Book IV. TRAINING. 411 



scend from than adhere to the wound. The chief reason for this practice, however, is 

 the facility of performing it, for a section directly across, as if made with a saw, will, in 

 roots, heal as soon, if not sooner, than one made obliquely ; but to make such a section 

 in even small roots would require several distinct cuts, whereas the oblique section is 

 completed by a single operation. The Genoese gardeners, in pruning the roots of the 

 orange-trees, always make a section directly across, which, in one year, is in great part 

 covered by the protruding granulated matter. (See 1886). 



The roots of trees might be completely pruned, if done by degrees ; say that the roots extended in every 

 direction in the form of a circle ; then take a portion, say one eighth, of that circle every year till it is 

 completed ; and remove the earth entirely from above and under the roots ; then cut otf the diseased 

 parts, or those roots which penetrate into bad soil ; and laying below them such a stratum as shall be 

 impenetrable by them in future, intermix and cover them with suitable soil. 



2136. Pruning herbaceous plants, or what is called trimming, consists generally in 

 thinning the stems to increase the size and flowers of those which remain ; but it may 

 also be performed for all the purposes before mentioned ; and for some other purposes, 

 such as the prolongation of the lives of annuals by pinching off their blossoms, 

 strengthening bulbous roots by the same means, increasing the lower leaves of the 

 tobacco-plant by cutting over the stem a few inches above ground, &c. In trimming 

 the roots of herbaceous plants, the same general principles are adopted as in pruning 

 the roots of trees. In transplanting seedlings, the tap-root merely requires to be 

 shortened ; and in most other cases merely bruised, diseased, or broken roots cut off, 

 and fractured sections smoothed. 



2137. The seasons for pruning trees are generally winter and midsummer ; but some 

 authors prefer spring, following the order of the vegetation of the different species and 

 varieties. According to this principle, the first pruning of fruit-trees begins in Fe- 

 bruary with the apricot, then the peach, afterwards the pears and plums, then the cher- 

 ries, and lastly the apples, the sap of which is not properly in motion till April. Some 

 have recommended the autumn and mid-winter ; but though this may be allowable in 

 forest-trees, it is certainly injurious to tender trees of every sort, by drying and harden- 

 ing a portion of wood close to the part cut, and hence the granulous matter does not so 

 easily protrude between the bark and wood, as in the trees where those parts are fur- 

 nished with sap. For all the operations of pruning, therefore, which are performed on 

 the branches or shoots of trees, it would appear the period immediately before, or com- 

 mensurate with, the rising of the sap, is the best. 



2158. Summer pruning commences with the rubbing off of the buds, or disbudding, soon after they have 

 begun to develope their leaves in April and May, and is continued during summer in pinching off or 

 shortening such as are farther advanced. It is obviously, to a certain extent, guided by the same general 

 rules as winter or general pruning ; but the great use of leaves in preparing the sap being considered, 

 summer pruning wisely conducted will not extend farther than may be necessary to maintain as much as 

 possible an equilibrium of sap among the branches ; to prevent gourmands and water-shoots from depriv- 

 ing the fruit of their proper nourishment, and to admit sufficient air and light to the fruit. Most authors 

 are of opinion, that the other objects of pruning will be better effected by the winter operations. Summer 

 pruning is chiefly applicable to fruit-trees, and among these to the peach ; but it is also practised on forest 

 and ornamental trees when young, and is of great importance in giving a proper direction to the sap in 

 newly grafted trees in the nursery. 



2139. Thinning the branches of individual trees may be considered as included 

 in pruning. In herbaceous vegetables, or young trees growing together in quantities, 

 it consists in removing all such as impede the others from attaining the desired bulk, 

 form, or other properties for which they are specially cultivated, and is generally per- 

 formed in connection with weeding or hoeing. 



Subsect. 4. Training. 



2140. By training is to be understood the conducting of the shoots of trees or plants 

 over the surface of walls, espalier rails, trellises, or on any other flat surface. It is per- 

 formed in a variety of ways, according to the kind of tree, the object in view, and the par- 

 ticular opinions of gardeners. 



2141. The object of training is, either to induce a disposition to form flower-buds in rare 

 and tender trees or plants ; to mature and improve the quality of fruits which would not 

 otherwise ripen in the open air ; or to increase the quantity and precocity of the fruit of 

 trees which mature their fruit in the open air. Such are the principal objects of training : 

 which are effected by the shelter and exposure to the sun of the surface to which they are 

 trained, by which more heat is produced, and injuries from severe weather better guarded 

 against ; by the regular spreading of the tree on this surface, by which the leaves are more 

 fully exposed to the sun than they can be on any standard ; and by the form of training : 

 which, by retarding the motion of the descent of the sap, causes it to spend itself in the 

 formation of flower-buds. 



2142. The leading modes of training woody-stemmed trees are the fan, horizontal, and 

 vertical (fig. 386. a,f, h). To which may be added the wavy or curvilinear. Their 

 varieties are, the herring-bone (a), the irregular fan (6), the stellate fan (c), the drooping 



