198 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



Another expedient is to apply side-grafts to the branches, the grafts being 

 fruiting-buds. When they blossom and fructify, the fruit absorbs the super- 

 abundant sap of the tree : this, however, is only applicable to the apple and 

 pear, and other pip-fruit. 



506. In the case of pyramid trees, the vigour of the tree is diminished by 

 arching all the branches, so that their extremities are directed to the ground ; 

 this is done by surrounding them with a cord, pegged down a short distance 

 from the ground, and attaching the tips of all the branches to it. 



507. Root-pruning is a never-failing remedy for over-luxuriance ; but the 

 remedy is a severe one, and it may be doubted if it should be lightly performed. 

 A less violent mode of treating the roots is sometimes tried with advantage : 

 the soil is removed from one entire side of the tree, and the roots laid bare, 

 and left exposed during the summer to the eflFects of air and light. This 

 has the effect of diminishing the vigom* of the tree, and throws it into 

 bearing ; or, if it fails, the same treatment pursued in the following spring 

 will probably be effectual. Should it fail, root-pruning must be had recourse 

 to : this is performed by digging a trench round the tree so as to keep clear 

 of all the roots, at the same time laying them all open. With a sharp knife or 

 saw, or chisel if necessary, cut away a considerable portion of the larger roots, 

 and trim all the small ones, leaving them all sound and properly trimmed, 



■ replacing the soil, after adding to it what is required. 



508. Transplanting is another remedy recommended for over-luxuriant 

 growth ; it is, however, only applicable to young or dwarf trees. It is per- 

 formed in autumn ; the roots being trimmed and shortened, and the tree 

 carefully replanted in a suitably-prepared station. The check is usually fol- 

 lowed by an ample abundance of fruit-buds the foUowinr^ year. 



509. The process of pruning fruit-trees is performed at two seasons — winter 

 and summer. Winter pruning should be performed while vegetation is entirely 

 at rest, — the period which follows the severest fi'osts, and which precedes the 

 first movement of vegetation, that is to say, the end of February or the very- 

 beginning of March, in ordinary years. If trees are pruned before the strong 

 frosts of winter set in, the cut part is exposed to the influence of the severe 

 weather long before the first movement of the sap takes place, which is so 

 necessary to cicatrize the wound, and the terminal bud is consequently often 

 destroyed. Equally troublesome are the wounds made during frosts : the 

 frozen wood is cut with difficulty ; sometimes the cut is ragged, and they do not 

 heal ; mortality attacks the bud, and it disappears. To prune after vegetation has 

 commenced, except where summer pruning is to be pursued, is not to be 

 thought of ; therefore let it be done in February, if the frost has disappeared, 

 more especially for the peach, whose buds placed at the base of last year's 

 shoots, are particularly exposed to the action of the ascending sap. Summer 

 pruning will be best treated of under the particular species, each of which 

 require to be attended to at different periods. 



510. The instruments required in pruning are a hand-saw, a pnming-knife, 

 a chisel, and a mallet. For garden trees the knife is the most important : 



