I 82 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MARCH 7 
( jgg 
PINCHING AND PRUNING. 
WHEN ? WHERE ? HOW ? 
Questions From the Curious. 
1. Some buds of apples and plums grow too tall and have 
to be cut back. If pinched at the top by August 1, 
they often throw out side branches a foot or more in 
length. Is pinching then a wise practice ? Will the 
pinched trees be more stocky ? 
2. Cannot apples, pears, cherries and plums be just as well 
pruned in November and all the winter months (that 
is, shortened or set back in the nursery) as in March ? 
3. Cannot budded trees be just as well cut off, say two 
inches above the bud, at any time after November 
1 ? Why wait until March ? 
4. In setting out trees in garden in the fall, is it proper to 
cut them back then, or should they be left until 
spring? Will they winter better if the tops are 
left on ? 
As Viewed In "The Cold Northwest.” 
1. Pinching off the tops of buds or shoots on August 1 
or whenever desirable, makes the stems more stocky and, 
in mild climates, usually works well. But in the cold 
Northwest we discourage late growths, say after August 
1. Hence we stop cultivating young grafted apples about 
July 15 and pinch late, open growths about September 1, 
and again later if new growths start. 
2. In mild climates, yes ; but in the Northwest on com¬ 
mon cultivated apples and trees not entirely ironclad or 
frost-proof, we want no fresh wounds to let in the wither¬ 
ing winter winds. Must such be pruned here in autumn ? 
I would prefer doing it in September, painting all scars 
half an inch or more across. 
With ironclads as the Siberian 
Crab and the native plum, 
elm, maple, etc., fall pruning 
(painting scars as above) is 
best and September the best 
month in which to prune: ; \ ^ 
only I would not want to re- 
move, in pruning, over say a 
quarter of the tree’s foliage 
3. The tops of stocks “in , ■ - 
bud” seem to me to nourish v £■ 
and protect their roots and , ^ 
inserted buds over winter; * 
hence it is better not to cut 
them back till spring. 
4. Any needful cutting back 
or thinning out of the tops is __ 
done with far better results ■, 
when the trees are set, ' 
whether in the spring or fall, 
the wmunds being always 
painted as above. The ex- . 
tent to which we should cut 
back or reduce the tree tops 
in transplanting should be " 
regulated by the loss of the ; 
roots. I find this one of the * pb 
very needful and often 
neglected considerations in 
moving trees and shrubs. 
F. K. PHCENIX. 
Walworth Co., Wis. 
Prune In February and 
March. 
1. We do not consider pinch¬ 
ing back the fall buds of ap¬ 
ples and plums a wise prac¬ 
tice, unless the trees are put J 
on the market when one year 
old. Trees with a few branches will give better satisfac¬ 
tion to customers than straight shoots; they will perhaps 
be a little more stocky, but we consider it no great benefit 
where trees are to remain in the nursery and are grown 
until two or three years old. 
2. In this latitude we think the proper time to do nur 
sery pruning is in February and March, and then only in 
mild weather when there is no frost in the wood. If done 
previous to this time, we should be afraid that cold 
weather and hard freezing would injure the trees. 
3. Budded trees can be cut off in the forepart of winter, 
if cut two or three inches above the bud, but we do not do 
it, as we consider the top a benefit during the winter to 
shade the ground and prevent thawing, and also to catch 
and retain the snow to give protection to the buds. We 
cut back our buds in March, and cut nearly all kinds of 
stock to the bud, leaving no dry stubs to be cut off after¬ 
wards. 
4. We consider it best to head back in the spring trees 
transplanted in the fall. We think the trees will winter 
much better with the tops left on if the winter should be 
severe. Of course, in a different climate from ours, we 
might handle the above stock in a different manner. 
Lake Co., Ohio. storks & harrison CO. 
Winter Better With Tops On. 
1. As the side branches are not a formidable evil, the few 
shoots which spring up may be reduced later, or, perhaps, 
still better, quite early in the season, as soon as they are 
discovered, thus giving all the strength of growth to the 
tree through the summer. 
2. A light pruning may be given at either season; but 
as trees are rendered more tender by much pruning, it 
would be better to wait and not expose them to all the 
rigors of coming winter, unless they are thoroughly hardy 
kinds. 
