84 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
consequence can be expected for the first six or 
eight years. 
4th A thorough study and knowledge of the 
whole subject of selecting and preparing the land, 
the kinds of apple to cultivate, training, pruning, 
protection—in short, acquiring the trade of fruit¬ 
growing, in its most intelligent and comprehen¬ 
sive manner. These may all be got from the books 
—every author of winch should be consulted; 
and whose works, altogether, need not cost over 
ten or fifteen dollars in the aggregate—and with 
all this knowledge reduced to practice. 
5th. A persistent watchful care and vigilance, 
in all that pertains to the orchard afterwards. 
We have not taken apple-raising for cider 
and vinegar purposes into the account. That 
they may be raised for these purposes alone, in 
some localities, is probable ; but windfalls, and 
enough fruit not fit fur marketing, will usually be 
found in every considerable orchard for such uses, 
or to an extent sufficient to supply the demand 
that may be required for them. 
- -- ■=» & -- -- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Suggestions on Pruning.—Ho. II. 
BV A. O. MOORE, NEW-YOKK. 
{Continued from page 25.] 
Being convinced that no set of rules or recipes 
can be given for the pruning of fruit trees, which 
will enable a person unacquainted with the prin¬ 
ciples of vegetable growth to become a success¬ 
ful practitioner, I will first give a few general facts 
and illustrations of these principles. 
A tree is not simply an individual organism or 
unit, like a man or a horse. It is a “ Mutual bene¬ 
fit Society ,” composed of a number of individuals, 
amounting sometimes to many millions, each one 
Deing capable, under favorable circumstances, of 
maintaining its own existence, not only when in 
connection with, but when separated from the 
community in which it was produced ; or it may 
easily be transferred to another society, and will 
there grow and reproduce its kind with undimin¬ 
ished vigor. 
These individuals in whom alone resides the 
vitality or growing power of the tree, are the 
buds. 
Fig. 1. 
Fig. 1, presents a familiar object, a twig with 
buds upon it The stem and branches of a tree 
are merely the mass of rootlets or descending 
fibers from the buds, extending to the reservoir of 
food, the soil. The newly developed buds form 
their fibers on the outside of those previously 
formed, causing the annual increase in the diam¬ 
eter of the stem The old fibers gradually cease 
to perform any part in the economy of the tree, and 
becoming heart wood, are dead, though preserved 
from decay 
Fig. 2. Represents a section of a twig with buds. 
a, a, are buds cut so 
as to exhibit Ihe lay¬ 
ers of young leaves. 
b, b, the pith which 
contains a store of 
nourishment for the 
young buds, d, d, 
are the vital or grow¬ 
ing points of the 
buds, corresponding 
with the germ of a 
seed. c, c, c, are 
the layers of fibers or 
roots of t h e b u d s 
which descend 
through the branch¬ 
es and stem to the 
soil. By a process 
Fig. 2. precisely analagous 
to the germination of a seed, each bud, in its 
growth, sends downward,. under the bark, its 
rootlets, while it pushes upward its stem and 
leaves, bearing a new series of buds. 
The striking similarity in the growth of a seed 
and a bud may be seen is figs. 3 and 4. 
Fig. 4. 
Fig. 3 is an Acorn sprouted. Having burst the 
shell it is sending upwards the stem a, and down¬ 
wards its root b. 
Fig. 4 is a leaf bud of the Hickory, in the act of 
breaking from the sheath. The Acorn has burst 
to allow the escape of the downward growing root 
and the upward growing stem ; while the Hicko¬ 
ry bud is pushing out of its sheath which has 
protected it during the Winter. The roots of the 
latter are of course hidden within the stem. I 
have selected the seed and buds of forest trees for 
examples, because the process is more easily 
seen, but the same principles govern the growth 
of all trees. 
Leaves are the nurses of young buds. In fruit 
trees every bud has a leaf charged with its espec¬ 
ial care ; and when so grand an event as the birth 
of a blossom bud , or as it may be called, a prince, 
destined to form a new dynasty, is about to occur, 
two or even six leaves are often deputed to the 
nourishment of one bud. 
These buds, then, being independent individual 
existences, may be removed from the tree or pa¬ 
rent community, without injury to those that re 
main. 
In all healthy vigorous trees, especially when 
young, there is a greater number of buds produced 
in each year than can receive the highest develop¬ 
ment, or can find space for growth without mu¬ 
tual interference and injury.. Nature thus provides 
against accident and injury, as well as for 
the sustenance of insects and animals which 
are fed by the foliage of trees. If, then, none 
of these buds are removed, some will be suppress¬ 
ed and smothered by more successful rivals, and 
others will mutually injure each other and pro¬ 
duce a weak growth, while a few of the most 
favorably situated will have a monopoly of the 
wealth of the vegetable nation, and of the light 
and air of Heaven. 
This points to the first object to be attained by 
pruning, viz.—to regulate the number and posi¬ 
tion of the buds upon a tree. 
Our object in the cultivation of fruit trees, ia 
the production of the greatest quantity and best 
quality of lruit. We care nothing for the tree it¬ 
self or any other of its products. That course ol 
treatment will be the best which throughout the 
life of the tree will produce the greatest aggregate 
of fruit, regard being had to the labor, manure, and 
space devoted to this purpose. If we produce a 
great growth of wood it should be only to afford 
space for fruit. If we find that the growth ol 
wood interferes with the production of fruit, ol 
course the former must be curtailed. It is well 
known that in all plants either an excessive or 
deficient growth of stem is unfavorable to the pro¬ 
duction of the seed, fruit or grain. 
The second object, then, to be at¬ 
tained by pruning is the proper 
equilibrium between the nutritive or 
wood producing tendency, and the 
generative or fruit producing power. 
Besides these objects I know of no 
others, except in cases of injury, dis¬ 
ease or old age. 
A tree to be perfectly educated 
should be properly pruned from the 
first year of its growth; no after 
care can atone for neglect at that 
time. If properly managed from the 
start, a larger tool than a pruning 
knife need never be used upon it— 
cases of injury, disease and old age, 
excepted. 
I will endeavor in subsequent 
numbers of the Agriculturist to give 
what I consider to be the true 
theory and practice oi pruning—first with the 
young tree, and then for old and neglected trees. 
I would here advise those who would cut away 
large branches of trees, or any over two inches 
in diameter to postpone the operation until the 
months of June and July. March is so frequently 
employed in this work, that a word of caution 
may be appropriate now. 
-—- —- 
Roses from Cuttings- 
To the queries of A. Durkee, Windsor Go., Vt., 
we reply : Roses can be propagated by cuttings, 
hut more successfully by layers when they branch 
sufficiently near the ground. To strike from cut¬ 
tings, select wood of last ypar’s growth, and plant 
in early Spring. The shoots should be prepared 
before the buds have swelled, cut into pieces 
eight to ten' inches long, and planted in a moder¬ 
ately moist, loose soil. A slight hot-bed heat is 
best for starting them in. The bottom heat, the 
loose yellow soil, and especially the glass covering 
facilitates their rooting. When planted in the 
open ground, only a small proportion of them 
usually live, unless the ground be deeply trenched, 
and the plants screened from the hot sun, and 
frequently watered. But, with care, enough will 
generally live to supply the home demand. 
