196 PRACTICAL GARDENING. 



trees in general only require the removal of weakly shoots, 

 the occasional checking of over luxuriant branches, and of 

 such as are growing into an inconvenient or ugly form ; yet 

 this should be done once a-year, and the trees might be kept 

 as much in order, though in a different way, as the neatest 

 trained wallfruit-trees. Of the many whims and fancies that 

 writers have promulgated for the form of standard trees, we 

 shall say but little. They may be profitably trained hollow, 

 the branches all round forming almost a basket, with no 

 shoots inside to intercept the air or sun; or they may be 

 trained with a centre shoot, and branches all round it, point- 

 ing outwards ; or they may be grown almost like an umbrella, 

 that is, with the branches pendulous all round ; but in the two 

 latter forms, the branches must be sujBficiently distant to admit 

 plenty of light and air on all sides, and the style must be 

 dependent on the habit of the plant. One way is only better 

 than another, according to the habit of the plant it is applied 

 to ; some naturally throw up their branches, and, therefore, 

 are best adapted to merely have their centre thinned a little, 

 and form themselves ; others grow naturally pyramidal, and 

 only want their branches thinned ; others, again, are naturally 

 of a weeping habit, and regard must be had to these character- 

 istics before we decide how we shall prune and train. It is, 

 perhaps, an old, but certainly a bad fault, to let trees run up 

 to heights which defy the gathering of the fruit without more 

 trouble than it is worth ; for no ladders can rest against th® 

 branches so as to place the gatherer within reach of the best 

 fruit, which is always at the top, — so it would be if the tree 

 were half the height. It is the fact of its being at the top, 

 and not of its being so high up that makes it finest ; and 

 it would be a wise and a profitable step to cut all the high 

 trees down to half their present elevation ; for it is doubtful 

 if the crop would be lessened after the first year, because, at 

 present, the lower half is almost barren, and then it would be 

 fruitful, and within reach for gathering, which is more than a 

 good deal of the fruit is now. 



Dwarfs. — Dwarfs are to be treated as standards ; for it is 

 merely having the head on the ground instead of at the top of 

 a trunk. 



Standard Eose-trees, Climbers, and Bushes. — This is a 

 very different operation to the pruning of fruit-trees, because, 

 unlike fruit-trees, the roses bear their flowers on the present 



