1869.] THE PRUNING OP FRUIT TREES. 225 



in the soil of Sawbridge worth is towards early fruiting, for throughout nearly 

 the whole of these nurseries there is a great deal of calcareous matter, which 

 will be found, wherever present, most favourable for fruit-culture. It is 

 greatly to the predominance of this chalky matter in the soil, though partly to 

 its exposed situation, and to the use of suitable stocks which give a dwarfing 

 tendency, but most of all, to Mr. Eivers' skill in taking advantage of all this, 

 that we are to attribute his immense success in the culture of miniature fruit trees. 

 The trees grow slowly, yet sturdily, and make short-jointed wood, well supplied 

 with fruit buds. Indeed, the difficulty of their having too much of a fruiting 

 tendency 'occurs at times, the trees being thereby soon exhausted. It is desirable 

 at all times that fruiting trees should produce a certain quantity of young 

 shoots, as on the influence of the leaves so produced and on the vital action thereby 

 infused into the plant, depends chiefly the quality of the fruit. To induce 

 shoot formation, the pruning-knife may be used to great advantage, and the 

 shoots cut closer back, although there may be little to prune. In fact, the trees 

 may be kept in smaller compass than that which would be prudent to adopt in 

 the case of trees growing very vigorously. The cultivation of miniature fruit 

 trees, at 4 ft. apart, under such conditions is highly commendable. 



To reverse the picture, let us visit the rich valley of the Thames, with its 

 deep alluvial loam, and look at the fruit-culture in some of the market gardens 

 — for example, that of Mr. Dancer, at Ohiswick. Here there is also fruit in 

 abundance, and of the very finest quality ; but the trees, instead of being dwarf 

 and fruitful, are large, rampant, and vigorous, and although while in a young 

 state they produce but little fruit, still as they attain age, if not overpruned, 

 fruit is produced in immense quantities. 



Assuming the stocks, &c, used in each locality to be the same, in the one 

 case, winter or close pruning would be necessary to induce greater vigour, and 

 prevent over-fertility and weakness ; while, in the other, the object would be to 

 reduce luxuriance, and this would be best effected by non-pruning, or at most, 

 by merely thinning-out the shoots and branches where crowded, so as to expose 

 the remaining ones more freely to the influence of light, leaving the strong- 

 growing young shoots at almost their entire length ; they next season produce a 

 less vigorous growth, and as a consequence become more fertile, on account of 

 the forces of the plant not being concentrated on a few buds, but being required 

 to spend itself over many. In short, in the one case, miniature fruit-tree growing 

 is advantageous and practicable, simply because the trees are not inclined 

 naturally to grow larger ; and in the other, it is almost impossible, because the 

 trees naturally grow too luxuriantly. 



Excessive vigour may, however, be considerably repressed, and fruitfulness 

 induced, by judicious summer pinching of the growing shoots, and also to a great 

 extent by root-pruning. The first, i.e., summer pinching, is of paramount 

 importance, and by constant application a great deal may be accomplished. It 



