PRUNING OF PEAR-TEEES. 



same result takes place here with the western land winds ; and the isolated trees 

 recede /row that point, body and limbs ; the pear and peach-tree more than any 

 others. 



This influence is very marked on the limbs — always plenty of them on the 

 north and east side ; and a deficiency on the southwest side. We have, there- 

 fore, to keep the tree as well supplied as possible on that quarter, cut the leading 

 shoot just above a bud pointing to the south or west, and remove what is too 

 abundant on the north or east side. 



The best, sturdiest trees, the handsomest pyramids, are those that have been 

 often cut back (recepe), to increase the strength of their basis and to compel 

 them to make " their own wood in their ultimate place ;" the French call that 

 " faire bois neuf sur place." 



The position of the buds, and consequently of the branches, is beautifully 

 symmetrical and spiral, as if nature intended to give her products the best chances 

 for equilibrium. We must take advantage of it ; and, if we do not neglect a 

 tree, symmetry will be the law of its general shape. 



Nothing is more irrational than to preserve every branch which the tree brought 

 from the nursery, where there is not leisure enough to make pyramids in the pro- 

 per time (say two or three years from the bud). It is not advisable to suppress 

 too many stout limbs at once in planting. We have already hinted at the proper 

 mode of removing those branches gradually, without much injury to the tree ; but 

 when, afterwards, we have the tree under full control, we must not allow a branch 

 "to make opposition (to compete) with the hodij,^^ as Yan Mous termed it. He 

 says : whenever such competition takes place, cut the limb, wherever it may be, 

 till equilibrium is restored. Those kind of limbs, when loaded with fruit, split 

 from the main body, and I have seen scores of fine trees destroyed in that way. 

 They are ill-looking things, unmanageable, and do not bear more fruit, on an 

 average, than regular, well-pruned branches would do, with infinitely more safety. 



Great is the number of persons who would not cut a limb, nor suppress a fruit-bud. 

 They have no patience, and mtist have the fruit, let the tree afterwards be spoiled ! 

 This is not a wise policy. By the time /should have my trees mature, fitted and 

 able to bear sound fruit on well-disposed branches, you will have to go back, 

 and, to save your tree, to commence the operation I just finished. The loss of a 

 few fruits on a young tree is nothing compared with an interruption of regular 

 croi)S in the proper time of bearing. Let us first have well-trained students 

 before we have doctors and lawyers. Let your tree shape, educate, and strengthen 

 itself under good management, u'hile young and of small crops, and afterwards you 

 may safely rely on yearly increasing crops, with full security, and without props, 

 straps, and all kind of odd looking, and disgraceful supports. We planted, and 

 enjoyed the fruits of thousands of trees, and rarely, if ever, had to support a tree 

 in an erect and proper position. A pole bound to the tree ridis that side, destroys 

 the limbs there, and makes bare s})ots forever. The pruning knife, with a proper 

 dose of patience, is the safest propping and the most satisfactory in its ultimate 

 results. 



When a tree is well shaped, and of the required age and size, it will bear its 

 fruit with a symmetry and equipoise truly astonishing ; but, to attain that result, 

 the branches ought to be nearly all of proportional size with the size of the main 

 body ; more slender and shorter when coming nearer to the top of the pyramid. 



For a garden, the best shape is undoubtedly the ])yramid, or the conical. We 

 always found the pyramidal form best, the most graceful, and the most easily 

 ed. With some varieties, indeed, it seems almost the only possible form ; 

 re the St. Michael Archangel, Baronne de Mello, Fondante de Noel, Due de 



