Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1871 — Winter Pruning. [ARTICLE]

Winter Pruning.

There is one fact about orcharding that every one should become familiar with, and that is, a fair cron of fruit cannot he raised upon a tree in which the wood-producing force predominates in much excess. When the branches put out from the center so thick and so numerous that a tree in grow ing season resembles a solid globe of green, with branches as close that a bird could hardly pnss through them, very few fruit buds can lie formed, and a portion of that few will be abortive. The winter is the aupacious time when young trees should lie pruned and trained in such a manner as to secure in time a proper form and a proper distribution of the branches. Winter is also the best period to Vetrencli and correct the irregular growth anil ill shape of trees unpinned and neglected in former years. In winter pruning, however, w T e think it safest to cover with a water-proof coating every wound made by the amputation, measuring one incli or more in aiametor. For this coating several materialsarc recommended, and among them gum shellac and rosin, both of which we have used. Gum shellac dissolved in alcohol is very easy of applies tion, using a wide-mouthed bottle, and putting on the solution with a brush; but we prefer rosin used in the same way, and dissolved in the same mentruum, "or in benzine. Gum shellac after some months’ exposure to the weather peels off; and when a large limb has been Cut away, rot may commence before the lips of the wound meet and is healed over; rosin, on the other hand, adheres to the surface of the wound and does not crack.

It often, happens in young trees that arc ; fast growers, like the Tysan in pears, or lied Astrachan in apples, there Will be a dozen or more branches radiating from the main stem, and within a foot or so of the point on the trunk where branches begin, and which from time to time must be cut away until only three or four remain. Care must be taken to preserve those best calculated to keep the growth of the tree balanced; also not to remove too many of such branches at one pruning. We think it an important rule in pruning to spare cnougli branches properly distributed to shade the trunk and center from the direct rays of the sun when in foliage. A branch exposed to the summer sun for a single season will have its epidermis so thoroughly hardened as to invite the growth of the mosses. It will be found on observation that the lateral branches and their ramifications, or sub-branches, foim each year a terminal bud, which is a wood bud, and many other buds which produce fruit spars or subbranches. From this habit it follows that a leading branch of a dozen years’ growth may have eight or ten colonies of fruit spurs, all of different ages. In some trees, as for example* the Tysan and early Bergamot pear, these spars become so numerous as to cover the branches toward the center of the 'tree, and seem to render the whole stock of them abortive. The whole of such spurs* should be removed from the large branches, in the apple anil pear orchard, until within the distance ot the third year from the terminal bud. There are some cases in which discretion should be exercised in the enforcement of this rule, as, for example, where the growth of a tree is straggling, and fruit buds, or spurs, would help to shade the large branches and protect them from the rays of the sun, they should be spared. The ravages of the apple and pear midge are so great aud widespread that we think it the duty, as well asThe interest, ofevery orcharilist, to contribute his exertion toward the destruction of those insects; anil the crushing of them out by the munching of hogs pastured in the orchard during the summer months, comes so-strongly recommended by poinological societies in the West, that we think it the duty of every orchardist who can, to lay in the stock, and so arrange his fences as to give his hogs An opportunity of living on his defective frujt.— Wester n lluralut.