Show TOO MUCh PRUNING Horticulturists Do Too Much Cut tins in Their Orchards It is really surprising how very little Is known about the effects of pruning says the Practical Farmer Both verbally verb-ally and by letter I get inquiries about the matter which shows this to be true It is of common occurrence to be asked by an orchardlst When shall I prune my trees and when I reply I ask why It is thought they require pruning the answer is always to the effect that it had been understood by those inquiring that pruning was necessary every year though they were unable to say what It was to accomplish The same idea Is entertained by the city merchant who has shade trees before his door but he has been brought to believe this by laborers anxious for a days work in winter They have made him believe his tree has to be cut back every year and as he Is generally Ignorant of such matters and thinks the laborer Is not he lets his trees be mutilated every year without a murmur There Is tout little heavy pruning required in an orchard atterthe first year or two succeeding the planting There should be some done when first planted both to lessen the risk of transplanting and to give shape to the tree It is well understood that new shoots form just below where cut off therefore the cut is to be made where a branch or two Is wanted It Is not always that the new shoots are just where they are wanted or of the number desired and there may be alit I tie more pruning required But the fact I remains that If Intelligently handled the first few years but little pruning will be required afterward Repeated prun Ings of good sized branches weaken trees very much It frequently occurs that old orchards fail to make thrifty growth and to promote such growth heavy pruning is performed Thi Is a great mistake If there are half dead limbs on the tree it is right to cut them out but to lop off limbs right and left which are healthy but not growing Is going to cripple the tree severely If the trees are not at the natural end of their growth through age what they need Is manure and cultivation This will accomplish what is desired if anything any-thing will In my travels last winter I passed by an orchard of pears and apples which were being pruned and such a sight as it was In the first place the trees had been set ted close by far The pears were apparently not more than twelve feet and the apples twenty feet apart A laboring man was going through the orchard with haitch et and saw and the ground was strewn with thick branches The trees were full of scars the wounds appearing In all directions I Inquired what he was doing and he Informed me the boss thought the trees too thick and he was cutting away the lower limbs and many of the side ones to let In light and air To my suggestion that it would be Infinitely In-finitely better to chop out every other tree he said his boss would not listen to that as each tree was different from the others and he wanted a variety This of course was all wrong The mistake of planting too close was being be-ing followed by apotler the mutilation of the trees past repair I am positive that some of the trees I saw will never recover Twothirds of their limbs were cut off giving them a terrible check And the chances are that rot will set In where the limbs were cut fO jane so ignorant of plant life as this rnan would hardly have wit enough to paint the scars It Is not always laborers who make these mistakes I know of an eminent landscape gardener who had charge of some public ground1 who did just the same thing Part of the grounds had been a forest and while the trees were fed every year by the decaying leaves and rubbish they grew well When the forest became a lawn and the leaves were carefully raked up every fall the trees languished Instead In-stead of feeding them with manure the saw was applied to the top to ike the trees start afresh it ivan Id and the trees were ruined Thi g six years ago and the trees have not started yet |