rris what time of the
year he would advise pruning the Persian walnuts here in Stamford.

DR. MORRIS: The editor of a horticultural journal at one time
set out to get opinions about the best time for pruning peaches. There
were opinions from all points as to whether peach trees should be
trimmed in winter, spring, summer or autumn, and summing up all of the
replies, the editor said, "We have come to the conclusion that the right
time to prune peach trees is when your knife is sharp." I presume that
that in a way will apply to almost all trees. Pruning the walnut trees
in the spring when sap is flowing freely would not be desirable, I
should think. Walnut trees need very little pruning. Very few of the nut
trees need pruning, excepting the hazels. These need to be pruned in
order to put them in good head. And possibly some of the hickories, but
for the most part I doubt if pruning is desirable, save for broken
branches. I leave that to Mr. Jones.

DR. BRITTON: The reason why I asked the question is that when
we were carrying on this investigation with the walnut weevil, we found
that when branches were cut early in the spring there was nearly always
a bad wound that did not heal over. It died back around the place. But
when we cut branches later, from the first to the middle of June, when
the growth was taking place, it healed over very smoothly without
leaving any bad scars, and I was wondering whether that happened over
the region where the Persian walnut was grown.

DR. MORRIS: I am glad to have that observation that the wounds
did not granulate and heal well. I have noticed that the shag bark
hickory cannot be cut well for scions in the spring without injuring the
rest of the limb on the tree. I have cut back the Taylor tree's lower
branches, in order to cut off scions, and almost every branch from which
I have cut scions is dead or dying. That is perhaps in line with the
observation of Dr. Britton. Some of the juglandaciae cannot be cut in
the spring.

MR. JONES: I have found that in cutting scions of walnut trees
when the sap is running the tree bleeds and makes a bad wound and
doesn't heal over. It dies back. But if you cut those any time in the
winter when you have say two or three days without freezing, they will
not bleed then nor in the spring when the sap comes up. Also, if cut
after the growth is well started, they won't bleed very much.

MR. WEBER: Are back numbers of the Journal available?

THE SECR