REVIEW. 



" It follows from this, that if we wish to obtain wood branches, we prune short, for 

 vigorous shoots produce few fruit buds. On the contrary, if we wish to obtain fruit 

 branches, we prune long, because the most slender or feeble shoots are the most disposed 

 to fruit. 



" Another application of this principle is to prune short for a year or two, such trees 

 or parts as have become enfeebled by overbearing. (This principle deserves especial at- 

 tention, as its application is of great importance.) 



3. " The sap tending always to the extremities of the shoots causes the terminal bud to 

 push with greater vigor than the laterals. According to this principle, when we wish a pro- 

 longment of a stem or branch, we should prune to a vigorous wood bud, and leave no pro- 

 duction that can interfere with the action of the sap on it. 



4. " The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it will be to pro- 

 duce fruit buds. This principle is founded on a fact to which we have already had occa- 

 sion to refer, viz: that the sap circulating slowly is subjected to a more complete elabora- 

 tion in the tissues of the tree, and becomes better adapted to the formation of fruit buds. 



" This principle can be applied to produce the following result: When we wish to pro- 

 duce fruit buds on a branch, we prevent a free circulation of the sap by bending the 

 branches, or by making annular or circular incisions on it; and on the contrary, when we 

 wish to change a fruit branch into a wood branch, we give it a vertical position, or prune 

 it to two or three buds, on which we concentrate the action of the sap and thus induce 

 their vigorous development. 



5. " The leaves serve to prepare the sap absorbed by the roots for the nourishment of the 

 tree, and aid the formation of buds on the shoots, Jill trees, therefore, deprived of their 

 leaves are liable to perish. This principle shows how dangerous it is to remove a large 

 quantity of leaves from trees, under the pretext of aiding the growth or ripening of fruits, 

 for the leaves are the nourishing organs, and the trees deprived of them cannot continue 

 to grow, neither can the fruit; and the branches so stripped will have feeble, ill-formed 

 buds, which will, the following year, produce a weak and sickly growth. 



6. " JVhere the buds of any shoot or branch do not dcvelope before the age of two years, 

 they can only be forced into activity by a very close pruning, and in some cases, as the 

 peach, this even luill often fail. This last principle shows the importance of pruning the 

 main branches of espaliers particularly, so as to ensure the development of the buds of 

 their successive sections, and to preserve well the side shoots thus produced, for without 

 this, the interior of the tree Mill become naked and unproductive, and a remedy will be 

 very difficult." 



The nicer operations of pruning and training are taught in France by means of lectures, 

 with the trees before the pupils — the only rapid mode of teaching a practical art some- 

 Avhat diificult of explanation upon paper. If our different states would establish agricul- 

 tural schools, as they should do, the teacher of practical horticulture should have the 

 whole modern art of pruning fruit trees at his fingers ends, and every pupil would, by the 

 aid of a few specimens in different stages of growth, and a few small subjects to operate 

 upon with the pruning-knife, soon become an accomplished master of the art. It is some- 

 thing, however, that must be pursued con amore. Mr. Barry very properly says: "It 

 is not, by any means, labor that is required, but attention, that the most delicate hand 

 can perform; fl.fteen or twentj' minutes at a time, say three times a week, during active 

 growth, will be sufficient to examine every shoot on a moderate collection of garden trees; 

 for the eye very soon becomes trained so well to the work, that a glance at a tree will de- 

 tect the parts that are either too strong or too weak, or that in any way require attention. 

 This is one of the most interesting features in the management of garden trees. We are 

 never allowed to forget them. From day to day they require some attention, and offer 

 some new point of interest that attracts us to them, and augments our solicitude for their 

 prosperity, until it actually grows into enthusiasm." 



Though Mr. Barry is in many parts of the work plain and perspicuous, yet in others 

 ances so hastily and in so general a manner at important operations of culture 

 the majority of readers for whom his work is intended, somewhat in the dark 



