REVIEW. 



instance, root pruning is occasionally of great value as a remedial process in checking the 

 growth of our luxuriant fruit trees, and bringing them into a bearing state. The follow- 

 ing are the author's whole remarks on the subject : 



" Pruning the Roots. — This is practiced as well to promote fruitfulness as to lessen 

 the dimensions of trees. The roots, as has been shown, are the organs that absorb from 

 the ground the principal food of the tree, and in proportion to their number, size and ac- 

 tivity, other things being equal, is the vigor and growth of the stem and branches. 

 Hence, when a tree is deprived of a certain portion of its roots, its supply of food from 

 the soil is lessened, growth is checked, the sap moves along in its channels, is better ela- 

 borated in its leaves, and the young branches and buds begin to assume a fruitful char- 

 acter. 



Roots are also pruned to prevent them from penetrating too deeply into the earth, and 

 induce the formation of lateral roots near the surface, similar to the cutting back of a stem 

 to produce lateral branches; the principal is the same." 



Not a word is said as to the manner of performing the operation; how much of the roots 

 of a young or old tree may be judiciously cut off; the best season of performing the ope- 

 ration, etc. Now, as root pruning is a far more dangerous operation in the hands of a 

 novice, than any other kind of pruning, it seems to us a great oversight in a work in 

 which the little details of practical culture are professedly entered into, merely to state 

 the principle of the thing, and leave the operator wholly in the dark as to its practice. 



Mr. Barry is very non-committal and vague on the subject of diseases of fruit trees. 

 The yellows " is supposed to arise from negligent cultivation." The pear blight may 

 be " owing to an insect, a fungus, or some atmospherical cause," etc. We know it is far 

 easier to take this ground than to risk one's reputation on points where there are so many 

 different opinions — but readers do not gain much of an addition to their previous stock of 

 knowledge by it. Quite contrary to our observation and experience, Mr. Barrt is of 

 opinion that " to avoid the evil effects of the pear blight, the great point is to get a rapid 

 vigorous growth before midsummer, when it usually happens." To get the growth before 

 midsummer is certainly important, since a late growth is so frequently caught immature 

 at the approach of winter, and suffers thereby, either in frost-blight, or in some other way 

 — but we had considered it a pretty well settled point among American fruit growers who 

 have studied this subject, that the great desideratum to prevent blight, is to place the tree 

 in a condition where all "rapid and vigorous growth" — a growth always most liable to 

 disease, and especially to the blight — should be especially guarded against, and a moderate 

 grotvth oi weW-formed, short jointed wood, secured. It is because of the luxuriant growth 

 of the pear on the rich deep soils of the west, that the blight is ten times more frequent 

 and destructive there, than in eastern gardens, and it is because such varieties as the Seckel 

 never incline to make a luxuriant growth, that they escape the blight that preys upon the 

 more succulent and luxuriant shoots that are almost alwaj'^s found on some other varieties. 



But we will undertake no more of fault-finding. We welcome Mr. Barry's book as in 

 the main, one of sterling merit, abounding with excellent rules of practice, and a valuable 

 hand-book for every real amateur of the fruit garden. 



