HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH 403 



Farm during the last few years. All the shelter hedges there, 

 which are many hundreds of yards in length, consist of various 

 sorts of fruit trees : these are clipped after the manner of hedges 

 but in some cases a branch here and there has, for certain 

 purposes, been left uncut ; these uncut branches, especially in 

 the case of plums and damsons, are always loaded with fruit, 

 whilst the whole of the rest of the hedge is often quite bare. 



One point which has caused us some surprise is that the 

 increase in crop produced by absence of pruning has not been 

 accompanied by any serious reduction in the size of the fruit. 

 Thus, taking the ten years' results with dwarf apple trees 

 previously quoted, the average size of the fruits from the un- 

 pruned trees was only 4 per cent, less than that of the fruit from 

 the moderately pruned ones ; that from the hard-pruned trees 

 being 18 per cent, greater. These differences would not 

 compensate for the much greater differences in the actual 

 weight of the crops, so what has been said as to the effect of 

 pruning on the weight of fruit obtained applies with almost equal 

 force to the value of that fruit. 



Practical Application of the Results 



It is thus established as a fundamental principle that the less 

 pruning there is the more will the tree grow and the more fruit 

 will it bear. There are, however, considerations which render 

 it advisable in practice not to dispense with pruning altogether. 

 While a young tree is growing the chief object of the grower 

 should be to condition its growth in such a way that when it 

 comes into bearing it should be able to carry its crop to the 

 greatest advantage : the branches should be evenly disposed and 

 should be far enough apart to admit light and air to the centre 

 of the tree ; none of these should cross or rub against another 

 and they should be stout enough to bear any reasonable weight 

 of fruit without being bent out of shape or broken. To attain 

 this end some pruning will be necessary, for, as has been 

 mentioned above, one effect of pruning is to make a tree 

 comparatively sturdier ; a branch will occasionally have to be 

 removed altogether, whilst others must be pruned hard so as 

 to restrict their extension in length until they have become 

 stout and strong. This will generally mean a certain but de- 

 creasing amount of pruning for five or six years after the tree 



