OCTOBER. 295 



trees are full-grown the orchard will present the appearance of a series 

 of hedges, from 12 to 15 feet high and (5 to 7 feet through, leaving a 

 clear space between the trees of from 7 to 8 feet, which, while the trees 

 are young, may be occupied by Gooseberries, Currants, &c, all of which 

 must be cleared away as the roots of the Apple-trees extend them- 

 selves, and also to admit the sun and air between the rows. 



By a well-arranged system of summer pruning, the main branches 

 of the trees, as well as the subsidiary ones, will be furnished with fruit- 

 bearing spurs from within 2 or 3 feet of the ground to their summit, but 

 this will only follow after close attention to summer pruning, from the 

 time the tree is planted. After the number of shoots to form the tree 

 is decided upon, everything else must be pinched out with the thumb 

 and finger ; and so, each season, no summer wood, except what is 

 required to fill up the tree, should be allowed to grow beyond 5 or 6 

 inches, when it should have its end pinched off; no doubt it will throw 

 out wood again from the uppermost eyes, which must be again stopped 

 when 2 or 3 inches long, and the shoot finally cut down to within 

 two eyes of the base in September ; but this process, while it entails 

 some trouble, will also act powerfully in inducing the production of fruit- 

 bearing spurs at the base of the stopped shoots, after cutting back ; 

 and these when once formed, and exposed to light and air, will remain 

 permanently fruitful for many years ; whereas, had the shoots remained 

 unstopped till winter, and then been pruned in the ordinary manner, 

 the main branches in the middle of the tree would soon grow naked, 

 and become irrecoverably barren of fruit-spurs. By following up the 

 practice of disbudding and stopping, it is quite practicable, not only to 

 induce so moderate a growth in trees of even the strongest habit, that 

 they may be kept for many years within the bounds we have allotted 

 them ; but the main branches may also be kept clothed from bottom to top 

 with productive fruit-spurs by the same system, presenting in the 

 aggregate a larger number of spurs capable of bearing fruit than 

 orchard trees three or four times their size, under the ordinary system 

 of management ; and if we take into account the close arrangement 

 of the trees in our plan, we shall not be far wrong in saying that 

 during an average of years, fully three times the quantity of fruit 

 will be the result of the hedgerow plan, as compared with standard 

 planting. We might carry the comparison further and ask the 

 question, how far fruit is superior grown on trees, all whose energies 

 are carefully directed to its growth and maturation, than on those 

 produced on unpruned standard trees, generally overcrowded with old 

 wood ; and invariably so with the same season's growth. We know 

 that the magnificent fruit exhibited by Messrs. Snow, Whiting, Breadley, 

 Frost, Harrison, and many others of our best gardeners, are the 

 result of careful pruning ; and it is for such reasons we maintain, both 

 on the score of economy and profit, that well-managed dwarf trees will 

 prove more profitable than large ones, and that a larger quantity of fruit 

 can be obtained from a given space of ground by dwarf trees than by 

 standards, when systematically managed. 



The hedge Apple system has, however, other advantages, which should 

 not be lost sight of by fruit-growers. By following the arrangement 



