252 VILLA GARDENLNG part hi 



very careful management; but no hard- and -ftist line should be 

 laid down. If the character of each particular tree be studied, 

 that will form the best guide as to the right course to adopt. A 

 weakly tree may have its liberty for a time to feel the impetus 

 which a larger breadth of leaftige will give, always insisting that 

 there shall be no undue crowding of parts, as three or four good 

 stout leaves are better for the work in hand than a dozen thin 

 puny things. Again, a tree whicli has settled down into bearing 

 freely will not overburden itself with useless spray, and the pniner 

 need not for the sake of uniformity pinch oft' every spray or green 

 leaf projecting beyond its fellows. One of the objects the pnuier 

 should have in view in summer is to do all in his power to equalise 

 the flow of sap to all parts of the tree, so that it may maintain its 

 fertility all over the siuface. As a rule, the sap flows upwards in 

 straight or vertical lines with greater freedom than in any other 

 direction ; and Avhen the summer pruning begins, say about mid- 

 summer, dividing the work into at least two periods, priming the 

 top half of the tree three weeks before the bottom half will help 

 to strengthen the bottom branches by turning a larger flow of sap 

 into the bottom of the tree. During summer a tree not well 

 balanced as regards strength can receive a good deal of help in this 

 way. It is by working too much by rule of thumb that trees be- 

 come debilitated on the one hand or overgroAvn on the other. 

 Rightly understood, the young wood in summer gives the cultivator 

 free control over the tree and its work. Wherever there is a gross 

 shoot it should be stopped before uselessly robbing its neighbours. 

 All leading shoots should be left unstopped till September ; the 

 gentle stimulus these afford will be very beneficial. There are 

 several ways of performing the operation of summer pruning. 

 Some simply cut the young shoots off" a couj^le of inches or so 

 from the base ; others break them down, lea\'ing them hanging 

 attached to the tree by a portion of the bark and perhaps a 

 fragment of wood. The principle and intention of this is quite 

 sound, though it looks untidy. Another way of obtaining the 

 same object is to pick off all the leaves but four at the base, and 

 to leave the naked stem for a time on the trees, cutting it off' with 

 the scissors at a later period. The aim and object of both these 

 methods is to minimise the check which must be given. The same 

 object could be secured as well by distributing the summer pruning 

 over a longer period, i.e. Take the shoots in rotation as they reach 

 a given size, and pinch the ends back to four or five leaves. This 

 seems to me to be the only really rational system of summer 

 pruning. 



Thinning the Fbuit. — In the case of both Pears and Apples 



