PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 16, 13 May 1871, Page 9

PRUNING OF FRUIT TREES.

Quo quia indactior eo impudentior. A correspondent sends us the following on the above subject:

Sm,—The “Leader" of 4th February last contains an article copied from the “Gardiner’s Chronicle” on this subject, which appears to have attracted some attention. In the interest of those of our countrymen engaged in farming an orchard, I offer the followingcomments The style of article is racy, a class of composition generally used to hide or supply deficiency in intrinsic worth, and rousing invariably in our mind a latent suspicion of trickery, in this instance well borne out by the absence of solid argument and indications of a very superficial acquaintance with the subject. The writer scorns evidently the ordinary rules of demonstrating a newly discovered truth, on which he plumes himself as much as he despises what he terms “ the rules of science.” In this last point I shall agree, for what he deems “ science” is a spurious article. It would seem the writer has obtained an empirical knowledge of the subject he treats of, such as any boy of average intelligence might pick up during a six weeks’ apprenticeship to a nurseryman, but unlike his prototype, he has failed to see the object of the nurseryman’s work, or perhaps the man from whom he got his schooling was a quack himself, and now he accuses “ science” for what he had to place to the account of science’s journeyman, and sets up “ the rule of thumb” instead.

The writer asks “Was a tree ever dwarfed into constitutional vigor ?’’ Let me ask him does he know the object of pruning ? Is it dwarfing a tree ? I presume not. We prune more often for the purpose of invigorating. The object ot pruning is twofold. Ist. To form a tree according to requirements of place and circumstances —a tree well proportioned and harmoniously developed—not merely for the purpose of pleasing the eye—a secondary consideration —but to insure capacity and scope for the production of the largest quantity of good fruit; and second, to promote fertility and permanency. The writer conti-nues, “or to seek an animal analogy, can the lungs be taken away and the body remain healthy P” I answer, firstly, by pointing out the writer’s own inconsistency, when he advocates the removal or “ crowding” branches. So science’s taskmaster will prove too; and our difference is not in principle but degree. And secondly, by insisting on the radical difference in functions and nature of animal and vegetable lungs. Has the author ever removed or seen removed the “ crowding” parts of animal lungs without detriment to the body P Ha-3 he studied phyto and zoo-physiology sufficient to be en rapport of the matter on which he writes P

The writer considers pruning, “ stealing a march on time.” We concur with him that some pruning may deserve the censure, but because a science is occasionally misapplied, will he condemn it in toto ? Again, he refers to the fine old trees at Chattsworthy and other places noted for being prolific. I answer by analogy on his own example. We have known and read of self-taught men in smaller or larger circles famed for their accomplishments ; would our author on the ground of such exceptional cases condemn education ? Lastly, our author adduces the ciderproducing countries of England in support of his “ run-wild” theory. What quality of fruit is raised in those countries ? Is it fruit that would likely sell as table and desert fruit? and would not the cider manufactured in those countries be as muoh improved in quality, and consequently value, as it could possibly be reduced in quantity, by proper training and pruning of the trees in their youth, according to the of true science, and not of what the author terms “ science,” but is in reality his own vaunted “ rule of thumb.”—l am, &c, G. W. E. Manawatu, April 30,1871. NEW USE FOR FURZE. A gentleman, near Birmingham keeps one hundred cows, and supplies milk to that town ; his land is of a poor, light, dry quality, such as in the common mode of culture would be insufficient for producing fodder for his stock ; he has sown down one hundred acres with furze seed, he never lets the plant rise into a shrub, but is constantly mowing it for his dairy cows j when bruised in the mill it is mixed with a certain portion of chaff, chopped hay or straw, and wash with grains; but furae forms the principal part of their diet, and increases the quantity and improves the quality of their milk. In the ruder parts of the country, the mode used for bruising the furze tops before giving them to cattle, has been an ironbound mallet, with a long handle, with which the furze is beaten upon a thick flagstone; in some parts of England, however, the bruising process is performed by means of passing it between coarsely fluted iron rollers, worked by a fly wheel, or in other cases bruised in a machine like a bark mill;