3. For the same reason, it would not be advisable to cut 
back budded trees early in winter, as it would tend to re¬ 
duce the vigor of the stock and to deprive it of a portion 
of the force it would possess in pushing forward the in¬ 
serted bud. For the same reason, very cold winters have 
been known to prevent the opening of buds for several 
weeks on fairly hardy species. 
4. They will winter better with the tops on, provided 
the roots have been sufficiently secured to enable them to 
stand firmly against the wind, but there may be cases 
when a partial removal of the tops may be useful in pre¬ 
venting swaying in the wind. Where there are conflicting 
influences, good judgment must be used. 
Those different cases will vary with the seasons, soils, 
preparation, care in selecting localities, hardiness of the 
kinds, etc., and rules must be modified accordingly. 
Ontario Co , N. Y. VETERAN. 
Grow the Trees on Thinner Soli. 
1. Yes, pinching is advisable; but I think it would be 
better not to grow the trees in a soil which produces such 
a rank growth. Young trees do not need so rich a soil as 
is demanded after the trees come to bearing. Such forced 
trees are showy, and, in nurserymen’s parlance, they “ de¬ 
liver well,” but a wise buyer rejects them. 
2. That depends upon varieties and climates. Where a 
tree is entirely hardy it can be pretty severely pruned with¬ 
out much risk of permanent injury; but look out for 
“ black heart,” and an early death, foreven slightly tender 
trees that have had hard pruning. 
3. Possibly ; I might say probably, but I never tried it. 
4. If the trees have been dug with plenty of long, unin¬ 
jured roots, and set out properly, quite early in the fall, it 
is best not to cut them back, as they will make almost as 
good a growth the next season as if they had not been 
moved. Late setting is objectionable for many reasons ; 
sgrbr 
A.." fjh.* ,^ 
MUCH-GRAFTED TREE. Fig. 65. See page 183. 
but trees set late go through the winter better if freely cut u 
back, provided they are hardy in the region where they are 
planted. If not, it is highly probable that late planted 
and severely cut trees will not prove of much advantage to 
the planter. If they ever recover their normal vigor it 
will be after much attention and nursing. The objection 
to leaving all the wood on late-set trees is that it will die v 
back anyway; and the tree is more likely to die if not cut in. 
Orleans Co., Vt. T. H. HOSKINS. 
v 
Pruning Growth Always More or Less Injurious. 
1. Growth pruned from a tree, whether old or young, is t 
measurably lost, and cutting it off is always more or less s 
injurious. Pinching, so far as it can be made to obviate ii 
the necessity of pruning proper, reduces the loss or injury d 
to a minimum. Young trees, pinched at the proper height t 
for the heads, will rarely start branches enough to form v 
satisfactory heads; in which case these branches must b 
necessarily be cut away the following spring. In such a ^ 
case the pinching will have proved of little or no advant- t 
age. Trees pinched and branched as suggested will there¬ 
by be rendered more stocky. A 
2. The difference will in most cases be slight; but when 1 
(as in the case of young trees) the purpose is to encourage t 
wood growth, I have found the trees to start into growth t 
with somewhat greater vigor if the pruning is deferred till l 
the approach of spring. t 
3. If cut back as is usually done, close to the bud, during c 
late fall or winter, there would be danger that the drying j 
back of the stock might kill the yet dormant bud. If cut f 
off considerably above the bud, to avoid this danger, the i 
stocks must be cut back a second time, after the buds s 
have made considerable growth ; yet another objection is c 
that, if cut back in autumn or winter it will be impossible 1 
to detect many of the failures, some of which become i 
obvious only with the commencement of growth. These £ 
are usually left to be rebudded. 
4. The branches of a tree are constantly yielding up 
moisture to drying winter winds. If cut back this loss 
will not usually be as great; but, in such case, the wood 
near the cut may be more or less injured during winter ; 
in which case a further cutting back may be found neces¬ 
sary the following spring. T. T. lyon. 
Van Buren Co., Mich. 
Conditions That Confront Us. 
