82 
Feb 8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FROM JULIUS HARRIS. 
According to my experience, the best 
time for priming any kind of fruit trees is 
in the spring when the trees are commenc¬ 
ing to put on their season’s growth, as the 
wounds made by removing limbs will heal 
more quickly then than at any other sea¬ 
son. Much care should be taken in prun¬ 
ing to leave each tree with a good-looking 
top, composed of strong, upright limbs, 
capable of holding up the burden of fruit 
and sufficiently open for the sun to strike 
through to give the fruit its beautiful color. 
In field culture the tops of all kinds of 
fruit trees (except dwarfs) should be suffi¬ 
ciently high for a team to work under them 
without bruising the limbs. 
Ridgeway, N. Y. 
FROM DR. T. II. HOSKINS. 
In those sections where the cold of win¬ 
ter is not very severe, the season in which 
w r e prune is not very material, so far as in¬ 
jury to the tree is concerned, remembering, 
however, that to pnme a tree in growth is 
always a check, and this check will always 
be proportional to the present vigor of the 
tree, and to the extent of the pruning. 
Pruning for form should therefore be done 
while the tree is bare of foliage, and pre¬ 
ferably a few weeks before growth begins. 
Pruning for fruit must be done iu the 
growing season, and is necessary only in 
over-vigorous trees. These, if left alone, 
will in time come to bearing; but the mu¬ 
tilation of severe pruning, which threatens 
their life, throws them into fruit, accord¬ 
ing to a principle of Nature that seems gen¬ 
eral, if not universal. 
But in the colder parts of the country, 
pruning fruit-trees, except those thoroughly 
iron-clad, is a much more delicate bus¬ 
iness. In fact heavy pruning will not be 
tolerated by fruit trees in districts where 
they are subject to winter injury. Large 
cuts rarely, if ever, heal soundly, and the 
condition known as “black-heart” almost 
at once appears, and in a few years destroys 
the tree, meantime unprofitable. Such 
trees must he handled very tenderly from 
the start, the heads being carefully formed 
by disbudding and penknife-pruning dur¬ 
ing the growing season, so that wounds 
will be well covered before growth stops. 
Even so, tender or half-tender sorts are not 
very satisfactory, and will always be gladly 
replaced by the iron-clad sorts, even if not 
quite so good in quality. 
Newport, Vt. 
FROM GEORUE T. POWELL. 
Mr choice of a season for pruning ivould 
be June, as when growth begins any wound 
or cut made Nature begins to heal at once, 
hence a smooth, perfect healing of all 
branches cut at that time will follow. For 
growth of wood, cut or prune in the sea¬ 
son of growth; for development of fruit- 
buds, prune in the autumn or winter 
months. Never prune a cherry tree after 
it is four years of age. Other trees requiie 
light pruning annually. 
Ghent, N. Y. 
FROM PRESIDENT T. T. LYON. 
It should be understood that all pruning 
is injurious about in proportion to its ex¬ 
tent, and only to be resorted to for the ac¬ 
complishment of a distinctly defined and 
necessary purpose. If, before commencing 
to prune, the purpose is carefully defined, 
and, withal, the model to be wrought out 
is well determined, the result may be 
reached as follows, with the least possible 
waste of the vitality of the plant. 
With vigilance and promptness and an 
annual attention to the matter, it will 
rarely, if ever, be found needful to employ 
any implement beyond the pruning knife 
or shears, and perhaps a long-handled 
chisel. With the foregoing preliminaries in 
mind, my first rule is : 
1. Prune young trees to secure a prop¬ 
erly formed head ; to remove shoots which 
threaten to cross or interfere; and to keep 
the head sufficiently open. Do this always 
in late winter or early spring ; but well in 
advance of the earliest movement of the 
sap, to avoid “ bleeding.” In doing this, 
yield, as far as practicable, to the natural 
habit of the variety. Never attempt to put 
different varieties into the same “strait- 
jacket.” 
2. To hasten or increase the fructifica¬ 
tion of older trees, thin, cut back, or “pinch 
in ” the growing shoots in early summer, 
soon after the tries are in full leaf, the 
tei deucy of which will be to encourage or 
increase the formation of fruit buds, which 
are developed at or soon after this season, 
and in the absence of which the next sea¬ 
son’s bloom and fruit will be impossible. 
