OBSERVATIONS 



ON 



TRAINING AND PRUNING FRUIT TREES AND VINES. 



IN training and pruning fruit trees and vines, particular 

 attention is required. To supply a tree with a sufficiency 

 of vegetable juices, there must necessarily be living bark 

 and wood in an uninterrupted succession from the root to 

 the extremities of the branches ; pruning, therefore, is use- 

 ful to remedy any defect, as well as to take off superfluous 

 wood, and prevent unnecessary waste of the sap. Pruning 

 may be performed at different seasons of the year, according 

 to the kinds of fruit, which will be shown under each head, 

 as we proceed. 



In the spring or summer pruning, be careful not to destroy 

 the germs of future fruits, but merely remove all unservice- 

 able sprigs. In the winter season, make your selection from 

 the wood shoots of the preceding year ; keep those which 

 appear the most healthy, and cut away those which seem 

 redundant. Beginners had better prefer the spring, as the 

 buds will then be a guide for them to go by ; but this busi- 

 ness must not be delayed too late in the season, as some 

 kinds of trees and vines are apt to bleed from being pruned 

 untimely. When the sap rises in Grape Vines, &c., before 

 the wound is healed, bleeding ensues, and it is not easily 

 stopped. When this happens, sear the place, and cover it 

 with melted wax, or with warm pitch spread upon a piece 

 of bladder ; or peel off the outside bark to some distance 

 from the place, and then press into the pores of the wood, 

 a composition of pounded chalk and tar, mixed to the con- 

 sistence of putty. Vines will bleed in autumn as well as in 



