AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
215 
corner stone of the Washington monument, 
on the fourth of July. This might not have 
men sufficient, had he not within a short 
ime after, while these articles were still but 
half digested, eaten a very hearty dinner, 
contrary to the express remonstrances of a 
friendly physician who was present. 
Fruits and berries are healthy every day 
of the year, whether a man is sick or well; 
actual observation has established the fact, 
that fruit is medicinal even in diarrhea, in¬ 
asmuch as it has a curative effect, when 
properly used. It is a first truth in allo¬ 
pathic medicine, that in almost every dis¬ 
ease the bowels must be kept free ; and that 
is the natural tendency of fruits and berries 
of every description. I know from actual 
observation, that there is not a more healthy 
class of people in the world, than the ne¬ 
groes who work in the cotton fields and 
sugar plantations of the south ; to look at 
them working in the hot sun of 112° Fah¬ 
renheit, and breathing the clouds of dust 
which in a dry time arise from the use of 
the hoe, one would think that they would 
actually melt; but they neither melt nor die, 
but will work all day and go home at night, 
sing songs and “ dance juber,” by the hour— 
in which I have joined, and, therefore, am a 
competent witness ; for in younger days, I 
delighted “immensely” to peer about and 
look—how look, reader 1 There are many 
ways of looking now a days : I did not look 
under or over or around things, but straight 
at them, and that is precisely the reason I 
know so much according to the unanimous 
opinion of me ipsum. 
Well, what has a cotton plantation, which 
John Mitchell wanted so badly and didn’t get 
—what has a cotton plantation and its 
“hands” to do with the healthfulness of fruit, 
the very thing they never seel That is true, 
but it is necessary to eak out copy, lest I 
should tell you so much important truth you 
cannot remember half of it. But let us go 
back and “ make the connection ,” a thing 
which railroad companies and hungry hotel 
keepers do not always do, on purpose. I 
was saying, that in the hottest fields of the 
south, and under the hardest labor, the labor¬ 
ers thrive and shine—yes literally shine, as 
any well-fed negro will do; well, these 
“ hands ” have two actions of the bowels 
dady, that is, I have questioned them on the 
subject and they told me so. It is fair then, 
that a free state of the bowels in summer 
time is an attendant of sound robust health ; 
all know that fruits have that tendency, and 
consequently they must be healthy. The 
banana of Cuba is the meat and bread, the 
all and all of the slave population ; they can 
live wholly on that alone, as I have seen 
them do, for weeks together, and the banana 
is nearer in its nature to fruit than anything 
else we know. 
Now, reader, if I have not convinced you 
of the value of fruit in summer, just let it 
alone, and send your share to forty-two Irv¬ 
ing Place, New-York, and I will receive it 
with many thanks, and cure up your throat 
and knock the consumption out of you for— 
-a consideration, that is, beside the fruit 
present. One poor fellow, two or three 
summers ago, kept me supplied with fruit all 
the season, more than I wanted, so I sent it 
around to friends : yet I didn’t cure him, he 
died ; but he didn’t follow the directions, and 
of course I was not to blame ; among the 
chief of these was, uniformly, pay as you go, 
but he forgot that, and perhaps that was the 
reason I did not cure him. But to come at 
once to the conclusion of the whole matter, 
it only remains to tell 
HOW TO USE FIIUITS 
In the summer time, so as to derive from 
them all those nutritious, delightful and 
health-giving influences, which a kind Provi¬ 
dence intended doubtless should follow their 
employment. Fruits and berries should be 
ripe, fresh, perfect—should be eaten, the 
earlier in the day the better, not later 
certainly than three o’clock in the afternoon 
—should be eaten alone, unless with loaf 
sugar, not within two hours of eating any¬ 
thing else, and drinking nothing within half 
an hour of so eating them. 
The reason for these restrictions I cannot 
here add, after such a long article ; but for 
the present, the reader must search for him¬ 
self ; in the meanwhile, let him use fruits 
and berries as directed, and he may do it 
without restriction as to quantity, and will 
find them to be among the most delicious, as 
well as the most healthful and invigorating 
aliments in all nature.— Hall's Journal of 
Health. 
FRUIT GROWER'S SOCIETY OF WESTERN N. Y. 
The following are the committees of the 
above Society for the present year : 
On Native Fruits —H. E. Hooker, Roches¬ 
ter ; T. G. Yeomans, Walworth; E. S. Hay¬ 
ward, Brighton; A. Loomis, Byron; E. C. 
Frost, Catherine, Schuyler Co. 
On Foreign Fruits —Geo. Ellwanger, Ro¬ 
chester ; Jno. Morse, Cayuga ; J. C. Ilanch- 
ett, Syracuse; Chas. Powis, Greece; H. 
L. Suydam, Geneva. 
On Nomenclature —B. Hodge, Buffalo; W. 
P. Townsend, Lockport; J. B. Eaton, Buf¬ 
falo ; Joseph Frost, Rochester ; J. J. Thom¬ 
as, of Macedon. 
COUNTY COMMITTEES. 
Monroe —H. E. Hooker, Rochester ; Aus¬ 
tin Pinney, Clarkson ; Zera Burr, Perinton. 
Erie —Jno. B. Eaton, Col. B. Hodge, W. 
R. Coppock, of Buffalo. 
Niagara —W. P. Townsend, C. L. Hoag, 
M. L. Burrall, of Lockport. 
Cattaraugus —Spencer Scudder, Randolph; 
Hon. F. S. Martin, Olean ; J. C. Devereux, 
Ellicottville. 
Cayuga —Dr. A. Thompson, Aurora ; Jno. 
Morse, Cayuga : P. R. Freeoff, Auburn. 
