i8Si.] FRUIT ^ CULTURE. 353 



they are in has been brought about by that process. The consequence 

 is, that the trees are checked just at the very moment when they ought 

 to be strengthened, in view of the prospective crop so liberally promised 

 by the abundant fruit-buds. Beginners ought to learn to distinguish 

 between fruit -buds and buds which will only produce leaves; for 

 when plenty of fiower-buds are formed, with only a moderate amount 

 of young shoots, lifting and root-pruning is the greatest mistake that 

 could be made ; — well, no — not the greatest mistake ; for lifting trees 

 which are covered with flower-buds and nothing else is a greater one, 

 and we have seen even that mistake committed. When this is the 

 case, a heavy mulching should be given the moment it is seen that 

 growths are not to be formed, and the flower-buds which form at the 

 points of the leading shoots should be picked out, so that the wood-buds 

 at their base may have a chance of breaking into growth, — if they are 

 allowed to develop into Apples, farewell to growth. The fruit should also 

 be thinned, and plenty of liquid manure given during summer. Such 

 treatment will generally enable the trees to make a fair growth. As 

 we have said, the opposite treatment is to be corrected by root-pruning, 

 and this operation may require to be performed annually. Small trees 

 are much more easily managed at the root than large or even medium- 

 sized ones. In good soil, where root-pruning is annually performed, 

 the ball becomes such a mass of roots that lifting may be done so 

 as to cause no perceptible check at all. Such trees generally prove 

 very satisfactory, and scarcely need lifting so long as they continue to 

 bear; but sometimes spring frosts kill the blossoms, and the removal of 

 the natural check to an over-production of wood — a crop of fruit — 

 being removed, away go the trees into basket wood. When this 

 is the case, the roots require checking, in order to induce a return 

 to fruitfulness. To "hit the happy medium" in all cases, requires a 

 good deal of intelligent forethought, based upon observation and ex- 

 perience, and this can only be acquired among the trees. 



In the matters of pruning, pinching, and training, we should say 

 that the directions given for medium trees apply to dwarfs in every- 

 thing but one, and that one is, that when the dwarfs begin to come near 

 the size at which it is intended to keep them, the annual growth should 

 be cut back nearly their whole length. When they have arrived at this 

 stage, it is a good thing to be occasionally removing old branches as 

 opportunity occurs, and allowing their places to be filled with younger 

 wood. This also applies to medium-sized trees, and indeed to all trees 

 whatever. When any tree ceases to make a certain amount of annual 

 growth, it begins to decline, and sometimes the decline is precipitate. 

 When trees have grown as large as is considered desirable, the annual 

 growth may very often take the form of young branches replacing old 

 ones, with advantage. Old branches often get covered with spurs, 

 which cluster too closely, and so mutually weaken each other. A 

 careful pruner will be always shortening back his spurs as well as his 



