104 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
About those water sprouts you speak 
of; I have seen a good many cases where a 
tree had been severely injured, and these 
water sprouts had come out with vigorous 
leaves on them. I think it is a good plan 
to leave them there. I don’t know that I 
would take them off at all. 
Mr. Hart—It seems to me there are a 
few more points that we might touch up¬ 
on. Now, ‘‘water sprouts.” I would say 
by all means let them grow and make 
leaves just as quickly as you can. They 
furnish lungs to the trees. If it is an or¬ 
ange tree that has been cut back by a 
freeze, and those sprouts are sour, let 
them go until they get a good top on the 
tree, then bud and lop the tops down but 
don’t cut them off. The sap will flow 
to the highest buds and these sour sprouts 
will, while bent to the ground, nmintain 
the large root system and growth until 
we have a good sweet top there. When 
the buds get well started, bend them out 
and spread them out, making a wide tree. 
They may be long and slim and apparently 
of very little use, but bend them out and 
do not cut them off. The result is that 
you check the flow of sap near the trunk. 
Where the sap is checked it will push out 
a new growth and in a little while you 
get plenty of fruit, the limbs become 
strong, other limbs surround these and 
you get a symmetrical tree. The orange 
tree will become a symmetrical tree in a 
few years if given a chance and do it with¬ 
out pruning to any great extent. There 
are a few cases where it will be well to 
nip in and in rare cases to cut a_limb, but 
I think it far better to force limbs in place 
than to cut them off. 
Now, in regard to stubs. There are a 
few cases, perhaps, where it may be well 
to leave a stub for awhile. For instance, 
if we have a nursery tree of pretty good 
size and lop the top down from above 
the bud, when that bud is grown large 
enough so that you can remove that old 
top, it sometimes, is best, I think, to cut 
the olcll wood off leaving quite a little stub, 
and wait until the bud has gotten large 
enough and has strength so that by cut¬ 
ting the stub off close just before the 
spring or summer growth, it will be cover¬ 
ed up quickly and no serious wounds or 
rotten wood remiain in the tree. I find it 
practicable to do this in many cases where 
trees have been injured in some way and 
heavy pruning of partly dead wood has 
to be done before renewed growth is 
strong enough to cover wounots promptly. 
Mr. Sheppard—I have found a pretty 
good wound covering in coal tar. It keeps 
out all the water, is flexible and the 
wounds will heal right up. 
Mr. Hume—In my opinion, it is a very 
unsafe thing tO' use. I have seen injury 
done tO' the trees by it, and the healing of 
wounds prevented by its use. 
Mr. Sheppard—I have seen where it 
has been beneficial. 
Mr. Hume—Some people still recom¬ 
mend the use of gas tar, and the practice 
is still prevalent in Europe, but has never 
been followed to any extent in this coun¬ 
try. I have used it on oak trees andl it 
works very nicely. On peaches and cher¬ 
ries as well as some other fruits, I would 
not use it. 
Mr. Sheppard—sit works pretty well on 
orange trees. 
Prof. Hume—Some men I know had 
the experience of killing some three hun¬ 
dred trees with tar. You cannot convince 
them that tar is all right. 
