P R U 



P R U 



each sort of tree has been shown under the proper 

 head to which it belongs. 



Pruning Implements. — For the purpose of ge- 

 nera! pruning, several implements are necessary, 

 such as pruning-knives, saws, chisels, hand- 

 bills, hatchets, ice. Two or three different 

 sizes of knives are requisite, in order to prune 

 neatly ; a strong' one for cutting out larger 

 branches, shoots, &x., and a small one for the 

 more exact pruning among the smaller branches 

 and shoots of peach and nectarine trees, Sec. 

 These knives are generally made curving at the 

 point, and they should not be too long, broad, 

 and clumsy, but have rather a shortish narrow 

 blade, and but very moderately hooked at the 

 point, for when too crooked they are apt to hang 

 in the wood, and not cut clean ; it is also proper 

 to be furnished with a strong thick-backed knife, 

 to use by way of a chisel occasionally, in cut- 

 ting out any hard stubborn stumps, Sec, placing 

 the edge on the wood, and with your nailing 

 hammer striking the back of it, and it will rea- 

 dily cut through even and smooth. A long 

 knife with a concave edge, and a pruning-knife 

 with a convex edge, are also recommended by 

 Mr. Forsyth. 



Hand-pruning saws are likewise proper for 

 cutting out any large branch too thick and stub- 

 born for the knife: these should be of mode- 

 rate sizes, one being quite small and narrow, in 

 order to introduce it occasionally between the 

 toiks of the branches, to cut to exactness. 



And as saws generally leave the cut rough, it 

 is proper to smooth it with a knife or a pruning- 

 :hisel. 



The pruning-chisels are necessaiv to use oc- 

 casionally, both 10 cut off any thick hard 

 branches and large hard knotty parts, or stumps, 

 and to smooth cuts in large branches, Stc, af- 

 ter a saw ; they should be flat, and from about 

 one to two inches broad .- sometimes large 

 strong chisels, fixed on along pole, are used in 

 pru.iing or lopping branches from the stems of 

 high standard forest trees, one man holding the 

 chisel against the branch, while another, with 

 a large mallet or beetle, strikes the end of the 

 pole. A hand-bill and hatchet are also neces- 

 sary to use occasionally among larger kinds of 

 the standard trees.- — See Tool. 



All these pruning- tools, in their proper dif- 

 ferent sizes, may be had at the cutlery shops, 

 and of the ironmongers, and many of the nur- 

 sery ami set dsmen. 



FRUNUSj a genus containing plants of the 



fruit-tree, flow* ring and evergreen shrubby kind. 



It belongs to the cla3s and order Icosandrie 



Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 



Pomacece. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed perianth, bell-shaped, five-cleft, decidu- 

 ous : segments blunt, concave: the corolla has 

 five petals, roundish, concave, large, spreading, 

 inserted into the calyx bv their claws : the sta- 

 mina have twenty to thirty awl-shaped fila- 

 ments, almost the length of the corolla, in- 

 serted into the calyx : anthers twin, short : the 

 pistillum is a superior, roundish germ : style 

 filiform, the length of the stamens : stigma or- 

 bicular : the pencarpium is a roundish drupe: 

 the seed is a nut, roundish, compressed, with 

 sutures a little prominent. 



The species cultivated are: 1. P. domestica, 

 Common Plum Tree; 2. P. insititia, The Bul- 

 lace Plum Tree; 3. P. Armeniuca, Apricock or 

 Apricot Tree ; 4. P. Ccraws, Common or 

 Cultivated Cherry Tree; 5. P. Avium, Small- 

 fruited Cherry Tree ; 6. P. Pudus, Common 

 Bird Cherry Tree; 7- P- rubra, Cornish Bird 

 Cherry Tree; 8. P. Vbginiana, Common Ame- 

 rican Bird Cherry Tree ; 9. P. Canadensis, Ca- 

 nadian Bird Cherry 'free; to. P. Mahaleji, Per- 

 fumed Cherry Tree; 11. P. Carolinian/!, Ever- 

 green Bird Cherry Tree; 12. P. Lauro-cerasus, 

 Common Laurel ; 13, P. iMsitanica. Portugal 

 Laurel. 



The first is a tree of a middling size, growing 

 to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, branch- 

 ing into a moderately-spreading head : the leaves 

 are on short petioles, wdiich have one or two 

 glands towards the end ; they are slightly serrate 

 and smooth ; when young convoluted of coiled, 

 and pubescent underneath : the peduncles short, 

 commonly solitary : the calyx erect: the petals 

 white, obovate : the drupe is an oblong sphe- 

 roid-, swelling a little more on one side and 

 there grooved, of a blue colour, with a bloom 

 on it: pulp yellowish, tender: the shell bony, 

 ovate, pointed at both ends, and compressed : 

 it loves a lofty exposure, and is a native of Asia 

 and Europe. The cultivated garden Plums are 

 all derived from this species. 



The varieties of garden and. orchard Plums 

 arc very numerous, differing in the form, taste, 

 colour and substance of the fruit; but those 

 mostly cultivated in this country are the follow- 

 ing, according to -Mr. Forsyth, and the times at 

 which they ripen : 



The Jaunhative, or White Primordian, which 

 is a small plum, of a yellow colour, and mealy : 

 it ripens in the latter end of July, or beginning 

 of August : one tree of this sort will be suf- 

 ficient for a garden of the common size. The 

 Early Damask, which is commonly called the 

 Morocco Plum, and which is middle-sized, and 

 the flesh good : it ripens about the beginning 

 of August, or sometimes a little later. The 