3. The vitality of the tree may be still 
better conserved, the necessity of spring or 
summer pruning, to a considerable extent, 
avoided, and the desired objects gained, if 
the orchardist during the season of growth 
shall make frequent visits to each tree, 
and “pinch in” or rub off misplaced, in¬ 
cipient shoots, at the same time stopping, 
(pinching in), such leading shoots as may 
be too far out-growing their neighbors. 
South Haven, Mich. 
FROM GEORGE C. SNOW. 
NEVER allow a branch to grow where it 
is not wanted; watch the tree carefully 
and if a bud starts, which if allowed to 
grow, will necessitate the cutting out of a 
branch in after years, break it out before 
it gets hard enough to require shears or 
saw to cut it off. If cutting must be done, 
any date before June is perhaps as good a 
time as can be laid down for a general rule 
for this latitude. If large branches are re¬ 
moved, paint the wound with any kind of 
paint handy. It will be much more likely 
to heal over arid prevent damage to the 
tree. Always cut close; never allow stubs 
to be left. Cut from both sides in order to 
prevent or avoid the loosening or stripping 
of the bark on the parts to remain on the 
tree. A tree is like a boy: if bad habits 
are allowed to form while young,it is very 
hard to overcome them later. 
Penn Yan, N. Y. 
FROM V. B. WHEAT. 
The proper time for pruning is “ when 
your knife is sharp ”—that is to say, a fruit 
tree should never be allowed to grow so 
that it will require the removal of any 
large branches. From the time it is set in 
the orchard its growth should be carefully 
watched and every starting growth not 
needed to contribute to one's ideal develop¬ 
ment of the tree, should be at once re¬ 
moved. If the mistake is made of allow¬ 
ing the tree to grow naturally and become 
a mass of thickly crowded branches, 
then the only remedy seems to be a vigor¬ 
ous pruning, which must result in a greater 
or less injury to the tree’s vitality, and the 
operation will never give satisfactory re¬ 
sults. The proper time for such pruning 
—if neglect makes it a necessity—would, I 
should say, be in the early spring. I know 
of no fixed rules that will apply to pruning 
and shaping the growth of fruit trees. 
The character of growth even in the same 
varieties is so different that a fixed rule is 
of little or no value. As well might we at¬ 
tempt to give a rule for the training, edu¬ 
cating and development of the average boy 
to an ideal manhood. 
There are, however, certain general rules 
that can be recommended : First, have an 
ideal of what a tree should be, or what you 
desire it to be when fully grown; then 
watch its early growth and remove all 
shoots that, in your judgment, if allowed 
to grow, would be undesirable in .the de¬ 
velopment and formation of your ideal 
tree; but leave enough to grow at such 
points that when the tree is fully de¬ 
veloped it will be a thing of beauty and of 
such form as is best adapted to carry and 
ripen its burden of fruit when it comes into 
bearing. With trees of a characteristic 
low-spreading growth, as with the King, 
Greening and some other varieties of 
apples, trim the body well up, and start 
the head well from the ground and en¬ 
courage an upright growth of the branches; 
but with the Northern Spy and many va¬ 
rieties of the pear and plum that are dis¬ 
posed to make a vigorous upright growth 
and form a narrow, compact top of a 
bight, that is undesirable, good results 
will be obtained by starting the head of 
the tree comparatively low on the body, 
and cutting back in early spring one-third 
or more of the last year’s growth of wood, 
particularly those shoots growing up from 
the center. This will cause the tree to 
take a spreading form of growth iu propor¬ 
tion as it is more or less cut back and the 
growth of side-branches or laterals is en¬ 
couraged. In conclusion, I would rec¬ 
ommend experience as the best teacher in 
pruning. With it and careful observation 
a novice will soon attain a valuable knowl¬ 
edge of the business, which is difficult to 
impart to others in all its detail by ever so 
carefully worded rules. 
Orleans, N. Y. 
FROM J. A. PEARCE. 