Genesee —A. Loomis, Byron ; Col. H. U. 
Soper, Batavia; R B. Warren, Alabama. 
Ontario —T. C. Maxwell, Geneva ; S. H. 
Ainsworth, Bloomfield. 
Yates —Chas. Lee, H. Olin, Penn Yan; 
Isaac Hildreth, Big Stream Point. 
Tompkins —Jas. McLallen, Trumansburg; 
Jas. M. Mattison, Jacksonville ; Anson Bra- 
man, Ithaca. 
Wayne —T. G. Yeomans, Walworth ; Jno. 
J. Thomas, Macedon ; M. Mackie, Clyde. 
Onondaga —W. B. Smith, Syracuse ; Mr. 
Hamlin, Clay; E. P. Hopkins, Onondaga. 
Chautauque —Lincoln Fay. 
Orleans —S. Burroughs, Medina. 
Wyoming —Hugh T. Brooks, Pearl Creek. 
Allegany —Ransom Lloyd, Angelica; Wm. 
Howe, North Almond; Jno. Atherton, Phil- 
lipsville. 
Livingston —M. Colby, Nunda ; I. R. Mur¬ 
ray, Mt. Morris, Rev. F. W. D. Ward, Gene- 
seo. 
Steuben —Judge Denniston, Wm. B. Pratt, 
Prattsburgh; R. B. Van Valkenburgh, Bath. 
Seneca —H. C. Silsby, Wm. Langworthy, 
Seneca Falls ; Geo. Dunlap, Ovid. 
Chemung —Harvey Luce, Elmira; Geo. 
W. Buck, Chemung; Albert Owen, Big 
Flatts. 
Schuyler —E. C. Frost, Catherine ; Jno. 
Woodard, North Hector ; Dr. Nelson Win- 
ton, Havana. 
Oswego —S. Worden, Minetto ; A. Stone, 
Hinmanville. 
Tioga —Geo. J. Pumpelly, Owego ; Jno. 
S. Nichols, Spencer. 
Cortland —P. Barber, Homer ; Nathan 
Boughton, Virgil; B. J. Campbell. 
Youth writes its hopes upon the sand, and 
age, like the sea, washes them out. 
PRUNING. 
I have lately noticed some of my neigh¬ 
bors, with jack-knife, handsaw, and hatchet 
in hand, attacking their fruit trees as though 
they were enemies whom it was their pur¬ 
pose to wound and mutilate and disable by 
all means in their power. After the battle 
has been fought I have seen the ground cov¬ 
ered with branches, and in some cases with 
heads and trunks lying scattered in all di¬ 
rections around the scathed and bleeding 
trees, that remain like wounded and maimed 
soldiers, after a hard fought conflict. And 
the trophies of the victory thus obtained are 
carried off by whole cart loads, in the shape 
of sound, healthy sprouts and-branches, cov¬ 
ered with leaf and fruit-bud, and consigned 
to the wood-pile. 
It seems to me, sir, that these good neigh¬ 
bors of mine are trying an experiment to see 
how much injury they can inflict upon their 
trees, without destroying their lives. When 
the Inquisitors stretch a heretic upon the 
rack, they place a surgeon by his side, with 
his fingers upon the pulse, to decide when 
the torture has been carried to the limits of 
human endurance. But not so with our 
tree-trimmers. They seem to think that 
there is no limit to the endurance of vege¬ 
table life. This subject has often been re¬ 
ferred to in your paper, and the evil conse¬ 
quences of such a course have been frequent 
ly pointed out. But the fact that this prac¬ 
tice still continues, shows that enough has 
not yet been said. “ Line upon line, and 
precept upon precept,” seems to be the only 
way in which truth can be fixed in the pub¬ 
lic mind. If those who pursue this course 
will watch their irees carefully, and observe 
the effects of their treatment for two or 
three years, I think they will be satisfied 
that it is not only useless, but highly injuri¬ 
ous. When the trees are trimmed in March, 
April, and May, as soon as the warm weath¬ 
er comes on, and the sap presses into and 
distends the sap vessels, it bursts out of the 
recently wounded vessels, and runs down 
and blackens and poisons the bark, and 
causes it to crack and separate from the un¬ 
derlying alburnum, and thus effectually pre¬ 
vents the healing of the wound. Gangrene 
and death of a portion of the wood neces¬ 
sarily follow. Where several such wounds 
are made in a tree, its whole constitution will 
soon become impaired. It ceases to grow, 
and in a few years droops and dies. 
Trees that are trimmed the least, will gen¬ 
erally be found to be the most vigorous, and 
to develop the best formed and most beauti¬ 
ful heads. Now and then, a limb that is 
putting forth in an inconvenient direction, 
or in a direction which will injure the sym¬ 
metry of the head, should be taken away. 
A limb that is shooting out more vigorously 
than the rest, may be shortened, and when 
two limbs are chafing each other, one may 
be removed. Shoots that grow from the 
trunk, will generally die or cease to grow, 
when nature has no further service for them 
to perform. The idea of cutting out the 
whole central portion of an apple tree, to 
let in the sun, is wholly erroneous. The 
tree is thus deprived of a large portion of 
its lungs, as well as of many of its best bear¬ 
ing branches. In our climate the fruit, so 
far from requiring the direct rays of the 
scorching sun in midsummer, requires to be 
protected from its rays by the foliage which 
nature has provided. The directions given 
in English books for the cultivation of fruit, 
are adapted to the moist and cloudy atmo¬ 
sphere of England. The attempt to apply 
them to the cultivation of fruit in our climate, 
has led to the adoption of much erroneous 
practice. 
The best time for general pruning is a 
mooted question among intelligent men. But 
