274 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 9, 1866. 



should feel bewildered in the midst of directions so opposite, 

 lior even that those who have grown grey in the orchard should 

 have arrived at conclusions so strange as those just mentioned 

 — not to prune at all. And yet, notwithstanding these apparent 

 contradictions, there is a reason for each of these various modes, 

 as well as for the different seasons that have been recommended 

 for performing the several operations of pruning. 



It may be said that in the natural trees, whether standing 

 •alone in the midst of a prairie, thinly grouped as in the " Oak- 

 opening," or crowded together in the dense forest, we may be- 

 hold the most perfect models of beauty and of fruitfuluess ; 

 yet these have never been subjected to the action of the knife, 

 the saw, nor the hatchet — true, and yet they have all been pruned 

 by Nature ; she prunes and trains magnificently, and gives us 

 the finest models for imitation. Whether for park sceuery, as 

 in the lone tree of the prairie, or in the scattered groups of the 

 island-groves, that are so often seen to rise above the level of 

 the broad savannas of the West — or for a forest of noble shafts, 

 to be gazed at with admiration, then felled by the ruthless axe, 

 and converted to man's economic uses — she shows us a pattern 

 in the dense pineries and other timber tracts of our country. 

 All these have been pruned into their present condition by the 

 hand of Nature. In the single specimen, free access of air and 

 light have enabled it to assume its full proportions, developing 

 itself on every side, and giving us the grand, majestic, and beauti- 

 ful object we behold with so much pleasure. The winds have 

 tossed its branches and shaken its sturdy boughs — some have 

 been broken in the rude embrace, the lower ones have quietly 

 and gradually yielded to the smothering influence of those above 

 them, which, in turn, have swept downwards their depending 

 branchlets towards the green turf beneath. In the groves, the 

 scattered trees have for a while enjoyed the same opportunities 

 for development, but at length their branches have met together 

 and interlocked in friendly embrace. Those that were nearest 

 the ground had already begun to suffer from the effects of the 

 denser canopy above them, but the great sturdy boughs that 

 had shot upward so as to form a part of the crown, these are 

 able to maintain their vantage ground, and continue to be im- 

 portant members of the trees. In these illustrations we have 

 seen more of Nature's training than of her pruning ; but it must 

 be remembered that training is one of the objects, and indeed 

 a leading element of pruning, and is very properly a matter for 

 our consideration. 



In the dense primaeval forest we see Nature's priming exhibited 

 upon a grand and perfect scale ; tall, straight and noble trunks 

 rise majestically on every hand ; not a twig nor limb appears to 

 break the symmetry of the gradually tapering shafts, that are 

 clothed in hark which does not indicate that they had ever been 

 furnished with branches ; yet they have been so provided from 

 their bases to their summits, and Nature has so neatly removed 

 hem that we cannot detect the marks of her pruning-saw. How 

 this has been effected may be seeu in any dense thicket of forest 

 growth. It is simply a smothering of the lower branches by 

 those next above them, which has destroyed their vitality, and 

 their decay has soon followed ; while a new growth of branches 

 at a higher point, in turn performs the same cilice of destruc- 

 tion upon those nest below them. As there is no outlet for the 

 wood-growth but in an upward direction, so upwards theymust 

 needs go, and as there is no light nor air for lateral branches 

 under such a canopy of shade, death and decay ensue, and down 

 these must needs come. 



If it be asked why we must prune, it may be answered, in 

 general terms, that in the orchard our objects in performing 

 this operation are twofold. 1st, We prune for shape and come- 

 liness, and for the removal of dead and dying branches, in aid 

 of Nature, hut working in sympathy with her. 2nd, We prune 

 for the sake of inducing fruitfulness. Let us consider some of 

 the principles that are to guide us in these operations. 



