1££ OF PRUNING. SECT. XII. 



day or fo, but if late cut in fpring, the oozing will 

 continue perhaps a week. 



At the principal pruning, the ftrongeft and the clofeft 

 jointed (hoots are to be preferred, and lek about feven or 

 eight inches afunder, without fhortening. Let the fpare 

 ihoots be cut out clofe and fmooth, and as. much of the 

 Qld wood as may be ; for the tree will increafe too tuft, 

 and get too naked of bearing wood in the middle, if 

 this is not freely done ; and the effential point in the 

 management of fig tree is, (as indeed ot all wall trees), 

 to have young wood all over it, and particularly in the 

 middle, and towards the bottom. Wood is feldom 

 wanted in a fig tree, but where it is the fhortening of a 

 fhoot, properly fituated, (by taking off the leading bud, 

 or cutting lower, as the cafe requires) is fure to pro- 

 duce it: fio this in April, as the beft time. 



When hard frofts are expecled, ftrewfome afhes, and 

 fome litter, over the roots of fig trees. Mats mould 

 be nailed over their branches, (firft pulling off the figs) 

 as the fucculent nature of their wood makes them 

 tender. Thefe coverings are to remain till the i rolls 

 are judged to be over, and then let them be covered up 

 at night, and not by day, for a week or two, to harden 

 them by degrees. 



But fig trees will moftly furvive hard winters, when 

 in ftandards, without covering; and though (hoots 

 trained to a wall are tenderer, yet Qeafehaubn hung clofe 

 among the branches (at the approach of iharp f roils) 

 will preferve them. This fort of protection, as afford- 

 ing plenty of air, is by many good gardeners preicrred 

 to the more common practice of matting. But it mats 

 were contrived to roll up and down, or kept a little 

 diftance from the tree, fo as to give more or !efs air, as 

 the weather is, the health and iruitfulucfs of the tree 

 would be better infured, for too clofe (and as it com- 

 monly happens in confequence too long) covering is 

 injurious to both. Fig trees that have been clofe covered 



