Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-05
PRUNING TIME.
Efects of Too Early Pruning on Trees
and Vines.

Iniudicious and unreasonable pruning IS |
no doubt, in many instances, responsible !
for the sudden dying out Of fruit trees and |
vines without any apparent cause Some
varieties Of trees stand pruning much bet
ter than Others, and while certain kinds
seem even to demand pruning, others,
again, are most impatient of the pruner's
knife and shears. The effect of pruning
while the tree or plant is growing is to
diminish the outlet for the flowing sap,
and thus check or entirely stop the How
of the same. If this check is sudden the
tree or vine may be seriously injured, or
even killed outright or soon after. The
dying out of so many Of the principal
VINEYARDS in Southern California is now
attributed to this ipjudicious and untimely
pruning. Until few years ago Anaheim,
Santa Ana and San Gabriel valley were
famous for their vineyards. To-day they
are mostly dead or dying, and even the
closest investigations by experts have
failed to reveal any iungi or destructive
insect parasites to which the blame could
be laid The only reasonable cause that
could be suggested was early and untimely
pruning.
In Anaheim where frost is late and rare,
it was found very convenient to prune the
VINEYARDS as soon as all the grapes were
gathered, in October or early part Of No
vember. At that time the vines are yet
all growing and in full leaf For a year or
two the only effect was to delay the start
ing of those vines in the following spring.
The early pruned vineyards were the last
to bud out A year later it was found that
vines thus treated put out their leaves as
usual, late howered and set berries even,
but then all of q sudden died. 1t was not
known, however, what was the cause of the
trouble, and the early pruning was kept
on. To-day the fine vineyards of those
districts are a thing of the past, and viii
culture in no form is now practiced In the
injured districts. This years very uuus-
ual and early season will enable the vine
yardists around Fresno to finish the labor
of drying and packing long before the frost
will have killed the leaves of the vines
and to save time and to enable them to
keep their laborers employed some may be
induced to begin the pruning of the vines
as soon as the picking season is over. The
effect Of such early pruning would no
doubt be the same here as in Southern
California, and certainly cause serious in
jury or destruction to the vines. 1t is
much safer to delay pruning until the
1rOSt mas killed the leaves, or, at least, un-
til the season has caused the wood of the
vines to fully mature, and all or most all
of the flow of sap been checked naturally
and slowly.
But it is not necessary to go to Southern
California to study the effect of untimely
pruning. Most of us remember few ears
ago, when the grasshoppers were plentiful
in the outlying districts and on the foot
hills, how many trees were injured and
already killed by the insects devastating
their foliage. We saw ten-year-old fruit
trees entirely stripped of every leaf, while
again it had the effect Of checking the Cow
or outlet for the sap. The latter soured
before it could be absorbed by the tree or
otherwise disposed OF, and the trees died.
We see nearly every day rose bushes which
are totally or partially dead or dying.
Their stems show an unusually green color,
and in some places or on one side black
and dead. BY cutting into the wood we
can smell sour substance-the soured sap
of the bush. We find that such rose
bushes have nearly all been summer
pruned, after the first period of blooming
is over, and the sap, which was deprived
of It's outlet, soured and ruined the plant.
The time when all pruning should be done
is when the plant is dormant in the win
ter. We should wait until such time to
prune our vineyards if we do it before
our vines will surely be injured.-Fresno
ErpOsitOT