Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-06-12
TRIMMING ORCHARDS.
RiRiston, W..


1t is said that great physician remarked
that when he commenced practice he had
twenty remedies to every disease now in
advanced age he knew of twenty diseases
for which there was no cure. So it is in the
theory Of trimming trees. In youth we
read the many excellent treatises on fruit
culture, aud in them we find the law OF
training vines and fruit trees laid down with
mathematical precision. 1t is apparently
as easy to regulate the growth Of an apple
orchard as for an architect to build house
But when we try it We find the trees and
vines, bushes and plants, will have a way of
their own, and limbs will die where we want
them most to grow. They will be crooked
and grow rampant at times, and if we doc
tor them too much, or force nature, they
will not grow or bear as We know according
TO tho rules they should do.
Some thirty years ago | planted an orch
ard Of apple trees and it was my pride. l
loved to watch its growth; and, having a
weakness for new varieties, had growing
over one hundred different kinds How
many pleasant hours have spent in inspect
ing the trees, debating with myself whether
this limb should be cut oil, if the head was
too thick, or was just right. And when the
apples made their appearance the spccula-
tions INDUCED in if tho crop would be a
good one and when the ripening time came,
how closely was the new Kind inspected and
tasted. All, yes, my friend, hear the
query how about so many kinds in an orch
ard. 1t is simply a pursuit of knowledge
under difficulties. The knowledge gained Of
so many varieties is highly gratifying and
useful, but when the gathering time comes
so many sorts are bother and Improbable.
Tho object in trimming the trees was to
have them to head low, and the lower limbs
reach tho ground. In about fifteen years L
had to stop tillage, for it became almost inn
possible to plow the orchard. After that
allowed the grass to grow and rot on the
ground, but the trees soon showed that in
dry weather the grass extracted the moisture
SO much that the trees suffered, and the low.
er limbs died sadly. Now l pasture with
sheep, and spread all my coarse manure
from the barn yard on the ground | can af-
ford-say once in three years it is all ma
nured. But the different varieties will have
their own habits. Some grow strong and
upright, never condescending to touch the
ground others bend down and will not rear
their heads alolt. Now how shall we treat
such wayward treesf just the same as the
old physician, act out your own judgment I;
and we will have let nature do a large part
OF the work. Some Of the prottiest SYM
metrical trees-models Of beauty once
have suffered the loss of so many Of the
lower limbs that they are now quite high
from the ground and the arms Of present
growth are out of reach of my long handled
saw.
Taste is good, aud great help in horti.
culture, but judgment is better; and We must
get that judgment by experience and obser-
walton in medicine and horticulture. But
there is pleasure TO the pomoogist in testing
new varieties of fruits. There is always a
commendable object in finding something
better. We hope to find an improved vari.
ETY. the best of its season and although in
our enthusiasm we may sometimes err in
Judgment, when We look back to the fruits
Of fifty years have We not something to be
pround Of in the great grogress we have
made.-Gardener's Monthly.