but in whatever way it can be reduced to a soft mass, and mixed with a small quantity of out hay or straw, it forms a most useful and healthy fodder. He also follows an unusual system in other respects, which he finds most profitable. He buys his dairy cows about a fortnight after they calve, places them in his pens, and they never stir out from their stalls until they are fat, and are sold to the butcher, which is usually at the end of five years, during all that timehe continues to milk them, although they do not have calves ; at the end of five years they are dry and fat; the milk decreases, the fat increases ; and he says, by this means of combining milking and feeding, he loses less of the use of the cows ; and makes more profit than others, and that he does this with land that would actually be otherwise of no value to him. The system is altogether novel. ONE-WAY PLOUGHING. At the early shows of the late Port Phillip Farmers’ Society visitors used to be very inquisitive about a strange looking plough that was exhibited as an extra by a Kentish farmer, whose belief in the turn wrist plough of his native country was evidently deep and sincere. At later shows all over the country turn wrist, or, as they are also called, hill side ploughs, have been provided with a class, which, though never well filled, has very rarely been without an entry. In Great Britain the demand for one way ploughs has been met by the great implement manufacturing firms, and more especially by Messrs Howard, of Bedford, who appear to have devoted much attention to the task of designing a plough combining all the advantages obtainable from the old Kentish turn wrist, without its cumbrousness. The estimation in which one way ploughing is now held in England is shown by the fact of special prizes being given for the purpose of testing the merits of double furrow ploughs. At thePeterborough trials the newly designed turn wrist plough obtained for Messrs Howard the first prize. Of this plough it is said that it makes equally good work in comparison with single ploughs, so that there is nothing of a makeshift character about it. It will be remembered by those who have noticed the turn wrist ploughs shown in this colony, that the necessary change was effected at land’s end by turning the body to the right or left as the case required. This principle having been found objectionable, Messrs Howard have invented and adopted the new one of fixing the body firmly to the frame. This obviously necessitates a double frame and two single bodies, instead of a double one. The improvements accordingly made and claimed by Messrs Howard involve two new principles of mechanism and action, viz. (1), the fixing of two bodies and two coulters of opposite sides of a double rotating beam, with two centres, one in the fork of the handles, and the other in the framing of the wheel carriage ; and (2) the changing from right to left and from left to right at the headlands by the pull of the team in turning. The wheels and wheel carriage are of course, adapted for right and left hand work, and for working at different depths. The change at land’s end is effected by the ploughman pulling back a handle by which a rod relieves a catch immediately behind the wheel carriage, when the onward movement of the horses turns over the beams to the right or left as the case may be, thus bringing into working position the opposite body and coulter. The practice of one way ploughing has been vastly popularised by the introduction of ploughing by steam, under which system it became a necessity. It will be remembered by those who witnessed the various trials of steam ploughs in the vicinity of Melbourne, that Messrs Howard accomplished their object by fixing the opposite bodies on a rotating beam, Messrs Fowler gaining the same object by arranging two sets of bodies on a balanced beam. In both cases the furrows were all laid one way, just as in using the old Kentish turn wrist. Many of our readers will be disposed to inquire what advantages belong to the system of ploughing that is gaining so much advocacy in England. No Kentish man is likely to do so, but few colonial farmers hail from that part of the old country; the majority come from north of the Tweed, and it is only very recently that they have been induced to use ploughs with either one wheel or two. In England these one way ploughs are a necessity upon farms which are cultivated chiefly by steam, but as steam is not used here, that argument is devoid of force. Of greater moment is it that by laying all the furrows one way, we obtain a more level and uniform surface-—one therefore upon which reaping and mowing machines can operate with greater advantage than on ridge and furrow ploughing. There may be little in this argument, but there is more in the objection advanced against shallow and often unmoved crowns of ridges. By the one way system (1) the whole of the land is worked to a uniform depth; (2) deep working can be performed more effectively and thoroughly than on the ridge and furrow plan ; (3) manures more evenly buried ; (4) as a result of the foregoing, the crop is more even throughout,

