170 PRUNING. 



Mr. K, it should be said, confines his remarks entirely 

 to the Pear upon the quince stock, while instructions 

 for root-pruning generally refers to the Pear on pear 

 roots. Mr. Rivers says : 



" I must premise, that handsome and fertile pyramids, more particu- 

 larly of some free-bearing varieties, may be reared without this annual, 

 biennial, or triennial operation. I have a large plantation of pear trees 

 on Quince, which bids fair to make handsome and fertile pyramids, 

 yet they have not been root-pruned, neither do I intend to root-prune 

 them. But I wish to impress upon my readers that my principal object 

 is to make trees fit for small gardens, and to instruct those who are not 

 blessed with a large garden how to keep their trees perfectly under 

 control ; and this can best be done by annual, or at least, biennial at- 

 tention to their roots ; for if a tree be suffered to grow three or more 

 years, and then root-pruned, it will receive a check if the spring be dry, 

 and the crop of fruit for one season will be jeopardied. Therefore, those 

 who are disinclined to the annual operation, and yet wish to confine the 

 growth of their trees within limited grounds, by root-pruning — say once 

 in three years — should only operate upon one-third of their trees in one 

 season. They will thus save two-thirds in an unchecked leafing state ; 

 and those who have ample room and space may pinch their pyramids in 

 summer^ and suffer them to grow to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, 

 without pruning their roots. I have seen avenues of such trees, in 

 Belgium, quite imposing. Pyramidal trees on the quince stock (and 

 we would add, on the pear stock also), when the fruit-garden is small, 

 and the real gardening artist feels a pleasure in keeping them in a 

 healthy and fruitful state, by perfect control over the roots, should be 

 operated upon as follows : A trench should be dug around the tree, 

 about eighteen inches from the stem, every antumn, just after the fruit 

 is gathered, if the soil be sufficiently moist — if not, it will be better to 

 wait till the usual autumnal rains arc fallen, and the roots^ carefully 

 examined, those inclined to perpendicular growth, cut with a spade, 

 which must be introduced quite under the tree on all sides, so that no 

 root can possibly escape amputation, and all the horizontal roots except 

 those that are small and fibrous, shortened with a knife, to within a 

 circle eighteen inches from the stem (if they have not spread out to 

 this extent, they need not be pruned, but merely brought near the 

 surface and spread out), and all brought near the surface as possible, 



