fHE Canadian Horticulturist. 273 



SUMMER PRUNING. 



Summer Ppuning* Trees and Shrubs.— When it becomes better 

 known how easily good shaped trees may be produced by summer pruning, there 

 will be more of it done than there is to-day. Somehow, the idea prevails that 

 pruning of trees should be done in winter. Fruit trees, which farmers* are more 

 interested in than they are in any others, are left to grow as they will in the 

 summer, trusting to the saw and hatchet for the regulation of matters when 

 winter comes. This is where the great mistake is made. The time to prune 

 any tree to the best advantage is when it is growing freely in summer. Some 

 few years ago I had under my care some peach trees. I had the planting of 

 them as well as the care of them afterwards. From the first year these trees 

 were summer pruned almost entirely. About June, when the growth was fresh, 

 the trees were inspected and were kept in good shape by the pinching off of all 

 the shoots that were growing out of place or too rapidly. This was done by 

 finger and thumb. When topped in this way the side shoots pushed out, and a 

 dozen shoots take the place of the one. The tendency of a peach tree is to 

 make long shoots, and a tree left to itself will soon become unsightly. But when 

 topped as described, beautiful specimens are obtained, as these trees were which 

 I speak of. Instead of there being trees with long branches, bearing fruit only 

 on the ends where the young twigs were, these trees were bushy from bottom to 

 top, being well supplied throughout with young twigs, which are the ones that 

 bear the fruit. These young shoots are the result of summer pruning, and they 

 can be produced on all trees as well as on the peach. — Practical Farmer. 



Summer Pruning^ Red Raspberries.— On the question of pruning 

 there are diversities of opinion. My plan, where I keep them staked, is to do 

 no pruning or pinching back until spring. My experience has shown that in 

 my rich garden soil pinching off the terminals produces a rank growth of laterals, 

 wnich continues so late that the wood does not ripen, and so perishes in the 

 winter. I let them grow as tall as they choose, and in the spring, when the old 

 canes are removed, the new ones are shortened in to about five feet and singly 

 tied to the stakes. I leave from two to four canes in the hill. Leaving the old 

 canes until spring furnishes somewhat of a windbreak, and I think they winter 

 better when the pruning is thus delayed. — E. G. Fowler, in Gardening. 



Trimming", — In nothing connected with the business are so many mistakes 

 made or so much ignorance displayed of the real ends desired, or of the true 

 nature and habits of the plant. The first year, as soon as a shoot reaches 8 or 

 10 inches in height, the terminal bud should be pinched off, and under no cir- 

 cumstances should any other cutting or trim.ning be allowed until the next 

 spring. We can have but one cane, and we seek to make it as branchy and 



