the principal res¬ 
piratory organs that change the character of the 
fluid, giving out oxygen and inhaling carbon 
from the atmosphere; though the bark of the 
fresh shoots perform this office to no inconside¬ 
rable extent, and at all times, at every period of 
the tree’s life, there is an intimate and vital con¬ 
nection of the bark with the surrounding air, 
perspiring its sap and imbibing a portion of the 
atmosphere; an operation, analag'ous to the 
functions of the skin in the animal system.—■ 
This constant circulation of the sap is a law 
so irrevocably fixed upon the living tree, that 
even in mid winter, when not absolutely arrest¬ 
ed by congelation, it still circulates; changes 
are still in progress within the trunk and bran¬ 
ches, and the air from without is constantly ef¬ 
fecting some alteration in the condition of the 
vital fluid. Life still manifests itself, and like 
every other living thing endued with this inscru¬ 
table principle by its Maker, it is incessantly oc¬ 
cupied in the exercise of its peculiar functions* 
