56 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST . 



THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE PRUNING KNIFE. 



WRITER in " Gardening World " treats 

 H' upon the above subject, and certainly 

 Ik it is a most seasonable one for us also 

 ^^^s in Ontario, because during the mild 

 days of early spring the larger part of the 

 pruning of orchard trees is done by our 

 fruit growers. Our English friends are well 

 trained in the art of pruning, and we might 

 learn much from a study of their methods. As 

 a matter of fact many of our fruit growers have 

 no ideal or system ; they have a vague notion 

 that the tree has too much wood and must be 

 thinned, and they go to work with saw and axe 

 in the most reckless fashion. Such men are 

 well named " tree butchers," and often do more 

 injury to an orchard than can be remedied in 

 years of patient nursing. 



Some orchardists we have met, very carefully 

 cut off the fruit spurs along the main limbs, 

 making them as clean as a boat mast, and about 

 as free from fruit. Others cut out great limbs 

 from the centre causing a forest of sprouts or 

 from the sides of the trunk making the tree al- 

 most inaccessible to a ladder. 



Such work is a waste of energy both of tree 

 and man, and we hope our Agricultural Colleges 

 will soon man our farms with men who will have 

 some training, and who will do their work intel- 

 ligently. 



Our orchard trees do carry too much wood, 

 and do need thinning, but it needs to be done 

 with an eye to the symmetry of the tree, and to 

 an even distribution of the fruit. Even a 

 neglected orchard must not be butchered, it 

 must be gradually brought to an ideal condition 

 and not all at once. Large limbs must not be 

 cut, for the wounds will result in hollow trunks, 

 and premature decay. Patiently remove a portion 

 each year until the proper condition is reached; 

 not by removing large central limbs, but by 

 thinning the smaller ones on the outside of the 

 tree head in every part. This is much 

 more laborious than cutting out at the 

 centre, but is much more sensible, because 



it is done at the point of growth and pro- 

 ductiveness. 



The thinning of the fruit may in this way be 

 partly accomplished as well as the thinning of 

 the wood, two objects of equal importance. 



Plums and pears are much inclined to grow 

 long sprawling limbs, which should be cut back 

 to form a symmetrical tree ; and in the case of 

 pears we always allow a few side shoots along 

 the trunk which may be grown into a new top 

 in case of blight. In case of dwarf we aim at 

 the pyramidal form of the tree which is less in- 

 clined to be blown over with the wind, more 

 convenient for fruit gathering, and more sym- 

 metrical than any other form. 



Peaches should be well cut back every year, 

 and the dead or weak branches cut out of the 

 interior. Too much stress cannot be laid on 

 the importance of all this work in the produc- 

 tion of high grade fruit, which is so important 

 just now for success in capturing the British 

 market. 



Fraser, the writer above referred to, writes on 

 this subject as follows : 



" It would be interesting to know what idea 

 actuates the mind of many of the great army 

 that wields the shears, the hedge-bill the saw, 

 the secateurs and the pruning knife. It may 

 be, and no doubt is, the case that many of them 

 are victims of mistaken notions, like the appren- 

 tice who was set to grind the tools in his mas- 

 ter's absence one day; and, when asked at night 

 whether he had ground all the tools, replied in 

 the affirmative, except that he had not been able 

 to grind down all the teeth of the big saw. To 

 make a guess at the intentions of some pruners 

 of deciduous trees whose handiworks we have 

 witnessed, one would imagine that they had 

 been sent to give the trees a good hacking ; and 

 if so, they carried out their orders to the letter. 

 The jobbing gardener is often blamed for his 

 accomplishments, but he is no doubt a victim 

 of the order to tidy up the place, and give the 

 inmates room to perambulate in the narrow con- 