I prune my grapes in the fall and spring, 
apples through the winter, peaches towards 
spring, cherries in the middle of summer; 
pears and plums I do not prune extensively 
after severe cold is over; raspberries and 
strawberries are pruned as soon after the 
crop is off as possible. The new growth on 
raspberries I cut back when of the proper 
hight, say, 2% feet; grapes 1 trim on the 
renewal system. This is done by cutting 
away nearly all old wood each year. I 
leave from 30 to 40 buds on three canes of 
this year’s growth in such shape that they 
can be tied to a 4) 2 -feet trellis to bear fruit 
next year, training one straight up and 
each of the other two obliquely to its 
neighbor at the side. The spring pruning 
consists in rubbing off, soon after the ntw 
growth starts in thespring, all superfluous 
growth, thus throwing the strength into 
a few canes where I want it. A great deal 
can be accomplished in this way. It is 
very quickly done and if properly perform¬ 
ed will save an immense amount of after 
labor and also keep the vines where they 
should be. Thus I grow just what I want 
no more or no less from year to year and 
secure well ripened wood. As a rule, it 
will pay to lay the vines down. One crop 
saved would pay for the labor of years. 
Iu trimming my apples, I try to avoid 
the inverted umbrella shape often seen. 
Such trees look very nice till they have to 
bear a heavy crop of fruit or are caught 
in a severe ice storm ; then down they go. 
I like to preserve the center stem and start 
four to six limbs around it at different 
places, so as to avoid having the branches 
just opposite each other. 
Pruned in this way the trees will stand 
almost any amount of hard usage. I 
have a Northern Spy which I can see from 
where 1 write. It was grafted by a blind 
man. I have taken extra pains with it on 
that account I suppose. It has the center 
stem and five limbs are started around it. 
1 try to avoid running up bare poles having 
a little tuft on the top so as not to have to 
climb to the sky to get my apples on old 
trees. I would rather thin out and, if need 
be, head off the tops occasionally. This 
renews the growth below and keeps the 
trees within bounds. Peaches I trim by the 
heading and thinning out systems. In the 
first place I take off all under branches 
that are liable to get down on the ground 
or trouble the cultivator. Then I head off 
any limb that is going out of reach. I cut it 
anywhere I want to, as the peach is very 
good natured about being cut. Then I thin 
out the branches through the center of the 
top. taking off crooked or undesirable ones. 
As a rule, the peach carries too much top" 
and a judicious cutting will greatly helpto 
renew the life of the tree and also improve 
the quality of the fruit. Cherries should 
be trimmed only in the hot weather of 
summer as the wounds are liable to rot 
and destroy the tree if the trimming is 
done at other times. They do not need so 
much trimming as other fruits. I try to 
avoid cutting any large limbs on my pears 
and plums. Strawberry vines I cut off 
close to the ground as soon as the crop is 
off, cutting just high enough not to destroy 
the crowns of the plants. Some practice 
putting straw on the vines and burning it, 
but I prefer cutting and hoeing out all 
weeds and grass if there be any at this 
time; then I give good cultivation till fall 
Raspberry pruning is simply taking out 
the old canes, as any superfluous young 
shoots should have been taken out earlier— 
soon after thespring pruning of the grapes. 
Grand Rapids, Mich. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
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VARIETIES OF CELERY; STORING AND 
BLANCHING IT; THE “BEST” INCUBA¬ 
TOR : CHOICE ORNAMENTAL TREES, 
DECIDUOUS AND EVERGREEN; 
A SELECTION OF FINE 
SHRUBS. 
E. P. S., West Bridgewater, Mass— 1. 
Celery about here this year has been poor, 
and has not kept well. The unusually wet 
season may account for this. I grew Boston 
Market and Golden Dwarf. Both made a 
fine growth, but when prepared for market 
the stalks were rusty and slender, and the 
outside ones were often hollow. White 
Plume is not liked by many. Are there 
better kinds for market, that are not in¬ 
clined to rust? Can the new Golden Self¬ 
blanching be depended on ? What is the 
best way to store celery for winter sales ? 
I have tried Henderson’s trench system, 
but it has not worked well this season. I 
have been afraid to cover it too much dur¬ 
ing the wet, mild spells, and then iu some 
of the sudden changes it has been frosted. 
About here it is sometimes stored in rough 
board sheds or houses, tanked with hay. I 
ASTILBE (SPIR/EA) JAPONICA. 
Re-engraved from the London Garden. See Page 81. Fig. 33. 
