AuKQHt 1, 1865. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



85 



dnratioQ, and can only I>e maintained liy rich noil, and con- 

 siderable reductions of the annual growths, which arc a fertile 

 source of disease and early death. 3rd, Any great reduction of 

 the head at the winter [jruuing causes increase of wood, ex- 

 hauats the energies of the stock, and is obtained at the expense 

 of a plentiful crop of fruit; it also indniv-s disease and early 

 death. 4th, The grafting or budding on stocks of slower and 

 less growth, and also on those of a ditTereut species or genus, 

 though it renders trees very fruitful, may be carried too far, as, 

 for instance, in the case of the Ajiplo on the Pear, ."ith. The 

 trees should not be induced to make; large annual growths to be 

 cut away or reduced considerably at the winter pruning, growtli 

 only being needed until the allotted space is covered, after 

 which the vegetation of the stock and scioii should be balanced 

 by judicious summer pruning. 0th, The trees worked on them 

 produce fruit or Howors at an earlier age, but not at an earlier 

 season, and the fruit is more abundant, larger, and of higher 

 flavour than on stocks of their own kind. 



Now as to budding or grafting on stocks of a gi-owth approxi- 

 mating to that of the scion, it is certain that we follow a more 

 natural process ; liut then we must provide for each kind space 

 for the full develojiment of its head, otherwise it will prove 

 unfruitful. We must give the Apple and Pear their place in 

 the orchard, and have walls and houses sufficiently large for 

 the full development of all trees requiring protection in our 

 chmate. We must be content to see trees growing, but seldom 

 fruiting or hlooming ; to ]ilant an orchard for another genera- 

 tion, and to plant a vineyard and let another eat of the fruit 

 thereof. It really seems contrary to the order of cultivation 

 itself. We invariably like the animal with small bones and 

 abundance of fat, and we of the sister art surely do not want 

 largo boughs without flowers, long branches without fruit. I 

 am not prepared to state that this is the result of grafting or 

 budding on stocks apjiroximating in growth to the variety 

 worked, for I know the best results attend such a union of 

 favourable influences ; Init we must not limit the ultimate 

 growth of the kind to one-third or one-half the space that it 

 would recjuire when it arrives at a state of matm-ity. When 

 we employ a stock for gi-afting or budding upon approximat- 

 ing in growth to the scion, we must provide space for it the 

 same as if it were growing in a state of nature, annually increas- 

 ing until the natural size be attained. I think the prevailing 

 opinion that the "graft overruleth the stock quite " is an ab- 

 surdity, for it is pretty certain that the stock will continue to 

 grow u]) to the age natural to it, and then it will take a down- 

 ward course irrespective of any influence of the scion. We see 

 the Pear on the quince luxuriant for a time and requiring 

 biennial or triennial removal to keep it in a fruitful state, but 

 after a time the Pear does not need this removal, the gi-owth 

 being small and the tree very productive. If the graft over- 

 ruled the stock, the Pear would go on growing until it became 

 a tree -tO feet in height, yet it remains a fruitful tree at the 

 height of a quince. The Apple on the Paradise is generally a 

 productive tree, but when it is limited to a small space it is 

 for the most part unfruitful after that space becomes covered ; 

 in a word when we employ stocks of approximate growth with 

 the scion we must provide space for the full development of 

 their heads or restrict the root-action in a corresponding degree 

 with the limits of the branches. Such stocks are then injiu-ious, 

 inasmuch as they supply more nutriment than can be expended 

 in the production of blossom and fruit, and the consequence is 

 abundance of sap wood in the place of either. The main 

 characteristics of a stock approximating in growth to the scion 

 are, that the stock and scion remain nearly of the same size at 

 the point of imion, the sap flows more freely, both ascending 

 and descending, consequently the trees have a tendency to 

 grow upwards, leaving the lower parts of the tree weak and 

 bare, to which I may add that the trees are remarkably healthy, 

 but are more impatient of the knife than those on slower and 

 smaller-growing stocks. From a tendency to grow upwards we 

 tflquently find the Apple on the Paradise losing its branches 

 when trained horizontally, and shooting strongly from the 

 upper part of the trimk and espalier. So long as there is space 

 for the annual increase in size, the growth of stock and scion 

 correspond, but after the space becomes occupied it is no un- 

 usual occm-rence for the scion to grow in advance of its stock, 

 and exhibit all the evil of a tree on a stock of stronger growth, 

 the tendency to make wood instead of fruit. 



