" S. N.," New Jersey, wants to know; " What time is best for trimming large limbs from white pines and fir trees to avoid bleeding them and injuring them?

•' Can pines and first thirty feet high be foreshortened without damage, and so be made to grow thicker, if they have never before been trimmed?

" When is the best time to trim deciduous trees with the least damage?

" How do you raise from the seed oak and hickory trees on the spot where they are to remain? "

[No serious damage will be received by pines trimmed at any time, though it may be best to trim them towards spring. Good tree managers regard "as soon as cold winds are over " as the best time for pruning all kinds of evergreens.

Pruning of deciduous trees is usually done between the fall of the leaves and the pushing of new growth in spring. Large wounds should be painted over. Some like to prune large branches towards midsummer, for the reason that the tree has had the advantage of the leaves to be cut away, and has a large amount of growth material stored away in the branches, and, as a consequence, a very rapid growth of new wood is made, which will half cover in a single season, with a layer of new wood, and make painting unnecessary.

A large pine tree can be headed back as low as there are any green limbs, and the side branches may be shortened, making a very beautiful bush; but it would not, probably, make another leader. In pruning back young white pines in nurseries, a side branch is tied up, and this becomes a leader.

To raise oak and hickories on the spot where they are to remain, it is best to sow three or more nuts, two to four inches deep, according to the nature of the soil - the lighter the soil, the deeper the seed - and if they all grow, pull out all but one. The seed may be sown any time after it is ripe. The spring is as good as any, provided seed has not been kept too dry. If comparatively dry, the seeds of many trees lie in the ground a year before sprouting. - Ed. G. M.]