The first object, that of producing the desired shape of the 

 future tree, is chiefly done upon the young subject — even in the 

 nursery row. The judicious primer, being well aware of the 

 upward tendency of young growth, and that this is increased by 

 the crowded condition of the tree in the nursery square, seeks 

 to overcome the evil by proper pruning. If the growth be al- 

 together upward, with no side branches the first season, the 

 stem will he slender, often so much so as to bend with its own 

 ■weight. The wise nurseryman carefully avoids disturbing the 

 leaves or the lateral branches, well knowing their importance 

 in forming the woody trunk. At the proper season he trims 

 his trees down instead of trimming them up ; this he does by 

 heading them back to the height at which he desires them to 

 form their branches ; at the same time he shortens in the 



laterals, his object being, in both instances, to check the up- 

 ward tendency of growth by removing the strong terminal buds 

 which would naturally have formed the new shoots in the coming 

 season. The result of this treatment is to call into action 

 several buds at the upper part of the stock. These are to form 

 the arms of the tree, and hence a very important part of the 

 pruning and training of the plant is thus performed at once by 

 this heading back of the young nursery tree. But further at- 

 tention is needed as these arms develope themselves during the 

 next season of growth ; they should not be too numerous, nor 

 too much crowded together; they should not be too nearly 

 matched in strength ; and a single one among them, centrally 

 situated, should be kept as a leader, which should be stronger 

 than the rest. Never allow two shoots to remain, contending 

 for the mastery, but subordinate one of them by cutting, break- 

 ing, or twisting, so soon as it is observed, for, how beautifully 

 developed soever such a tree may appear when well balanced, 

 there is always danger of its splittirg down when heavily laden 

 with fruit. This very common error of our orchards used to 

 be quaintly illustrated by a dear old friend on the prairies of 

 Illinois, who cited the advice of a Scotch jockey to whom he 

 had applied for counsel in the purchase of a piece of horse-flesh. 

 " Ne'er buy a horse whose twa fore legs coom oot fra ane hole," 

 said he ; and my friend Mr. Stewart applied the same rule to 

 his young fruit trees by never allowing them to form two equal 

 leaders starting from one point. It is also important to have 

 the lateral branches regularly distributed on different sides. 

 The height at which the heading-back should be done will depend 

 very much upon the object of the cultivator, and whether he 

 desires to produce a high or a low head — a standard, half-stan- 

 dard, or a dwarf or a conical tree, such as are often called pyra- 

 mids. He will study the wants of his customers, and will flatter 

 their fancies in this matter ; but we of the West have learned 

 the importance, for us at least, of trimming our trees down and 

 not trimming them up, as is often done by those who anticipate 

 ploughing aud planting crops under the shade of their orchards. 

 We prefer low heads, and often train them so that the branches 

 reach the ground when laden with foliage and fruit. The proper 

 point for bringing out the branches and forming the head will 

 very much depend, however, v.pon the habit of the variety, 

 whether it be drooping, spreading or upright — the former will 

 require the branches to be started at a higher point. 



The proper season for performing this kind of pruning is in 

 the early spring, after the severe frosts of winter have been 

 passed ; and, with some kinds of orchard trees, at the time of 

 planting, when they should always receive a severe pruning 

 and a reduction of their limbs, somewhat in proportion to the 

 shortening of their roots. — Dr.. John A. Wabdeb, Cincinnati 

 (in American Garden . '■ Monthly). 



(To be continued.) 



WILD GERANIUMS. 



Mi:. Rouson having called the attention of gardeners to our 

 wild Geraniums, let me give my experience, not as a hybridiser, 

 but as one who has tried to improve and cultivate them as 

 common border flowers. 



One bright summer morning, walking with a now-departed 

 friend from Skipton to Harden Tower for a stroll down the 

 banks of the lovely but impetuous river Wharfe, I saw growing 

 on the margin of a bog a plant of Geranium pratense (Blue 

 Meadow Crane's-bill), with flowers of a deeper and brighter 

 blue than any of the thousands of flowers which I have seen 

 since that time. Not wishing to burden myself with the plant, 

 a very large one, I gathered some seed, from which I raised 

 plants. When they flowered the flowers were not equal to the 

 parent, but of a lighter colour. Since then I have raised many 

 seedling plants, but have not obtained one to enable me to say 

 that it might be used as a bedding plant, as suggested by Mr. 

 Robson. 



Geranium sylvaticnm I have grown many years, but have 

 not produced anything better by cultivation. With me — and I 

 find that wild plants do the same — it flowers three weeks earlier 

 than G. pratense. I have not tried to cross the two, as I fear 

 that the bright blue colour of pratense would be wanting. 



This year I have examined thousands of wild plants of 

 G. sanguineum, but have not been able to find a better variety 

 than the one I have grown for several years. I have two or 

 three to try them, but I fear I have nothing better than my 

 old stock. I have never found G. phamm growing wild, and I 

 have not seen it growing for several years past. 



