JANUARY 



IRISH GARDENING. 



The standard should have a stem six feet in 

 leng-th, be worked on the crab stock, the par- 

 ticular varieties being- selected for this form for 

 their robust habit. I have referred above to the 

 particular advantag-es of gTowing trees in this 

 form, so that I need not reiterate the state- 

 ment here. I do not purpose describing- the 

 treatment of the tree from the bud or g-raft 

 until it is fit to be 

 planted out. 



Except in very ex- 

 ceptional cases it is far 

 better for the farmer 

 or fruit grower to buy 

 the trees froni an ex- 

 perienced nurseryman 

 than to try and raise 

 them himself ; lurtlier, 

 he will be wise to 

 buy, in the case of 

 bushes, as two or 

 three year old rather 

 than as maidens. The 

 standards and half- 

 standards will, of 

 course, have their 

 " heads "' already 

 formed when received 

 from the nursery, so 

 no difficulty will arise 

 with regard to them. 

 These trees, when 

 received, will have 

 '' heads " consisting of 

 three or four shoots 

 if two year old bushes 

 or if they have been 

 cut back one }ear in 

 the case of the taller 

 trees ; if three years 

 old or two years cut 



back, each shoot will prol->ably lia\e upon it 

 two more, making- six or eight shoots in 

 all. The first thing to bear in mind is the 

 shape in which these trees are to be trained or 

 formed. 



Experience has proved that far the best for 

 all practical purposes is the open cup shape, for 

 several reasons, the principal being that the 

 natural desire of the tree is to produce wood 

 growing straight upright, as such wood receives 

 the full flow of the sap without any clKuk 

 occasioned by curves or angles in its course, 



f 



great 

 pro- 



Photo iv] 



A Good SpEciMiiN oi 



and if this upright wood is allowed to remain 

 in tiie tree it soon becomes a tangled mass 

 of wood like a faggot, where neither light nor 

 air can reach what little fruit is produced. 

 Another reason, perhaps equally weighty, is 

 that a far greater amount of wood favour- 

 ably disposed for light and air can be accommo- 

 dated in a tree by drawing it outwards in 

 allowing it to grow 

 this form than by 

 more or less upright, 

 which can be readily 

 understood if one 

 considers the 

 increase which 

 duced in the circum- 

 ference of a circle by 

 a slight increase in 

 the diameter. 



This shape of an 

 open cup should be 

 firmly fixed in the 

 mind before the pruner 

 starts operations, then 

 he can deal with 

 every tree on its 

 merits, as its individu- 

 ality necessitates. A 

 tree of spreading 

 growth like Bramley's 

 Seedling will require 

 much less drawing- 

 out than, sa}-, Newton 

 Wonder, which is in- 

 clined to be ver\ 

 upright. One sees the 

 wisdom, therefore, of 

 having the principle 

 ..V. well in mind rather 

 than having only a 

 set of rules to apply 

 lo all the diflfering habits alike. 



The next point in importance, after the shape 

 of the tree, is the \exed question as to how 

 hard the shoots shall be pruned — that is, how 

 mucii is to be cut off. Here again one finds the 

 great adxanlage of some principle to go upon 

 rather than a rule. The desideratum, so long- 

 as the tree is being formed, is that the top two 

 or three buds which are left after pruning 

 shall produce good strong shoots, and that 

 all the rest of the buds below shall break 

 into fruit spurs or into medium shoots, 



['RKNCII iMARlliOl 