We would not consider it a wise practice to pinch back 
one-year-old buds except the young trees were to be dis¬ 
posed of as one-year-olds. Pinching causes the trees to 
throw out side branches and makes them more stocky, but 
if grown another year tbe bodies will not be so smooth, 
They have to be trimmed up to whips the following 
spring in order to form one-year-old heads (trees with two- 
year-old heads not being marketable), and wherever a side 
branch is cut off it leaves a scar. We get the smoothest, 
handsomest trees from one-year-olds that have made a 
straight, tall growth without any side branches. We have 
sometimes pinched back one year-old dwarf pears in order 
to get them into market as one year-olds, but in this lati¬ 
tude August 1 would be too late for that purpose. They 
should be pinched back by the middle of June or July 1 at 
the latest. Frequently we get no growth after August 1. 
We have never known trees to make too tall a growth the 
first year. In some latitudes they could probably be 
pruned during the winter months without injury, but in 
this section they would be liable to be exposed to too ex¬ 
treme cold. We would expect that this would injure 
them when they have just been pruned, and would be apt 
to leave a black spot that would not heal over. If a branch 
of a tree be cut back in the winter and the stump be ex¬ 
posed to extreme cold, it will be found killed back several 
inches in the spring; but if the tree be pruned in the 
spring the wound will heal 
y quickly and will soon be cov- 
A ered with new growth. We 
*„ jJL have, however, sometimes 
% ~ taken the chances and pruned 
^ in February to save time 
J‘ later, but we don’t like to 
We cannot see that any- 
thing is gained by cutting off 
the stock two inches above 
if the bud before spring. On 
gap the contrary, the time spent 
in doin £ 80 seems to us like 
time thrown away. The 
~ stubs will have to be cut off 
| later, thus doubling the 
„ amount of labor, and at the 
^7. -!& same time the bud is more 
^r- likely to be disturbed than if 
the stock is cut at the proper 
P !?c|§p: time. We know that some 
nurserymen cut the stock off 
a inches above the bud 
' and leave it until the bud 
gets a good start, sometimes 
tying the bud to the stock to 
keep it from being blown out 
by the wind ; but we can see 
nothing to recommend the 
practice. It almost univers- 
I | ally makes a crook in the 
11 tree at the bottom, and as 
( \ many buds are injured by 
, cutting the stubs off as are 
saved from being blown out. 
Besides, we would fear Injury 
to the stock from extreme 
cold the same as in pruning. 
!3 - In planting trees in the fall 
we should leave the tops on 
until spring for the reasons given above. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. smiths, powell & lamb. 
Let the Tree Grow and Ripen. 
1. No; we think it better to let the tree grow and ripen 
up well and cut back in winter to the height at which we 
wish the top to start. 
2. Yes ; we commence as soon as it freezes up in Decem¬ 
ber to trim our nursery trees and cut back the tops as we 
want them for starting in spring. 
3. We think not. We believe the buds are better pro¬ 
tected from snow and Ice if the tops are left on. We have 
seen buds like those of the cherry or buds that are prom¬ 
inent, torn off by melting ice or rather snow, scraping 
down the bodies. We think that if the tops are left on the 
trees they protect them more; and again, if the winter is 
very cold, we believe the tops will become or are apt to 
become dried and injure somewhat the vitality of the bud. 
We would advise cutting off budded stocks about a month 
before they start growth in our locality, about March. 
4. We do not think it will make any material difference. 
We would in heading back in the fall, cut the twigs or 
limbs an inch or more above the buds, which we wish to be 
the leading shoots of the branches. The sap always goes 
to the extremities, and if the last bud left (which should 
be on the outside of the branch) is too near the end out, 
the stump might dry down so as to injure the bud, and 
cause ODe below to start and grow the wrong way. If 
properly done we do not think any harm is likely to occur 
from cutting back in fall. Nothing is gained by fall trirn- 
ing, however, if the tree is properly staked or banked up, 
so that it will not work with the wind. Cutting back 
cherries in the fall reduces the heads and renders them less 
liable to be worked and twisted by the winds. If the trees 
are not banked up well or staked, we would cut back when 
set out in fall. Stephen hoyt’s sons. 
Fairfleld^Co., Conn. 
