The season for pruning has been made the subject of much discussion, and different periods have been very confidently advised by different authorities, from which it may safely be inferred that all are somewhat right, or may be supported by good reasons. This refers of course to pruning in its general sense, of trimming, and applies to the removal of limbs of greater or less size. We always desire to avoid the removal of large limbs, and should endeavor to provide against the necessity of such removal, by trimming our orchards sufficiently when they are young, and while the branches are small; but when such removal becomes absolutely necessary, it should be performed late in the autumn, when vegetation is at rest, because it is found that such large wounds, which cannot be soon healed over by the new growth, will at this season dry in, and resist the action of the elements better than if the section had been made when the wood was full of sap in active circulation. Early spring is a favorite period for pruning, chiefly because it is comparatively a period of leisure; the weather is less inclement than in winter, and the absence of foliage affords us an opportunity to see our work and to anticipate its effects upon the tree. So soon as the buds begin to swell and the foliage to expand, pruning should be arrested, unless in small trees, because the sap is in active motion, and the material called _cambium_ is not yet developed, hence the wounds will bleed, and are not so readily healed over; besides, the bark at this season is very readily separated from the wood, and bad wounds are thus frequently produced by the pruner, which may seriously damage the tree. Then follows a period when pruning had better be suspended until the time that the trees have completed their growth by extension, and formed the terminal bud at the ends of their shoots. The date cannot be given, but it is sufficiently indicated by this mark in nature's calendar; the formation and full development of the terminal bud, and by the copious deposits of woody matter throughout the tree. The annual layer of fibres is then being produced, and the tissues are in the formative stage; the tree now possesses within its own organism the best of all plasters to cure and cover the wounds made by the saw and knife, now the tree possesses the true _vis medicatrix naturæ_ in the highest degree.