as regards, height, strength, and quality ; (5) no trampling on the ploughed land is possible, and the amount of sledging on the headland is much reduced; (6) if it be reckoned desirable, sowing can be continued daily right up to the last furrow, an advantage in catching season. Practical men will not need reminding that the system is not applicable to every description of land. The necessity for drainage may in some cases be so great as to prevent any change from the ridge and furrow system until after such land has been thoroughly underdrained. THE BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. Mr Stratton recently read a paper on the above subject before the Berconshire Chamber of Agriculture. As Mr Stratton is an extensive sheep farmer his remarks are worthy of consideration. He said the first question to be decided in commencing sheep farming is the sort of sheep you intend to keep, and this is a question dependent upon such a variety of circum stances that it would be preposterous to offer an opinion ; but as a rule it was wise to do as your neighbors do, only improve upon the sheep as much as possible. It would be perfect madness to put heavy sheep on your mountains; accordingly the breed must be regulated in a great measure by the quality of the. pasture. In reference to a breeding flock he said that it should be a point of deep consideration whether according to the peculiarities of this or that farm, it was the right description to keep, or whether a dry . flock would not be more profitable. Of course, in this matter everything depends upon circumstances, but he thought one rule might be laid down in reference to this matter, viz.—do not keep a regular breeding flock unless you have sufficient rough keep, either mountain run or other inferior keep, to maintain your ewes from weaning time till near tupping time, for if they are kept on costly food the expense of summering will very considerably diminish the profits. His plan is to buy in full mouthed ewes, generally in August, keep them always pretty well, with as many fat lambs as possible and graze out the ewes during the autumn. His reasons for buying in a fresh stock every year are, in the first place, that he has no sheep walk where he can keep his ewes inexpensively; secondly, he likes old ewes. They'breed a larger number of lambs, and that better than young ewes. Now, having weaned the lambs he thought it was quite unnecessary to fatten the breeding ewes. It does them good to work for their living, only to mind they do not get too poor, and that they are well supplied with water during the hot weather. It is not until a month of tupping that one need be at all anxious about the ewes. He thinks it is then of great importance to keep them well. Now comes a very interesting period, when the health of the subject should be carefully watched, for a little neglect will spoil the whole thing. Once let the ewes get below the mark, do what you will you can’t get them up again. You will have puny, starved lambs ; the ewes can’t keep more than one, and often, not that. You will have a short breed of lambs, and lose a number of ewes. In January, or as soon as they require it, the ewes should get a little cake, and perhaps, a bit of chaff, or a picking of nice oat, barley, bean, or pea straw, and so they are continued to be kept until lambing time, always in comfort, always in health. He has not mentioned hay as part of their diet, He very seldom uses hay for sheep, and is quite satisfied that it is unnecessary; and anything like average market price, it is one of the dearest articles which can be consumed and not to be compared to cake or corn as an economical feeding stuff. He has known a flock of ewes eat more hay in a season than they themselves were worth. He objects to. giving the ewes an excessive quantity of roots before lambing. In the feeding of lambs the great principle is to keep them increasing in weight. If a sheep once sustains a check, it takes probably a month to start him again, and all the food he eats during that period is simple wasted. He said that they were all pretty well agreed that in sheep business nothing pays better than selling fat lambs : but if it were possible to keep them on for another six months, always doing as well as when with their dams, and with good keeping it is possible the latter part of their lives would be as profitable as their beginning. Take, for instance, the prize lots of lambs at Winchester fair in October last. The 300 made over £3 a head and you may reckon up the cost of keeping them as you like; you can come only to one conclusion—viz., that they paid right well. He would here say that the dams of thefirst prize lothave tasted no hay for two or three years. The principle food of the lambs was vetches, sainfoin, and cabbage. It was essential to give young lambs a succession of fresh keep if hurdling be the spstem adopted ; let them at least have one fresh piece every day, and if the system of grazing the whole field be adopted, on no account let the keep get too big before stocking, and when stocked don’t keep them to long, remembering that for

