124 ORCHARDS. 



leave behind him trees that he has nurtured with the utmost 

 care." 



In conclusion, this author y ecommends cauti07i ; "enough 

 of vigor must be left in the tree to support its crop of fruit, 

 and one, two, or three seasons' cessation from root pruning 

 will often be found necessary." 



Root pruning is only valuable, according to our judgment, 

 when applied to such standard trees as at the usual size and 

 age fail to blossom or bear fruit, or do so in a manner so light 

 and unprofitable that some course is necessary to induce fair 

 crops and full. bearing. Such trees will generally require but 

 a single pruning to bring them all right and cause them to 

 assume a permanent fruitful condition. Pears and plums 

 that are shy bearers when grown up, say from twelve to four- 

 teen years old, may be forced in this way to bear when of 

 proper size. An esteemed author observes, " Several nearly 

 full grown peach, pear, and plum trees, on a very rich soil on 

 the Hudson, which were over luxuriant but bore no fruit, 

 were root pruned by our advice two years ago, and yielded 

 most excellent and abundant crops last season." The same 

 author says: "In case of apple orchards, where the perma- 

 nent value depends on the size, longevity, and continued pro- 

 ductiveness of the trees, it is better to wait patiently, and not 

 to resort to pruning to bring them into bearing; as it cannot 

 be denied that all excessive pruning shortens somewhat the 

 life of the tree." Mr. Coxe, indeed, recommended that the 

 first fruit should never be allowed to ripen on a young apple 

 orchard, as it lessens very materially the vigor of the trees. 



Pruning the Tops or Shortening -in the extremities of the 

 branches of peach, nectarines and apricots, has a strong ten- 

 dency to increase the fruitfulness of those trees. By reduc- 

 ing the new wood, the sap is more abundantly distributed in 

 the balance of the branches, causing many bearing shoots to 

 be produced on each branch instead of one. 



Sjmrring-in, which is the annual shortening of the lateral 

 shoots of trained fruit trees, as practiced in England, is per- 

 formed in order to make them grow short fruit branches or 

 spurs, and is a part of the same theory, and is well adapted 

 to pears, apples, peaches, and other fruits. 



