32 FRUIT TREE ENEMIES. 



Trees grow in very different forms, some are upright, some 

 spreading, some straggling in growth, and others altogether irregular. 

 The careful pruner will take the peculiarities of every variety into 

 consideration and leave in each as much bearing wood as possible, 

 always remembering the great physiological truth, that in a healthy 

 tree the extent of root surface must be balanced by the extent of 

 foliage, to produce a well grown fruitful tree. Mr. T. A. Knight, 

 deplored the system of pruning in his day, which consisted in elimi- 

 nating every branch in the middle of the tree until at length " small 

 tufts of branches were left at the extremities of long and large 

 boughs." This is not altogether the fault of the pruner, for in the 

 growth of spreading mop-headed trees, the middle of the tree is 

 thrown completely in shade, and the smaller boughs if not removed, 

 could never bear healthy fruit. It is more commonly the result of 

 having them planted too closely together in the Orchard. Cutting 

 off main branches should only be required in young trees, and when 

 this is rightly done, no leading branch should afterwards be touched, 

 and the trees should be left to live out the natural term of their 

 lives and fruitfulness. 



FRUIT TREE ENEMIES. 



A volume might be written on the many enemies that attack 

 Apple and Pear trees in health and disease, and without much 

 avail since few of them admit of the ready application of any 

 remedy. A brief notice must yet be given of those which most 

 commonly and persistently affect them, such as : Mistletoe, Canker, 

 Insects, Fungus, and other vegetable parasites. 



Mistletoe ( Viscum Album). — The health and vigour of the 

 trees in an Orchard will generally denote the amount of attention 

 given to them by the owner ; but neither care nor attention can 

 keep off mistletoe in a Herefordshire Orchard — Thrushes and other 

 birds eat the Mistletoe berries. The seeds they contain, pass 

 through their bodies, and are thus sown on the branches of the 

 trees they frequent. The young seedlings send their roots into the 

 tissues of the tree, and live at its expense for the future. There is 

 a common impression amongst Orchardists that the Mistletoe 

 renders the supporting tree more fruitful, and that it does but little 