every day they remain there after you keep is stale, they will take two days of good keep to make up for what they have lost. There is an old saying, “If you want more milk sell a cow.” The same may be applied to sheep. “Do not over stock.” A few sheep well done will pay a lot more than a large number done badly. He said it was unwise as a rule, to keep young sheep on pasture too late in the autumn ; or rather, he should say pnt them on roots as soon as you can. He believed one ton of Swedes in October would produce as much mutton as two tons after Christmas. His plan was to give fattening sheep as many roots as they will eat, with about lib of cake or corn per day. No hay. He found sheep, as a rule, do very well, and paid him a fair price for his roots. He found lib of cake per day and 201 b of roots to be about the average quantity a fair sized “ teg” would consume. There is a prevailing notion that the mangolds are unfit to feed sheep with on the land in autumn. This he ventured to say, was a great mistake. He would quite as soon havemangolds as Swedes in October, November or December; and as they are a much more certain crop he should go in for a very large proportion of mangolds. He fattened a lot of sheep on mangolds the last autumn, andnever had sheep do better. In conclusion, he recommended the system of high feeding. He said the most profitable lot of sheep he ever remembered were kept the most expensively; after paying for their corn, which they had ad libitum , they paid 30s a ton for their roots. ESSENTIALS to GOOD DAIRYING No man need expect to succeed in the dairy business unless well provided with good shelter for his cows, as well as the proper grasses and water, and accommodation for milking, feeding, and whatever else appertains to the conveniences and labor connected with it. It may be well to enumerate a few of these items, which are here offered for consideration. Ist. Permanent blue grass and white clover pastures on dry, elevated soil, or their equivalent in other grasses or herbage, enabling the cows to give abundance of rich good flavored milk. Common prairie and lowland grasses will not answer.

2nd. Abundance of pure water supplied by living springs, running brooks or permanent rills. Ponds of stagnant water are not healthy for dairy cows, and will not aid in making a high flavored cheese or butter.

3rd. Barn, stables or shed into which the cows may be driven in excessive heats or cold storms for shelter, as all excessive temperatures, whether of heat or cold, or drought or moisture, affect the milk both in quality as well as quantity, and influence, more or less, the quality as well as quantity of the dairy products. 4th. Quietude of the cows continually, whether at pastures, in their yards or stables, together with gentleness in their treatment, and a continuous loveable care for them, so they repose entire confidence in those who go among, care for, or handle them.

sth. Plenty of salt once a week to keep their bowels open, and their appetites good. 6th. Steady milkers: the same milkers to the same cows, continuously as may be possible, so that the cows get accustomed to those who draw their milk; and let the milking be done silently, without talking, as all unnecessary noises disturb the cow, and more or less affect the equable and steady flow of her milk. The milk cow is a very sensitive animal. 7th. Perfect cleanliness in the paiis and vessels which receive the milk, and clean hands to the milker. For these purpose* a bucket of water, washbowls, and a soft linen or cotton cloth to wipe off the udders, should always be in attendance. Bth. In addition to all these requisites, when a prolonged drought dries the pastures, green crops of grass, the small grains, or Indian corn, should been be sown in the spring, to help out the pastures grasses, and keep up the flow of milk. For the want of these oftentimes half the dairy products of the season are lost, Their food should be daily cut, and fed to the cows in clean mangers. . :

Acclimatisation. —As an instance of the care that requires to be taken iff the trout which have been imported here, we (“ Lyttelton Times”) may mention that Mr Jennings, of Rangiora, was lately engaged in removing the fish, which have been consigned to his care, from one pond to another, by means of a race which connects both ponds. He had coaxed all but a refractory one that persisted in staying where it was, so he had recourse to a net into which the fish was entrapped, and conveyed him in his hand to the other pond, where he released him, to all appearances none the worse for the short transit. Next morning, however, he was found dead on the surface of the water, and on being opened the blood was discovered to be in a congealed mass, death most probably having been caused by fright. With the exception of this occurrence Mr Jennings’ trout are thriving. For the past two months thoy have been constantly fed on raw liver, and Mr Jennings say they have improved wonderfully on this diet. On an average they measure from 18in. to 21in., and are fine healthy-looking fish.