AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Destpeti to imjroto lire Jarnttr, t\t planter, antr t \t (Sar&mr* 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHY , THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN- Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEN & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
VOL. XI.] NEW"-YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1854. [NUMBER 22. 
Mg* FOR PROSPECTUS, TERMS, fa., 
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WINTER WORK IN ORCHARDS. 
It is a good time now in winter, to range the 
orchard, and examine the condition of the trees, 
and determine the amount of pruning they re¬ 
quire. We have read sundry elaborate essays 
and discussions as to the best time of the year 
for doing this important work. If one could 
always command his time alike, this question 
would be of more consequence than it is, inas¬ 
much as the most favorable time for the benefit 
of the tree should be embraced. From long 
observation, we believe that from the first open¬ 
ing of the leaf-bud to the falling of the blossom, 
is the best time to prune fruit trees. The sap 
is then in full flow, new bark forms rapidly 
under the old bark at the point of amputation, 
and in a year or two—dependent on the size of 
the branch cut off and the vigor of the tree— 
the wound is healed, and a smooth and healthy 
bark covers it. 
Presuming, however, that every one cannot 
so command his time, particularly the farmer, 
who is most busy in the months of April, May, 
and June, when his plowing and planting must 
be done, we can only reiterate the advice of the 
clergyman to his parishioners, who asked him 
when was the best time to prune their trees ? 
“ When your tools are sharp,” was the reply. 
So, entirely coinciding with our clerical friend, 
we shall assume that if not already done, the 
fine saw (orchards should never be cut by a 
coarse one) be at once filed, the pruning-knife 
be ground, and the work commenced. It will 
be well for every manager of a young orchard 
to know that the proper starting of the branches 
of the tree at first, will save much labor in the 
future pruning, besides pushing the growth of 
the branches in the right direction. If a tree 
have six leading branches instead of three, 
which is the proper number, and quite enough, 
each of the six, making equal growth, will, of 
course, be only half the size of either of the 
three. Besides the growth of the three super¬ 
fluous branches robbing the three necessary 
ones, they actually interfere with their bearing, 
and if the tree be intended to produce at all, 
they must be ultimately cut away, and thus all 
this expenditure of sap and time is lost, and the 
root impoverished in providing for so much 
worthless wood; therefore it is of the highest 
consequence that young trees be properly and 
timely pruned. 
In young orchard trees, it is important, also, 
that pruning be so done as to give a vigorous 
growing direction to the branches. Early bear¬ 
ing in young trees is of little consequence com¬ 
pared with a wholesome and substantial growth. 
The bearing will take care of itself, and be all 
the more abundant in its own proper time. So 
prune as to spread the top equally as possible 
all over, and cut out such limbs as incline to 
chafe each other. If the variety of the tree be 
peculiar in its formation of top, do not thwart 
its natural inclination, by striving to torture it 
into some other shape ; but let it take its own 
course mainly, correcting only, as it goes along, 
the rices of its habits, if any it have. All efforts 
to counteract nature in such things are worse 
than useless. The more its natural habit is 
combatted, the more deformed will it become in 
its constant effort at presisting in it. Applica¬ 
tions to the cuts in young trees are of little con¬ 
sequence. Those of an inch or two in diame¬ 
ter, in vigorous trees, are soon healed by the 
new bark, and although sundry remedies or 
plasters have been recommended, some of which 
we have used, their benefits have not been very 
apparent. In aged trees, with large cuts, pro¬ 
tection is important. A salve of the same in¬ 
gredients as grafting-wax, only in different pro¬ 
portions, say a quart of linseed oil to a pound 
of rosin, and a half pound of beeswax, boiled 
thoroughly down together, and applied with a 
brush, in a state just liquid enough to run like 
common paste, is perhaps the best of any other. 
The merest coating will do, as its only office is 
to exclude the air. This may also be applied to 
small cuts on young trees, if preferred. Gum 
Shellac, dissolved in alcohol to the consistence 
of cream will also answer, but is hardly so last¬ 
ing as the other. 
Another important thing in young trees is, 
that they be kept straight. Prevailing winds in 
nearly all parts of our country are apt to give 
trees a lean in one direction. So much so have 
we seen whole orchards, that they had lost all 
correct shape, and bid fair in a few years to be- 
entirely prostrated by the continual heaving of 
the wind at their tops. This is easily remedied 
by staking the young trees when first set, thus 
keeping them in an upright condition till they 
get well established in the soil. When trees 
have grown to the size of one’s wrist, stakes do 
little good, the tree being more apt to draw over 
the stake by the inclination of the winds, than 
the stake is to hold up the tree. In this emer¬ 
gency the tree should be crutched. We have 
remedied the leaning of several hundred of our 
trees in this way. In the winter—this is the 
best time—go to the woods, and cut crutches, 
or forked saplings, twelve to sixteen, or even 
eighteen feet long, if the trees to be corrected 
are of any considerable size, and bring them to 
the orchard. When the leaves begin to open, 
bend the tree up into the wind from its leaning 
side, say 10° beyond a perpendicular, so that it 
shall lean into the wind instead of its previous 
position, then ■>nt the foot of your crutch— 
which should be bluntly pointed, so as to give it a 
firm hold in the ground—at a very obtuse angle 
from the body, and just below one of the lead¬ 
ing branches, the crutch receiving the body, 
and the branch above holding it from sliding 
up. This obtuse angle and long leg of the 
crutch gives it a more direct bearing against the 
tree, and holds it in place better than a short 
one. Be'ore finally adjusting the crutch to its 
place, lay a piece of sod, or a pad of straw, or 
barn litter, broken flax, or any other soft sub¬ 
stance between the tree and the fork of the 
crutch, and the work is done. If the leaning 
be so bad that to throw the tree back to the 
angle above named, prove too violent an effort 
at once, do it so far bark as it will work easily, 
and two months afterwards it will go up to the 
point required. The growth of one season, if a 
thrifty one, will usually put the tree in this new 
position so that it will remain, or only come 
back to a perpendicular ; but if at the return of 
another spring it discovers a tendency to lean 
again, the crutch should be repeated. At the 
fall of the leaf the crutch may be removed and 
housed, for another year, if required. Great ad¬ 
ditional value may be given to orchards by 
early attention to these items, and years of life 
added by the application of a comparatively 
small amount of labor at the proper times and 
seasons. 
WINTER FORAGE-SHELTER FOR STOCK. 
Passing a very considerable farm a few days 
since, the barn of which was close by, and its 
yard adjoining the highway, we saw large quan¬ 
tities of fine, bright straw scattered about the 
yard, over which some twenty head of cattle, 
and colts, and perhaps as many pigs were tread¬ 
ing and nosing it about; the cattle and colts now 
and then nibbling up a mouthful, while the 
pigs only trod it under foot and spoiled it, 
hunting for the stray kernel or two of grain left 
in it. Musing as we afterwards passed along, 
we thought what a stirring sermon might be 
drawn from such a text. Hay at that barn was 
worth fifteen dollars a ton, and this straw thus 
thrown away, and of which the sto.k did not 
eat a fifth part, was worth half as much in the 
market. With the aid of a horse-power cutter, 
the straw could be cut for a dollar a ton, labor, 
wear and tear of machinery, and interest in¬ 
cluded. Five bushels of common mill-feed, 
worth at the highest, 20 cents a bushel—ano¬ 
ther dollar—would make that straw, mixed with 
it and wet with a little water, as palatable as 
the best of hay to the stock—either horses, 
cattle, or sheep—and thus fed, the same quan- 
