THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 341 
growing fruit for market you must begin with vigorous trees, which dwarfing 
stocks cannot produce. I will suppose some of my farming friends here to become 
by some delusion enarnoured of pinched-in pear-trees on quince stocks, and to 
resolve on planting orchards with them. Well, they could obtain the trees averag- 
ing, perhaps, the size of a man, and, as a persuasive writer on the subject would 
say, “bristling with fruit buds.” These trees would cost a lot of money per acre, 
and would present a wonderful appearance the first season by their awful prodi- 
gality of bloom. In subsequent years the fruit would appear in dots, and by reason 
of the immense distance between them, would cost a lot to gather ; and then the 
trees would grow vigorously for seven years, and begin to bear again more naturally 
and in reasonable plenty. You must bear in mind I only supposed you might 
plant such things ; as’ a matter of fact, you will not do any such thing. But as 
dwarfing stocks have their uses, and this is an age for small profits and quick 
returns, I wish to say that dwarfing stocks may in certain cases be used adyan- 
tageously in fruit farming, provided the soil js good, the climate soft, and the trees 
are never permitted to see or feel the pruning-knife. 
As to the form of trees, you will understand by this time that I believe in the 
natural form, whatever that may be. If trees are grafted low, and allowed to 
branch naturally, so as to form free bushes or pyramids, as their habit may be, we 
shall get a better return from them than by any system of pruning whatever. I 
am not prepared to lay down a rule tkat a fruit-tree should never be pruned in any 
way whatever, but I do say that pruning is a delicate business, and if it cannot be 
performed by a man who thoroughly understands the habit of the tree, and has a 
prophetic sympathy with its individuality, it had better not be attempted: and 
remember Nature is kind, and given a healthy tree, she delights in clothing its 
unpruned branches with fruits in such a way that, wanting a comparison, we rashly 
say they look like ropes of onions. When trees have newly obtained possession of 
a good soil they are apt to produce willow-like shoots, as if, instead of fruits, fishing- 
rods were required of them; the rule of the pruner is to cut these back, and the 
rule of nature is to produce another crop of fishing-rods. In such a conflict art can 
only triumph by adopting a course injurious to the vitality of the tree. Instead of 
cutting out these fishing-rods, we have but to attach to them light weights to bring 
them gently down to a nearly horizontal line, and the check to the rush of the sap 
upwards will cause them to form fruit spurs from the base to the very tip, and the 
result will be abundant fruitfulness, instead of a costly and a fruitless confiict. 
This mode of procedure, which I have called « pulley pruning,” is a lesson from 
nature, and constitutes a proper chapter in this hasty treatise on natural fruit 
culture. 
You have observed that when a tree becomes fiuitful it becomes more and 
more fruitful so long as it continues in health, One reason is that the weight 
of the fruit pulls the tranches down to a horizontal line, and this checks growth 
and promotes hardening of the wood. Thus fruitfulness begets fruit. The 
habit of growing is changed into the habit of bearing, but you must have a tree 
first, and then a gentle way of persuading it to pay its rent is the best way, for 
violence it will resent by making myriads of useless willow rods instead of fruit. 
It may occur t0 you as it has to others to whom I have communicated on this aubject, 
that tying the rods down is better than attaching weights, but that is a mistake. 
A certain amount of tying and training must be done for convenience sake, but 
it is good for @ tree to be able to sway and rock to the wind, and in staking newly- 
planted trees they should be treated as live things that enjoy the air they breathe. 
As regards the selection of varieties, there is really not much in a general way 
to be said. It may be proper to remark, however, that there prevails a general 
belief that varieties necessarily wear out, but there is not a fraction of evidence 
worthy of attention to favour this prevailing belief. ‘The Golden Pippin is worn 
out, and of necessity ceased to exist fifty years ago. But I can boast of a =P 
that is startling in its beauty and almost oppressive in its fruitfulness. Proba y 
many persons are familar with healthy and fruitful trees of Golden Pippin, an 
Ribstone Pippin apples, and Jargonelle pear, that ought to have been dead long ago, 
and that would have been dead and gone and forgotten were it not for a perversity 
of nature in managing matters her own way, and in some sort of contempt for the 
fancies of man, and even of his boasted art, The lesson for fruit tab 18 to 
ignore this rubbish, and to plant what they think will suit their soil, their climate, 
December. 
