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HINTS ON PINCHING. 



Its mission is to multii)ly the comforts of life, to rffiiio and elevate many tastes and 

 ft'clintjs, — in a word, to make the world happier and better. In hortieiilturo, we 

 should allow no geographical hoimdaries to limit c>ur sympathies or friendship, but 

 reocirnize as a brother every laborer in the vineyard, whether his lot be cast in the 

 temperate or torrid zone, under the government of a republic, or a monarchy, or a 

 despotism. 



A FEW niNTS ON riXCIIIXG. 



"Traix up a child in the Avay he should go" is a venerable maxim, and one that all 

 good parents endeavor to carry into practice. Trees, like children, require training in 

 their youth ; the wise and skillful cultivator should aim at giving every shoot and 

 branch the right direction while young and pliable, and nip every defect or deformity 

 in the. bud. The practice of too many who plant and cultivate trees, is either to prune 

 them once a year, say in winter or spring, or else leave them entirely to nature ; the 

 consequence is that unless in rare cases where nature has endowed a tree with remark- 

 able qualities as to regularity of growth, they grow up without that balance and 

 symmetry which is always pleasing to the eye and necessary to their vigor, longevity, 

 and productiveness. It should be well understood by every man who plants a tree, 

 that from the moment it begins to unfold its leaves and develop new shoots, it 

 requires constant care. This is especially the case with garden trees, Avhich ought 

 always to be beautiful as w^ell as useful. We do not mean that a man should contin- 

 ually busy himself among a few trees, or waste his time in frivolous oj^erations, as 

 though they were a hobby-horse which he had nothing to do but ride ; we can coun- 

 tenance nothing of this sort, but we insist upon constant discriminating care, a look 

 over the trees once or twice a w-eek, in order tha-t every defect of growth, attack of 

 insects, accidents, or diseases, may be timely discovered and the proper remedy 

 applied. There is economy in this, if people but knew it, and all experienced cultiva- 

 tors do know it. 



The chief remedy for defects of growth during the grov.-ing season is the operation 

 termed pinchinr/ — nipping with the finger and thumb (fig. 1) the soft young shoots. 



The practical part of this operation is plain 



enough, but the particular time at which it 



fl) ^ ^""^^^^ \ ought to be performed requires both judgment 



and experience, in order that it may accomplish 

 the end aimed at. Pinching is applied to all 

 trees and plants to improve or modify their 

 \ forms. The plant grower who aims at pro- 



ducing strong, bushy, well formed plants, arrests the tendency to grow tall and lean 

 by commencing with his young plant Avhen only a few inches high ; and he follows 

 up this pinching or stopping at regular intervals in the plant's growth, until he has 

 secured such a profusion and regularity of lateral branches as to make his complete 



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