1870.] CULTIVATION OF HARDY FRUITS. 301 



cultivator is to attend to the judicious selection of wood at the period 

 of the winter-pruning. Upon this a considerable amount of the suc- 

 cess of fruit-production depends. All rank watery wood not thor- 

 oughly ripened ought at once to be cut away, not even leaving a spur 

 where they have been, as such spurs, in place of producing fruit-buds, 

 in all probability would for years produce coarse rank shoots similar 

 to the ones rejected. The permanent branches should be formed of 

 nice, firm, short-jointed wood, the production of shoots which have not 

 grown to a greater length than 2 to 2J feet. Such branches will have 

 perfected their wood to the very point, and will be far more likely to 

 produce a healthy tree than longer shoots. These may be cut back 6 

 or 9 inches, to induce the formation of side-branches the following sea- 

 son, which branches, when spurred back, may afterwards form fruit- 

 bearing spurs. AVhere the main branches are over 1 foot distant from 

 each other, side-shoots ought to be introduced permanently, so as to 

 keep the tree thoroughly furnished, and have all available space upon 

 the wall covered. Between the permanent branches young shoots also 

 may be laid in for the production of fruit, and by a judicious handling 

 of the knife these may be removed after bearing their first crop, w T hile 

 others may be in readiness to take their place, thus keeping up a con- 

 stant supply of good young wood all over the tree, which, as has 

 already been stated, is much superior to what is produced upon spurs 

 of several years' growth. A tree thus managed will never become 

 overcrowded. Nothing can be worse than, year after year, to lay in 

 almost all the wood that can be got, until such time as the tree has 

 become so crowded that it is absolutely necessary to take it all down 

 from the wall and give it a thorough "thinning out." Not only is 

 the fruit upon such trees inferior in size and quality, but the check 

 such an operation produces upon it often proves very injurious, and 

 sometimes fatal ; as I have often noticed that where this had to be 

 done year after year, branch after branch died away, until nothing but 

 a skeleton was left, which eventually had to be tossed aside. In cut- 

 ting away the points from the shoots of the Apricot, it is necessary to 

 be very careful that the front bud is a leaf and not a flower producer. 

 No one need fear to make a cut before treble buds, as the centre one 

 is sure to be a leaf -bud ; but when cutting before one bud only, the 

 operator ought to be convinced that it is a leaf-bud ere he applies the 

 knife. The practical eye can easily detect which is which, but the 

 beginner must be careful until experience enables him to distinguish 

 the one from the other. 



Like all other trees, the Apricot at times has a tendency to grow 

 rank in some parts, while in others the reverse may be the case. I 

 have more than once referred to this in treating of other fruits, so now 