Grafting or budding on stocks of stronger gi-owth is rarely 

 practised, and only in cases where it is desirable to give 

 increased vigour ; the stock in this case grows in advance of the 

 scion, but the tree is no stronger after all, and its fruit is not 



increased in size, and is less plentiful. It is in truth )ilanting 

 a tree with its roots upwards, for the scion having smaller sap- 

 vessels the sap docs not flow freely into it, and the result is an 

 abundance of suckers from the stock ; tho scion receives no 

 more sap tlia7i its vessels will admit of, and that of the thinnest 

 and poorest description. Then the descending sap is not 

 arrested, but Hows downwards freely into the stock, causing a 

 gieater depositicm of cambium in it than in the scion. The 

 tree, it is true, is for a time rendered more ju-oductive, but its 

 fertility is of short duration, and tlie branches in a short time 

 beconu.' decorticated as if ringed, and roots are emitted from 

 these parts if they are covered with moss and kept moist, or 

 placed in the soil, just as if nature sought to i)rovidc what is 

 necessai"j' for the existence of the tree. 



Finally, if wc wish for healthy trees, long-lived and continu- 

 ously |)roductive, wc must select stocks of similar liabit, and 

 earliness of growth, and not prune or hmit the annual growths 

 much at the winter priming. When stocks of slower and 

 smaller growth, or of a different species or genus, are em- 

 ployed we must keep up an abundant supply of sap by high 

 feeding or manuring, and not prune excessively if long-lived 

 trees are wanted, pruning having a tendency to cause the pro- 

 duction of young wood and finer fruit for a time, but its effects 

 are temporary and end in early debility and death. — d Abbey. 



THE MODERN PEACH-PRUNER.— No, 1.3. 



THKORY OF CLOSE PRUNING. 



The history of this part of our subject is somewhat obscure, 

 and though interesting in itself, a brief notice will suflEice. The 

 present style is, no doubt, only a revival of what had been 

 touched upon by Keith in this country, and De La Quintinie in 

 France, nearly at the same time — that is, about 150 years ago. 

 For a certain period no progi'ess seems to have been made, 

 though the matter was freely discussed in both countries. We 

 may, therefore, take the late Mr. Knight, a vei-y competent 

 authority, as a fair exponent of closer pruning in more recent 

 times. The passage is quoted by Mcintosh, and is as follows : — 

 " Instead of taking off so large a portion of the young shoots, 

 and training-in a few only to a considerable length, as is usually 

 done, as I should myself do in every favourable situation, I 

 preserve a large number of young shoots which are emitted in 

 the early spring by the yearhng wood, shortening each where 

 necessary by pinching off the succulent points, generaUy to 

 the length of 2 or 3 inches. Spurs, which he close to the wall, 

 are thus made, upon which numerous blossom-buds form very 

 early in the ensuing summer ; and, upon which, after most 

 unfavourable seasons, and in situations so high and cold, that 

 the Peach tree in the most favoui'able seasons had usually pro- 

 duced only a few feeble blossoms, I observed as strong and 

 vigorous blossoms as I usually have seen in the best situa- 

 tions and seasons, and I am quite confident that had the Peach. 

 trees in gardens round the metropolis been pruned in the 

 manner above described — that is, upon spurs, in the last 

 season, abundant and vigorous blossoms would have appeared 

 in the spring." 



Mr. Knight then proceeds to recommend a mixed system of 

 long and close pruning, which when judiciously carried out is 

 very successful. It indeed requires some experience in the 

 selection of the )iroper class of shoot. Mr. Knight seems to 

 be disposed, however, not to trust the whole crop on spurs 

 formed by close summer pruning. In " warm situations," the 

 ordinary long pruning, he says, may answer ; but " in cold and 

 late situations then try the spur method. A mixture of both 

 modes, in every situation, will generally be found to multiply 

 the chances of success, and, therefore, neither ought to be 

 exclusively adopted nor rejected in any situation." This ia 

 sound and practical counsel, and comes from an excellent 

 authority ; and Mcintosh, alluding to these remarks, says of 

 them, that they are " weU worthy of the attention of Peach- 

 gi'owers in all situations, even in favourable localities, but 

 especially so in cold and late ones." 



Since these opinions were published. Peach-pruning has con- 

 siderably advanced, and it is not too much to assert that 

 orcliard-houses have revolutionised the whole system. A 

 similar change seems to be imminent in France and elsewhere. 



In France, especially, close pruning has at present numerous 

 advocates. Though, as we have seen, this system is only a, 

 revival, there is no doubt that the Imperial Society of Horti- 

 culture of France is justified, in its report of 18G2, in speaking, 

 as follows : — " We must leave to M. Grin, of Chartres, the 



