A Iternate Secondaries. 231 



richer crop than Nature herself would demand. 

 Mr. Rhind summarizes the objects of pruning as : 

 the " promotion of growth, lessening of bulk, modi- 

 fying form, promoting the formation of crop, and 

 the removal of decayed branches/' 



All the secondaries growing within six inches of 

 the main trunk having been removed, the next 

 operation should be to take off every alternate 

 opposite secondary of those that remain, so that 

 there shall be no pairs, but only one issuing from 

 each joint of the primary, and no two consecutive 

 joints producing secondaries from the same side. 

 It will be evident that attention to this point tends 

 greatly to encourage the development of the 

 boughs that are left, as they get double the share 

 of sap they would receive in a state of nature. 

 We must take care also to see that in no case are 

 more than one branch or shoot allowed to proceed 

 from a single axil, and that all twigs growing 

 cross-wise or backwards (towards the centre of the 

 tree), also any tending in a vertical direction, either 

 up or downwards, and, finally, all " suckers " are 

 summarily and systematically suppressed. I use 

 the latter word advisedly, as conveying the idea of 

 removal as fast as the shoots appear. This to my 

 mind is a great point, as protecting the tree as much 

 as possible from all waste of power and energy. 



Once a tree has been topped, it is no easy matter 



